Monday in Texas - Birthday Gifts

It is Monday, but I am writing to you from Texas,  rather Tracey from Michigan, because today is my birthday and I want to share the recipe for my all-time favorite birthday cake with you.

My mom was not much of a baker, but she did always make this cake for me on my birthday.  Mom has been gone nine years and I can't remember the last time that I made the cake myself.  With a daughter who is a pastry chef I have not gone without birthday sweets; they have just been different.  This year I decided to make my own cake and return to this childhood favorite, Chocolate Cinnamon Cake.

CHOCOLATE CINNAMON CAKE - THE RECIPE

THE CAKE

Mix in a large bowl:

     2 cups flour

     2 cups sugar

     1 tsp cinnamon

Melt in a saucepan:

     1 stick butter

     1/2 cup shortening

     1 cup water

     3 1/2 tsp cocoa

  Bring this mixture to a boil.  Add it to dry ingredients.

With a spoon mix in:

     2 eggs

     1 tsp vanilla

     1/2 cup buttermilk with 1 tsp baking soda mixed in.

Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes.

Let cool 30 minutes.

THE FROSTING

In a saucepan melt:

     1 stick butter

     1/3 cup regular milk

     3 TBS cocoa

Pour the above mixture over a box (3 1/2 cups) powdered sugar.  Mix until the sugar is incorporated.  Pour over the cake.

ENJOY!!!

And here is another treat!!!

Because it is my birthday and I believe it is just as much fun to give gifts as it is to receive, Tracey and , with the help of Katrina Kennedy at Capture Your 365, are giving away a premier membership to Capture Your 365 for 2016!  We want all of you to enjoy the community and friendships that are built by sharing a photo of your life every day with a community of like-minded people.  It doesn't matter whether this year will be your first time taking a photo a day or your 54th, it is a wonderful experience!  To see the details of what's included in the Capture Your 365 premier membership, click here.

All you have to do to enter for a chance to win is leave us a comment on this post telling us what you'd like to see here at Pixels, Plates, and LOLs in 2016.  Is there a recipe for a particular dish or ingredient that you are interested in?  Something you'd like to know about us?  Something about our photography process?  You name it.  Almost anything is fair game!

We will announce the winner on New Year's Eve at 11pm Central time.  Good luck and thanks for reading!!!

     

Food Friday - Citrus Angel Food Cake

from Kris B.

I thought that once my semester at school ended that life would be calm and I'd have more free time than I'd know what to do with.  Wrong!  I am playing catch-up on all those things that don't get done during the school year - doctor's appointments, serious cleaning, taking care of the yard...the list is long!  I am still trying to adjust to my summer schedule.  Tracey has had a wacky schedule as well over the last week as Harry has just finished his first year of school with its final week full of special end-of-year activities.  And now she too is catching up on all the things that need to be done but can't be accomplished during the school year.

If you have been following along here, you know that Harry has had a rough few months because of tummy troubles.  As soon as his last school day was over on Tuesday, they packed up and headed to to her in-laws who happen to live in the same town as the pediatric gastroenterologist who was recommended to them.  So, I am flying solo here this week so that Tracey can focus her energy on trying to find something that will help her little guy feel better and so they can both enjoy theirvisit with grandma and grandpa.

Wednesday was my husband's birthday.  He is not a huge fan of sweets, but everyone needs a birthday treat, right?  So when push came to shove, he decided that he wanted a citrus angel food cake.  Great.  I have made plain angel food cakes with varying degrees of success, but never a citrus angel food cake.  So I did what any good spouse would do...I googled "citrus angel food cake recipes" and found quite a few.

Here's what I have learned about searching for recipes on the Internet...it helps if you have some idea about cooking science or you may be headed for a disaster.  If you have ever made an angel food cake, you know that the process is super important.  These cakes really are not very flexible or forgiving with regard to how things are done.  Not all of the recipes online make this clear!  Thankfully, because I have made plain angel food cakes before (and have experienced disaster), I had a sense of what to look for in recipes.  I used a recipe, originally from Cooking Light, exactly as it is written here and copied below.

Ingredients

1 cup sifted cake flour 

1 1/2 cups sugar, divided 

12 large egg whites 

1 teaspoon cream of tartar 

1/4 teaspoon salt 

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

2 tablespoons grated orange rind 

1 teaspoon orange extract 

1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice 

1/2 teaspoon almond extract 

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325º.

To prepare cake, lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and 3/4 cup sugar, stirring with a whisk.

Place egg whites in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar and salt; beat until soft peaks form. Add 3/4 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Beat in vanilla, juice, and almond extract.

Sift 1/4 cup flour mixture over egg white mixture; fold in. Repeat with remaining flour mixture, 1/4 cup at a time. Fold orange rind and orange extract into the batter.

Spoon the batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan, spreading evenly. Break air pockets by cutting through the batter with a knife. Bake at 325° for 55 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Invert pan; cool completely. Loosen cake from sides of pan using a narrow metal spatula. Invert the cake onto a plate.

I'll share a few observations and thoughts about making this cake:

• It is a fabulous recipe!  Well worth the effort to make.
• Because of the attention to detail that is necessary to be successful with any angel food cake, I suggest measuring everything before you begin.  The recipe instructs you to whisk together the cake flour and 3/4 cups of sugar.  I also measured and combined the cream of tartar and salt in a small prep bowl; the vanilla, lemon juice and almond extract into another prep bowl;  and the orange rind and orange extract in a third small bowl.  Taking these steps at the beginning makes the mixing of the cake much less stressful!
• Success here depends on treating your eggs properly.  As you read the instructions, pay attention to foamy, soft peaks, and stiff peaks.  
• The final dry mixture is sifted on top of the meringue in 1/4 cup increments.  Fold these into the mixture by hand using a spatula and a "J" motion.  This keeps from beating the air out of the mixture.  The final addition to recipe is the orange rind and extract.  Fold it in in the same manner.
• Your batter is the proper consistency if you can turn the bowl upside down and nothing runs out. :-)
• Angel food cake is all about its light and airy texture.  
• I have to say that I find it a little funny that the online recipe does not include a picture.  
• Let me say again, this is a fabulous recipe!

I have mentioned before that I am not a multi-tasker.  I will be honest here and say that I could not pay attention to what I was doing as far as creating the cake and take process pictures.  My brain just wouldn't let me do that.  I'm not sure whether my inability to multi-task is a positive thing or a negative things; it simply is what it is and I can't do much about it.  That being said, I did stop to take a few photos before I actually got too involved in the process.

You've probably all heard the ad slogan, "the incredible, edible egg."  Well, it could also be "the incredible, photograghable egg."  What is it about eggs that make them such great photo subjects...aside from the fact that you don't have to bribe them to sit still and model for you?  It doesn't matter whether it is a single egg, which is often used in photography exercises on lighting, a basket of freshly gathered eggs, eggs waiting to be incorporated into a recipe, and this week, I was fascinated by the texture of the shells and the way the light danced around them.  Since I had the shells from twelve eggs,  the mound of them was impressive!

Since angel food cakes use only the whites of the eggs, you may be wondering what to do with twelve egg yolks.  

If you are wondering what to do with all of the eggs yolks that you have leftover, you might try some homemade ice cream.  Or, as I write this, my daughter is using mine to make this recipe for Milk and Honey Brioche.  Maybe I'll post a few photos when the loaves are done.

Tracey should be back next week so you guys will get two recipes from us.  Until then, take time to enjoy the beauty of good food, good photos, and good friends!