I am sad to report that though I will be going on living in the Seattle area for almost 7 years I have not been to a lot of places around here. People are often in shock when they mention a place and I have #1 never heard of it, and therefore #2 never been. This happened just the other day. While at a friend’s party I made a couple new acquaintances and they were in awe that I had never been to a local beach that is super popular around here. The next thing you know they are trying to convince me to go with them to the beach. They weren’t offering me candy so I figured they were probably safe.

But I told them no as my dog was more than wanting her dinner as it was past due and probably wanted to go out as well. They reluctantly said okay only to start texting me shortly after I got home that I should come out, come out, come out! So I asked if I could bring the dog since I had been gone most of the day and they agreed. As luck would have it we arrived at the beach just in time for sunset. I’m not sure I ever need to go back, as I am not sure I will find a prettier time to go then when I was there.

It got me thinking about the movie Yes Man and how many times we say no to things. And while I don’t totally condone getting into cars with almost complete strangers, it turned out to be a pretty darn cool thing. And as studies show, the more socially connected to people you are, the more likely you are to live longer. And no Facebook doesn’t count as socially connected to people. It means actually interacting with them in person!

Saying yes this week had me seeing Bad Teacher, which I thought was awesome (and for the record I despise Cameron Diaz, but she was great for this movie). Got to do some much needed venting over dinner. Got to see cows and a real black sheep. Ate some of the best baked beans ever…because being a farmer they had great smoked fresh pork…mmmm. Met some new people. Saw a sunset. Got me some yummy brunch on a Sunday morning which I haven’t done in a long time.

These here cupcakes have nothing to do with my weekend other than they were made this weekend as were a few things since the forecast is saying hot and therefore my oven is saying no…or I am saying no to the oven. Which is ironic since this post was all about saying yes. But what I did say yes to was topping these with the salted caramel ice cream I made and even more caramel. It’s the right thing to do. But if you insist of frosting, you can always make the ice cream frosting I made.

Vanilla Bean Cake

3 cups cake flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1 cup unsalted butter, cubed and softened to room temperature
2 cups sugar
5 large eggs, at room temp
1 1/4 cups buttermilk, at room temp
2 tsp-1 Tbsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Butter and line two 8-inch square pans with parchment paper or for cupcakes line two muffin tins. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Place butter in the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment. Split and scrape the vanilla pod into the butter, discard pod (or reserve for another use). Beat for 3 minutes on medium-high speed until the butter is light and creamy in color. Stop and scrape the bowl. Cream the butter for an additional 60 seconds.

Add the sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl before each addition. Add the eggs one at a time. Reduce the mixer speed. Stir vanilla into the buttermilk.

Add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk. Mix just until incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix for 15 seconds longer.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with an off-set spatula. If making cupcakes, scoop batter 2/3 of the way up the muffin cup. Lift up the pan with the batter, and let it drop onto the counter top a couple of times to burst any air bubbles and allowing the batter to settle. Center the pans onto the lower third of the oven and let bake 45 to 50 minutes or until the cake is lightly brown on top and comes away from the sides of the pan and a skewer inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs attached. If making cupcakes bake for 15-17 minutes.

Let cool completely in the pans before removing the cakes.
Recipe from Confections of a Foodie Bride

