White Christmas Peppermint Cake

Just a quick post this week. I’m on vacation and not spending a while lot of time in front of the computer, but that’s where I post from, so… This post is both late and brief!

Cake batter prep

I’ve gotten so used to Rose’s method for butter cakes that I’m not sure I remember what the “normal” process is. For Rose’s method, you mix the dry ingredients with the (softened, not intentionally melted) butter and some of the liquid, beat for a minute and a half, then add the rest of the liquid and eggs in 3 steps, beating in between.

So fluffy and delicious
So fluffy and delicious

The batter comes out super fluffy, and in this case – absolutely delicious. 😉 I missed photographing the rest of the process, which involved a white chocolate custard being added to butter to make one of my favourite buttercreams. I think the only one I like better is Rose’s one with both white chocolate and cream cheese. Split the cake layers, add the frosting, sprinkle on some crushed candy canes, and we’re done.

I made this cake on Sunday afternoon, and when it was finished, I looked at it and said to myself, “Now what?” I wasn’t going to work the next day, so I couldn’t get rid of it there, and we still have something like 4 (partial) batches of fudge, some bourbon pecan truffles, and probably several other sweets I’m forgetting about, in the house. So, we had a piece each, and I put the rest in the fridge. I briefly considered broadcasting a “drop in for cake and tea” message to my friends, but decided that tidying the house was going to be too much like work. I think I’ll take it a new year’s eve party. I really like this cake, but there’s just too much other yummy stuff in the house for us to make a big dent in such a big cake on our own.  If you’re reading this, and you’re in the area… feel free to drop in tomorrow afternoon for white chocolate peppermint cake. I don’t promise a tidy house, but there might be other treats laying around, too!

White Chocolate Bread & Cookie Strudel

Last weekend, Jay & I took our first trip to Las Vegas, taking advantage of the same seat sale that I used to go East back in September. 🙂 We celebrated our 9th anniversary on Tuesday at Cirque du Soleil, and we watched Penn and Teller from the second row, on Monday night. Sunday was the Grand Canyon.  So, this weekend was a fairly quiet weekend at home, and I caught up on my Rose’s Alpha Bakers baking.

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Banana Refrigerator Cake with Dreamy Creamy White Chocolate Frosting

Mmmm.. bananas. I love banana cake, because it’s a good excuse to eat cake for breakfast. What? Why do you look at me like that? Hey, it’s better than when someone’s broken the build at work and everyone gets doughnuts for breakfast.

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Classic Carrot Cake

…with Dreamy Creamy White Chocolate Frosting. Doesn’t that sound heavenly?

I’m sitting here finishing off the last lonely piece that my co-workers left behind, listening to the train running by just across the street. This recipe was really easy. The hardest part was probably washing the food processor twice. Once after grating the carrots, and again after making the frosting.

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Woody’s Lemon Luxury Layer Cake

…say that 3 times fast.

My favourite non-fiction books!
My favourite non-fiction books!
This past Saturday, we had a housewarming party in the form of an open house. We bought our first home in early June, took possession mid July, and moved in near the end of August. We finally finished our first round of renovations a month or so ago, so decided it was time to show people what we’d done. We didn’t provide dinner, but between a few different loaves of bread (with fondue for dipping), individual quiches, and last week & this week’s heavenly cake projects, I don’t think anyone went away hungry.
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Lemon Luxury Buttercream – White chocolate custard

Just a quick note, in case it helps anyone. My white chocolate custard completely seized up on me. I’m talking a big lump of white chocolate on the bottom of the bowl with a soupy mess of yellow butter (probably mixed with cocoa butter) on the top. The more I tried to whisk it back together, the worse it got. I even tried with an electric hand mixer. Nothing was going to bring that back together. I remembered something I’d seen Alton Brown say: a little bit of water causes chocolate to seize, but more water will smooth it back out again. I thought, “Hm. Eggs contain water, and they’re also an emulsifier. I’m supposed to be adding the eggs to this anyway. Worst that can happen is I waste the eggs, because the butter and white chocolate are already a total loss.” So, I slowly beat the eggs into my awful, disgusting mess with the electric hand mixer. Tada! Smooth and creamy!