No doubt you’ve often asked yourself, if I were a Spice Girl, who would I be? I’m sure not a day goes by without you thinking about that. I’d like to be Sporty Spice but that one has been taken. I can be Scary but usually just in the morning. I can be a Baby if I don’t get my way. Posh, um…no. I think the last one was Sexy spice…can I be sexy in those green sweat pants? I am thinking no.
So that leaves me with Sarcastic Spice. Yes, I think that is the Spice Girl that best describes me. Of course then there is the problem with the whole I can’t actually sing thing. I mean, I can sing. I just sound like I am beating a cat to death when I open my mouth to sing. I can actually make my dog leave the room when I sing (note to you…don’t ever take me to karaoke).
And dance moves. Let’s just say that until they make the bobbing slug a pop star dance move, I am screwed in this area. Not familiar with the bobbing slug? I bet you are. You know, your feet are planted firmly on the ground. Those don’t move. You bob your upper body back and forth and move your head from side to side. That is it, the whole dance. Works well with the 80′s music I grew up listening to.
The more I think of it perhaps I should just stick to Spice Cake instead of Spice Girls. The rest of this half of the world is all giddy with the hopes that Spring will soon be here. Me? I am mourning the loss of Fall and Winter. Gone will be my crisp and chilly days. Others will be enjoying the weather outside while I will be cowering inside to stay away from tree, grass and weed pollen (my worst allergies). All I will have left are some of the flavors of Fall. Spice. Spice you can have year round but really, most of the spices in spice cake are what we use in Fall and Winter foods.
Our five year wedding anniversary is coming up. Our cake had a caramel mousse in it and so I was trying to find a recipe to help recreate that cake. That got me thinking…spice cake with caramel mousse. And then of course I needed apples.
It’s pretty much caramel overload and I love it! For those still bothering to count those WW points, I am pretty sure you don’t enough points in a week just to take a bite out of this.

Spice Cake with Caramel Mousse and Caramel Apple Topping

Spice Cake (recipe follows)
Caramel Mousse (recipe follows)
Caramel Sauce (recipe found here)
Sauteed Caramel Apples (recipe follows)

Spice Cake

2 ½  cups sifted cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1  tsp salt
1  tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ginger
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp freshly ground nutmeg
½  cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
½  cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ¼  cups buttermilk

Sift together the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.
Cream butter in a mixing bowl; add brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract. Beat at high speed of an electric mixer for 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Scrape bowl often.
Add sifted dry ingredients, alternating with buttermilk, mixing at lowest speed just until smooth.
Pour batter into two greased and floured 8-inch round layer cake pans.
Bake at 350° for 30 minutes, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on rack for 5 minutes, turn out of pans onto racks to cool completely.

Source: About.com

Caramel Mousse

3 TBSP plus 3/4 cup water
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
2 ¾  cups sugar
2 TBSP light corn syrup
pinch of salt
1 ¾  cups whipping cream, room temperature
2 ounces unsalted butter (the original recipe called for 4 ounces, which I made but found it made it a little too greasy…so this is how I will make it next time)
1 ½  cups chilled whipping cream

Pour 3 TBSP water into ramekin or custard cup. Sprinkle with gelatin; let soften while preparing caramel sauce.
Combine sugar, corn syrup and ¾ cup water in heavy large saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves, frequently brushing down sides of pan with wet pastry brush. Increase heat; boil without stirring until syrup turns deep golden brown, occasionally brushing down sides of pan with wet pastry brush and swirling pan, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Add 1 ¾  cups cream and butter (caramel will bubble up vigorously). Return to low heat; stir until any bits of caramel dissolve.
Pour 1 ½ cups caramel sauce into glass measuring cup; set aside pan of caramel sauce. Place ramekin with gelatin mixture in small skillet of simmering water. Stir until gelatin dissolves and mixture is clear, about 1 minute. Mix gelatin into measured 1 1/2 cups hot caramel; cool just to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Add salt and stir.
Beat chilled whipping cream in large bowl to medium-firm peaks (do not overbeat). Gradually pour cooled caramel-gelatin mixture over cream, folding constantly but gently. Chill mousse 15 minutes (mine took way longer than 15 minutes, more like an hour to get it the constancy I wanted for the cake).
Adapted from Bon Appetit, September 2000