That joyous time of year again. The time of year where everyone declares what they are going to do in the New Year better than they did the year (or years before). For some it is motivation, but to me the changing of the year only means one thing…I will write the date wrong on everything for a month.
I thought about doing a Best of 2010 like a lot of bloggers do, but quite honestly, I am all about looking forward to the future rather than looking back into the past. Certainly we can learn a lot by looking at our past, but dwelling on it can be a bad idea. Reading many of my friends resolutions so many of them are ridiculous ones like “get back to the size I was in high school”. First off that does me no good, as I was no petite flower back then either.  And second it also doesn’t help you be happy with the current you. And if you aren’t happy no one around you is either. So forget about squeezing into your old jeans and just buy more handbags and necklaces. Accessories will fit you no matter what your size (rings sometimes don’t qualify, but with the right amount of lotion you can make it fit).
Me, I’m not dwelling on anything. I’m not making a list of all the things I am going to do in 2011. I will tell you the things I’m NOT going to do (or at least that’s the plan).
1. Pose naked. I’m sure you can rest easier knowing that (sorry F)
2. Watch the Jersey Shore.
3. Go cow tipping.
4. Call up the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles to praise the team for giving a second chance to Michael Vick.
5. Explore the world of glitter eye shadow.
6. Be drafted by the NHL.
7. Tell people how many calories something is while they are eating it.
8. Become a famous athlete and send photos of my private parts to people….I will only do that when I am not a famous athlete.
9. Give up eating ice cream just because I am allergic to dairy…that’s what the pills are for right?
10. Be featured on the People of Wal-Mart website.
What about you? What will you NOT be doing in 2011?

So in honor of just buying more accessories, I accessorized my cupcakes a little. I originally just wanted a vanilla malted cupcake (mini of course so you can eat more of them). But they seemed so plain for a New Year’s treat. I have been obsessed with malted milk powder as of late. It’s hard to find so when I do, I stock up on it. Mine is made by Carnation (hey Carnation, want to send me free Malted Milk Powder…please do!). I love the flavor it gives. But then again I think Whoppers should be its own food group. I even added it to my sugar cookies this year for Christmas.
The stained glass candy is something from my pastry school days. But it’s not that hard, you just have to catch the sugar before it turns a caramel color. Helen over at Tartlette did some really pretty stained glass caramel awhile back and you can see hers, here.
I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year’s Eve. I am staying in. Me and the pup. Probably some bubbly I have been saving and some cheesy John Hughes movies. Have to be up on New Year’s Day to watch the Winter Classic.
Cheers my friends and see you in the year 2011!

Malted Vanilla Bean Mini Cupcakes with Stained Glass Candy

Malted Vanilla Bean Mini Cupcakes:
1 ½ cups self-rising flour
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup malted milk powder (Carnation makes this…if you can’t find you can use Ovaltine but that will give it a chocolate flavor that the regular malted milk does not)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar (preferably superfine)
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup whole milk
2 vanilla beans, beans scraped and pods discarded

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line two 24 cup mini muffin tins with cupcake papers or spray with baking spray.
In a small bowl, combine the flours and malt powder. Set aside.
In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth.
Add the sugar and gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
In a medium bowl whisk together the vanilla beans and milk.
Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the vanilla bean milk. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat.
Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 3/4 full. Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
Cool the cupcakes in tins for 10 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

Malted Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 to 8 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup malted milk powder
2 vanilla beans, beans scraped and pods discarded

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and malted milk powder.
Then the milk and vanilla beans.
On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency.
You may not need to add all of the sugar. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. (Use and store the icing at room temperature because icing will set if chilled.) Icing can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Cupcake recipe adapted from The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook: Old-Fashioned Recipes From New York’s Sweetest Bakery by Jennifer Appel and Allysa Torey
Stained Glass Caramel
1 cup granulate sugar
2 1/2 TBSP water
Various food colorings
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop a few drops of food coloring onto the paper. Do not touch them, swirl them or move them.
In a heavy saucepan, combine the sugar and water, do not stir and bring to a boil over high heat. Continue to boil until the caramel reaches the soft crack stage or 140C – 285F on a candy thermometer (do not let it turn color). Immediately pour over the parchment paper with the food coloring.
Take the baking sheet with your hands and move it left to right, right to left to move and swirl the colors. Let set until completely cooled. Break pieces of your desired size to decorate the cakes with.
Candy recipe from Tartlette.com

So I am doing my birthday weird this year. See my birthday is in a month (and a day) but I already got my gift, but I don’t get to use it until August. This year it’s a food gift of sorts. See I’m going to the International Food Bloggers Conference. It’s in Seattle, so I don’t have that far to travel. You should come!

