Sara Bakes Cakes blog

Lucky me!

Sara — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:02:40 +0000

I've been lucky enough to get an advance copy of Debbie Koenig's new cookbook, PARENTS NEED TO EAT TOO: Nap Friendly Recipes, One-Handed Meals, and Time-Saving Kitchen Tricks for New Parents, coming out next week from William Morrow.

I first "met" Debbie on Twitter, when we realized we both had a long history in working in book publishing, and we finally met in person this summer. I've always been a fan of her blog, Words to Eat By, and now I love her book, which is aimed at new parents (or soon-to-be again new parents like me), but really is for anyone who has tried to make meal with kids underfoot, just as much.

I'll be blogging soon about one of her many excellent and easy recipes in the next couple of days (I'm torn between Cheater's Chana Masala and Broccoli Cheddar Pinwheels - might have to make both!), but in the meantime, I've already flagged a lot of her tips for a well-rounded pantry, including my favorite discovery: dry vermouth!

Since I've been pregnant, I've kept mine wine consumption to a minimum but sometimes a recipe calls for a spash or two of white wine - what's the point in opening a whole bottle that eventually will go bad in the fridge? Dry vermouth is shelf stable - open it, use as necessary, and store in the cabinet - it will always stay as good as new.

More tips and receipes from Debbie's new book to come soon!

Happy accidents

Sara — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 02:33:02 +0000

So at the end of the last post I mentioned that the chocolate pretzel layer separated from the toffee on the last batch I made - making it a great "factory seconds" gift for close friends, and a evil snack for pregnant me, but not the delicious and nice looking teacher gift I'd imagined.

Before my teeth started to rot, I had to figure out another way to use the tasty but ungiftable toffee pieces. Why not in cookies?

First step - use your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. THIS one, from Debbie at Parents Need to Eat Too is mine (and should be yours too, if you know what's good for you).

Next - chop up your favorite pretzel toffee recipe into small chunks (this should be your favorite, if it isn't already) and replace chocolate chips with these delicious little nibbles.

That's it! The toffee will melt a lot at the edges, making for some ugly misshapen cookies, but don't let that scare you. Once cool, you'll have one of the best cookies you've ever eaten (that's just my opinion, but hey, it's my blog).

Enjoy!

Pretzel toffee!

Sara — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:21:13 +0000

You asked for it (or at least a couple of you did on Facebook and Instagram)

Pretzel Toffee

(adapted from TheKitchn)

1 lb. unsalted butter
3 Tbsp. water
2 cups sugar (400 g)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
12 oz finely chopped semi or bittersweet chocolate (can also substitue 1 12oz bag of your favorite chips, I use Trader Joe's Pound Plus 72% Dark Chocolate Bar)
8 oz crushed mini pretzels (I use these) - you can also try crushed peppermints, flaky sea salt, toasted nuts, whatever suits your fancy.

In a large skillet, melt butter, water, sugar, and salt over medium high heat. Stir constantly and rapidly with wooden spoon. Boil, stirring rapidly, until mixture turns a deep golden tan. Quickly remove from heat so as not to burn the mixture. Stir in the vanilla (it will splatter and bubble up).

Pour mixture into rimmed cookie sheet or baking pan, lined with foil (my go-to pan for this is 10x15). Allow to cool slightly, about 5 minutes, then sprinkle evently with chopped chocolate. When chocolate looks glossy, spread chocolate evenly with an offset spatula, and sprinkle with pretzels. Press pretzels into chocolate using the back of a large spatula.

Cool 8 to 12 hours at room temp, then break toffee into chunks.

Note: I've made a couple times recently and put the sheet in the fridge to cool down more quickly. Don't do this! The chocolate and toffee cool down at different times and then the layers separate from each other when you break it.

Step by step photos to come...

On hiatus...

Sara — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:58:41 +0000

I'm taking some time off from baking to focus on my next project, baby #3, due in May!!! (Insert various "bun in the oven" jokes here...) During this time off, I'm going to work harder to update the blog with photos of projects I haven't had time to post, and will also start posting recipes.

Happy baking!

Ilan's rock star cake

Sara — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:06:54 +0000

Ilan the rock star turned 6 this weekend so naturally he requested a rock star birthday cake. His mom isn't a big fan of lots of food coloring, so I kept it simple. 12" chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream and fresh strawberry filling, minimal color in the decorations, all of which can be easily removed and hidden away from sugar seeking kids while the cake's being cut.

Everything handmade from gumpaste and fondant. The moisture on the cake was condensation - cake spent the night in the fridge and the morning in my warm-ish kitchen. It went away eventually:)

Sometimes people make it really easy...

Sara — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 18:43:00 +0000

My good friend Heather, mom to Allie and Wyatt, made things very easy for me when she asked me to make a cake for Wyatt's 1st birthday. Immediately after asking me to make the cake, she handed me this:

Sometimes I love when someone says, "You decide what the cake should look like, I trust you." But it's also nice just to follow a road map. All I did was add a lasso.

I think he liked it!

Cake was a 10" vanilla bean with vanilla buttercream. Gumpaste decorations made by hand (except for these great cutters).

Cheater's Naan

Sara — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 15:56:03 +0000

I told my friend Jenny, of the awesome blog Dinner: A Love Story, how I make naan using her technique for cast iron pizza (it's quick, easy and delicious - definitely try it) and she wrote about it here. Thanks, Jenny!

How to frost a cake (in under 25 seconds)

Sara — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 20:05:19 +0000

I'm a long time Mac lover, but a recent iPhone owner. One of my favorite app discoveries is Motion Pictures - it makes it really easy to take timelapse movies.

Here's my favorite movie - filling and frosting a cake in 22 seconds (decorating took a bit longer:)

The finished product: 12" Abby Cadabby vanilla bean cake with raspberry filling and vanilla buttercream.

Max's iPad cake

Sara — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 18:52:18 +0000

My first born turned 8 on Wednesday and for the first time in four years, he didn't request a racetrack cake or some sort of New York Mets themed design. Nope, he's a big boy now and aimed much higher - my all-things-electronic-obsessed sweet boy requested an iPad cake, specifically an iPad2 cake, just like the one I have and rarely let him use.

As usual, photos taken by the world's best cake picture taker (and my husband) Doug Schneider.

Side by side with the real thing (realized after the fact that I should have changed my wall paper so it matched a little better, oh well!)

close up: the Facebook, foursquare, Photo and iPod buttons are my favorite

I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, even though the NY area was in the middle of a crazy heat wave and his party was at a local swimming pool (at least 95 degrees in the shade!) We kept the cake in the refrigerator as long as possible, but even after 5 minutes it started to look a little shiny and melty. But it was a lot of fun to make and I'd love to make another one soon! The cake was vanilla bean with a layer of melted chocolate and chocolate and vanilla swirl buttercream (another request from the birthday boy). Cake covered in fondant and all the app buttons were hand made from gumpaste.

Happy birthday, sweet boy! I can't wait to find out what you've got in mind for next year's cake!

Rebecca's birthday cake mashup

Sara — Mon, 02 May 2011 20:16:12 +0000

Question: What do you get when you take Anna's cake:

add a bit of Pamela's cake:

and throw in the monkey and stars from Allie's cake?

Answer: Rebecca's birthday cake!

Rebecca is a newly minted 10 year old who designed her very own cake after spending time on my website. The names on the sides of the cake are the party attendees. This was a 10" cake with vanilla bean and chocolate layers, filled with chocolate buttercream. Decorations are handmade using gumpaste and royal icing.

My 4 year old checking out the cake