Sauteed Caramel Apples

3 apples (your choice, I used Pink Ladies because that was what was in the fridge), peeled, cored, and diced
1 TBSP unsalted butter
1 TBSP granulated sugar
¼ cup caramel sauce

In a saute pan add the apples, butter, and sugar, Cook over medium-low heat until the apples start to become soft. Turn to low. Add caramel sauce, making sure to coat every apple piece with the sauce.

Assemble the cake. Cut each cake round horizontally in half. You will end up with 4 rounds of cake, but I always mess up so a spare is nice. If you don’t want to cut the cakes, you can just make a two layer cake.
Place one layer on a plate. Pipe or spoon desired amount (that is up to you) of caramel mousse onto that layer. Add another cake layer. Repeat again with the mousse. You will have a lot of mousse left over, I suggest putting it into dishes and topping with caramel apples (as pictured above in the post). Top with third layer. Pour caramel sauce over cake and top with caramel apples.

If you don’t know what IMHO is (read my dad), it stands for In My Honest (or Humble) Opinion. And folks that is what most of this blog (other than the food part) is. It’s my ramblings and my opinions (read, not the truth, just an opinion). And though many more people agreed with me than disagreed (this time around ), I find it humorous several of the ones who do disagree get really upset about it.  I had more negative email than I did comments, that is all well and good. All of them had the same theme…in the grand scheme of things is this really a big deal. No, no it is not.
However, my blog is 99% useless rambling. Truthfully, I don’t want to get into the relevant things. Because right now the relevant things really suck. I mean, my neighbors are selling their house for $107,000 less than what they bought it less than two years ago. Ouch. Right now the economy sucks. And since I only had one economy class in my life, which I napped through 90% of it (I was not made for the 7:20am class), I feel I probably shouldn’t add my opinion to the economy because I don’t have one. Other than it sucks.
I am pulling from the archives today. I was suppose to bake last night but what I thought was going to be a couple hour event, turned into five. Who knew discussing and eating artisan beef would take five hours. I’m not complaining mind you, it was a fun evening, it just threw off the baking plans. Just like wine, chocolate and coffee, did you know that different steers (don’t say cow…I learned this) taste different based on how they are raised and what breed they are (to know more about it go here). Makes sense, I just never really thought about it. Until last night, when I ate my weight (well, maybe just my thigh…which is significant enough) in beef. Really good beef. I got to talk to the ranchers that provided one of the steers, and lucky for me they are going to be selling at my farmers market come this late Spring/Summer. Be jealous because this is 100% grass feed beef and the steers are treated humanly.
We were also lucky enough to have a top rated Seattle chef (yes, the real kind), Jason Wilson of Crush, to make our meal. I was all over the place with what I liked. Most people picked the same ranch over and over again. Me, apparently I like all beef.
Oh, and there was wine. Which is why we are pulling the archives. Once again I return to my favorite, the key lime. It’s a yogurt cake which I love, because that pretty much ensures it is going to be moist. Ever since the Stonyfield Farms people sent me coupons for their yogurt I have been hooked on it (their Greek yogurt is super yummy). Key limes and raspberries go well together and so I added a raspberry ribbon to this cake to give it just a little more depth of flavor…or at least that is my honest opinion.

