Tag Archives: baking

White Almond Sour Cream Cake

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I know, some love her and some hate her.  Myself, I am a huge fan.  I’m talking Martha Stewart.  As big a fan as I am, you would think I would be a huge fan of her magazine “Living” .  But I’m not.  I have tried (had a subscription a few different times, have purchased it at the grocery again and again).  I just don’t love it.

This month, however, has the best looking cupcakes on the cover for Valentine’s Day.  And the issue looked really good while I was waiting in line at the grocery.  So I bought it again.  And this time I was thrilled.  There are a LOT of recipes in there that I will be trying.  And some really great cupcake recipes too!

So. inspired by the cover on “Living” this month, I decided to make some cupcakes. I did not use Martha’s recipe yet.  I actually used the recipe below as it has been on my list of things to try for some time and I already had the ingredients on hand.

These cupcakes did not disappoint either.  I think Martha would be proud ;) .

I decided to line my cupcake pans with the standard blue liners. Don’t you just love the blue and the steel gray together?  That is quickly becoming my favorite color combo.

I made the recipe and it made almost 36 cupcakes.  I filled the cups with a cookie scoop (such a great tool for this) and filled them about half way.  As you can see. they did not dome like standard cupcake mixes do.  I like that.  It made them very easy to frost.

Here is an inside shot so you can see what great texture it has.  The cupcake itself is a very moist cake with a bit of weight to it.

I was not wild about the buttercream I made for these so I am not including the frosting recipe.  I’m sure you have a better one – trust me!

White Almond Sour Cream Cake

adapted from a recipe found on the Internet (a long time ago and sadly without a source)

1 box white cake mix (Betty Crocker or Pillsbury)

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

3/4 tsp. salt

1 1/3 cups water

1/8 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. almond extract

1 cup sour cream

4 large egg whites

Place all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir together with a whisk.  Add remaining ingredients and beat on medium for 2 minutes.  Pour into greased and floured cake pans or cupcake tins.  Fill about half way full.

Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven until tests done.

Give Me a Pat – of butter that is!

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Oh, the joy of a great grocery store! We have the pleasure of being close to a wonderful cook’s oasis – Jungle Jim’s. Jungle Jim’s is a mega-sized grocery store having over six acres (not a typo) of floor space. If you can’t find it at Jungle Jim’s, you might as well give it up.

Jungle Jim’s has everything. There are aisles upon aisles of international food – Indian, English, Thai, Irish. You name it, they’ve got it. Their aisle of hot sauce would make you cry. The produce section contains everything you can think of and has all kinds of international delights. They have fresh fish flown in and make homemade Polish sausages in the butcher section.

On a recent visit I found one refrigerated section that I had never noticed before – butter from all over the world. I am still ashamed of never noticing their butter section.

the World of Butter

the World of Butter

I have never baked with any kind of butter besides our traditional American butter – although I have used both unsalted and salted butters. So, after making my butter discovery I began to wonder how I might be able to use these new found oddities.

In my online quest to learn more about baking with different butters, I came across a very informative article from the New York Times

“Overall, the European-style butters have more of a golden, warm, toasty flavor. (This is from a compound called diacetyl that develops during fermentation.) Standard American butter has a fresher flavor of milk and cream.

But quality was unpredictable. The butter with the best credentials (high in fat, from the cows used to make Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese), and the one with the most alluring packaging, were the most flavorless.

Our favorite butters were salted Kerrygold from Ireland, unsalted Kate’s Homemade Butter from Old Orchard Beach, Me., and a “limited edition” cultured butter from Organic Valley, made from May to September, when cows are outside at least part of the time, eating grass rather than feed. Butter from grass-fed cows, rich in beta carotene, is more yellow (not higher in butterfat, as many believe).

In baking, the flavor differences mostly disappear. High-fat butters can be used in traditional recipes. “You shouldn’t see much difference,” said Kim Anderson, director of the Pillsbury test kitchen, “maybe a slightly richer flavor and more tender crumb.” “

New York Times Article