Key Lime Yogurt Cake with Raspberry Coulis Ribbon

1 ½  cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt (I love Stonyfield Farm Organic Yogurt)
1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
3 extra-large eggs
2 tsp grated key lime zest
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
¼  cup vegetable oil
¼ cup mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup key lime juice
1/3 cup raspberry coulis

For the coulis:
1 cup fresh raspberries
¼ cup sugar
1 TBSP key lime juice
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan.
In a small saucepan bring raspberries and sugar to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, until it thickens up a bit.
Run through a sieve or strainer. Using the raspberry juice only, add the lime juice to the mixture. Taste. If too sweet add more lime juice, if not sweet enough, add more sugar. Set aside.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium sized bowl.
In another bowl (large), whisk together the yogurt, mascarpone cheese, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lime zest, and vanilla.
Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it¢â¬â„¢s all incorporated.
Pour half the batter into the prepared pan. Spread raspberry coulis evenly over the batter. Add the remaining batter on top of the raspberry coulis.  Bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup lime juice and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.
When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool. 

The original cake comes with an addtional glaze on top. I chose not to make it but still posted it in case you want it.

For the glaze:

1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 TBSP key lime juice

Combine the confectioners’ sugar and lime juice and pour over the cake.

Adapted from Foodnetwork.com, Ina Garten

First off let me say that this post will most likely stir some people in the wrong way. So feel free to speak your mind but do so respectfully and with a real email address (no real one, your post goes bye-bye).
So other than the Person of Size comment, the other thing that has been bugging me is the word… chef. It seems everyone is one now, or so they think. People throw this word around a lot. But 90% of them who are throwing it around aren’t actually chefs.
Case in point. The other week when we were at a gathering, a man turns to me and says, “I heard you made the cake, it’s really good” and I replied back that “yes, I did, thank you”. He then told me, my “wife is a gourmet chef”. I said, “oh really, where does she work”? He went on to tell me that she doesn’t actually work in a kitchen that she was a stay at home mom. I told him then his wife was a gourmet cook, not a gourmet chef. The man seemed very put out. “Well, she’s really good, so she is a chef”. Ugh. *I need to clarify that this is a Foodie group. We meet up soley about food. And so, yes, he should have know the difference.
A chef is a person who cooks professionally. Professionally. Heck, I got me some pastry schooling and I don’t call myself a chef. I am an excellent baker and a good cook. That is what I am. If it annoys me I can only imagine how annoyed real chefs get.
There are a lot of blogs that use the word chef as well. I see amateur chef a lot. Because when I get a headache and I diagnose myself and give myself aspirin, I am now an amateur doctor. I stopped my rabbit from bleeding the other day when he broke off his nail, I am an amateur veterinarian. When I was using my blowtorch and my meringue caught on fire and I blew it out, that makes me an amateur firefighter. I think you see where I am going with this. Just because you cook that doesn’t make you a chef.
In non-related news my adorable hubby has been feeling a little under the weather as of late. Can’t seem to shake whatever ickys have come his way. So, me being nice, I decided to make him a treat. I am chocolate chip cookie making out so I went for brownies. My husband is a big fan of Bailey’s Irish Cream and so I thought I would throw that into the mix of some cream cheese brownies to make theme a little more special…and they are.
And with that I am off to watch a movie and practice being a amateur movie critic.

Bailey’s Irish Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

For the Swirl:
3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 TBSP unsalted butter, room temperature
¼  cup sugar
1 large egg
1 TBSP all purpose flour
2 TBSP Bailey’s Irish Cream

For the Brownies:

6 ounces sweet baking chocolate (I used semisweet), chopped
3 TBSP unsalted butter, room temperature
½  cup sugar
2 large eggs
½  cup all purpose flour
½  tsp baking powder
¼  tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

For the Glaze:

4 ounces sifted powdered sugar
1 TBSP Bailey’s Irish Cream
milk to thin out (amount will vary)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter 8-inch square nonstick baking pan. Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in medium bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and beat until well blended. Beat in egg. Mix in flour, Irish Cream,  and vanilla. Set mixture aside.

Stir baking chocolate and butter in heavy small saucepan over low heat until smooth. Cool slightly. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs in large bowl until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt. Mix in chocolate mixture and extracts. Stir in chocolate chips.
Spread half of chocolate batter (about 1 1/4 cups) in prepared pan. Using rubber spatula, spread cream cheese mixture over chocolate batter. Spoon remaining chocolate batter over top of cream cheese mixture. Using tip of knife, gently swirl through batter, forming marble design. Bake brownies until tester inserted into center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 30 minutes.
Make glaze. Combine powdered sugar and Irish cream. If too thick thin out with milk.
While still warm brush (using a pastry brush) glaze over brownies. Let sit for 15 minutes. Cut into squares.

Most of my doctors are all under one clinic. Different buildings but they are all connected by computer so they know what is going on with you. Apparently they must have all decided to adopt a new phrase, a new phrase that drives me crazy…Person of size. They are now using this instead of calling someone fat or obese. I find this odd, as everyone technically is a person of size. We all have size. Some just smaller or larger than others.
I think I threw my last doctor for a loop. He is kind of on the serious side (read no fun and has personality of a rice cake) and so when he busted out the person of size phrase on me I said back to him, “If my Wii Fit can call me obese, you can too”. The man had no idea what to say and stood there with a blank look. I don’t know if it was because he was in shock that I would call myself obese (by BMI standards) or if he had no idea what a Wii Fit was.
Then he was asking me general questions and we came to exercise. He asked me how many times a week do you exercise. I told him 7. He said, “no, really”. I said, “yes, really, 7 days a week”. He went on about he was not talking about a walk down to the mailbox (if you were in the office you might have seen smoke coming out of my ears) but real exercise. I explained that I do his definition of real exercise 7 days a week, plus ice hockey and yoga. I know he still doesn’t believe me. Because ladies and gentlemen, if you are fat all you do is sit around and do nothing but eat bags and bags of chips, ice cream by the gallons and boxes of Oreos. You can’t possibly exercise.
A reader turned me on to another blog. One about being fat. It’s called Shapely Prose. They have a great section that shows what people look like and what they are according to their BMI. It’s very interesting and you will laugh at some of the people who are overweight.
When I am pissed I bake or cook something. I came home pissed from the doctors office. So I pulled out the left over Snickerdoodle tart dough and thumbed through some cookbooks to figure out what to put in it. I settled on a pine nut and pecan crostata, which I made be a tart since I already had the dough. What can I say, we fat girls are lazy. Though, when I was skinnier I was still that lazy.
Super easy to make and would be great to throw together for any people stopping by unannounced or with short notice (if you already had the dough made). I really like the flavor the pine nuts give this, just gives it a little something more.

Pine Nut and Pecan Tart

1 egg
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
pinch of salt
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/3 cup pecans
1 TBSP melted butter

1 prepared tart shell (or this will make two 4 1/2 inch tarts)

Preheat oven to 350F.
Mix egg, sugar, nuts, salt, and butter in a medium bowl.
Pour filling into prepared tart shell. Even out the filling with a knife or off set spatula.
Decorate with pecans and pine nuts if desired.
Bake 20-23 minutes, or 15 minutes if making the smaller tarts.
Remove from oven and let sit for 20 mintues.

Adapted from Baking for All Occasions by Flo Braker

Pastry Tart Shell
Makes 1 (10 ½-inch) tart shell

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
½ tsp cream of tarter
¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
½ cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes and chilled
½ cup plus 2 TBSP powdered sugar
2 egg yolks

cinnamon sugar
Using a food processor, combine the flour, cream of tarter, nutmeg, and salt and pulse to mix. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.
Add sugar and egg yolks and pulse again, just until the mixture comes together and pulls aways from the sides of the bowl.
Transfer dough to a sheet of plastic wrap. Form into a disc ans wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 1 hours or overnight.
Prepare fluted tart pan by buttering pan and then sprinkling cinnamon sugar into the pan. Get both the bottom and sides of the pan.
Roll pastry out on a lightly floured surface into a circle. Fit dough into prepared tart pan, pressing evenly over the bottom and up the sides. Line tart shell with parchment paper and fill with dried beans or pie weights.
Bake tart shell for 20 minutes (at 350F), or until edges are very light brown. Remove parchment paper and weights.
Bake tart shell for 5-10 minutes more, or until lightly golden throughout.. Cool on a rack before filling.

Adapted from Taste of the South February/March 2009