And though the conference offers a lot of great things, the one thing I must admit that tipped me over was the people who are going. One in particular in fact. That being Jen of Use Real Butter. I all but jumped from my computer chair when I saw her name on a list of attendees. There are just some bloggers that you have interacted with through the years that you have always wondered what they would be like in person. And considering the fact that every food blogger that I have meet in person has been double awesome than even what they are on their blog, I am sure that Jen (as she would say) is going to rock.

I’m a bit chocolated out right now. And so I went searching for something in the opposite direction. Which usually leads to either vanilla or citrus…today we are doing both. You can never go wrong with a yogurt cake. I have yet to make one that wasn’t nice and moist and this one as you can see is no different. You get a triple dose of vanilla in this cake with the use of the bean, the extract, and vanilla yogurt. You don’t have to use the vanilla bean, but with a cake this simple it really does help.

I added the clementine (orange) glaze in honour of the Flyers. They made it to the Stanley Cup playoffs, but sadly are already down 0-2. So I am trying to send them a little love and support. I would really like to see my favorite player hold the cup up!

Vanilla Bean Yogurt Cake with Clementine Fondant Glaze

1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup almond flour
2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean, insides scraped, pod discarded
½ cup vanilla yogurt
3 large eggs
2 TBSP pure vanilla extract
½ cup vegetable oil

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F.

Generously butter an 8 1/2-x-4 1/2-inch loaf pan, place the pan on a lined baking sheet and set aside. Whisk together the flours, baking powder and salt; set aside.

Whisk in the yogurt, eggs, sugar, vanilla beans, and vanilla. When the mixture is well blended, gently whisk in the dry ingredients. Switch to a spatula and fold in the oil. The batter will be thick and shiny. Scrape it into the pan and smooth the top.

Bake the cake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until it is golden and starts to come away from the sides of the pan; a knife inserted into the center of the cake will come out clean. Cool on a rack for 5 minutes, then run a knife between the cake and the sides of the pan. Unmold and cool to room temperature right-side up.

Adapted from Baking From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Clementine Fondant Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
4 TBSP freshly squeezed clementine or orange juice

Combine the powdered sugar and the clementine juice in a bowl, mixing with a wire whisk until smooth. Pour over the tops of the cakes and allow the glaze to drizzle down the sides.

No, this cake has nothing to do with Taffy. But taffy is what I feel like. I feel like I am being pulled in 20 different directions lately. And what does that leave me, besides being tired? It leaves me doing a whole lot of stuff mediocre and all round half ass. And oh how I hate that.

I focus on one thing, all the others go on the back burner. So then I start to concentrate on something else, but then the first thing I was focusing on is now going to crap. And it seems to be a never ending cycle as of late. I’ve got cookbooks to review, magazine pictures to shoot, products to feature, a insanely dirty house to clean, a large pile of laundry that mocks me daily, baking for my blog, baking for my side project. And well, none of it is being done.

So with my life in perpetual mediocrity I decided to stick with something simple. Yes, I know, another loaf cake. What can I say, they are easy, and you don’t have to frost them. One thing people always bug me about is why don’t I make a full size loaf ( I usually use 6 x 3.2 x 3.4 inch loaf pans). Perhaps we can clear this up once and for all.

Peabody’s Reasons for Baking In Smaller Loaf Pans

1. When you make mini loaves, you can share the love. More loaves, means more people can get them. Not just you. Stop being greedy.

2. You hardly ever get the problem of a gooey middle when you bake in mini loaf pans. I like people to actually be successful when they bake my stuff, so go mini, you have better odds of it working out. Which means less emails/hate mail to me telling me something didn’t work out.

3. Portion control. Eating a whole mini loaf is way better than eating a whole regular size loaf. Therefore I don’t have to buy bigger jeans. So really, it’s helping my budget.

4. They fit in my freezer so much easier.

5. Mini food is cute.

6. Makes your hands feel huge when looking down and holding a whole loaf of bread in your hands. Which in turn makes you feel powerful. Well, okay, maybe not powerful.

7. I’m holding out one day that they fine people of Chicago Metallic (along with the Jif people) will give me kick backs for always using their mini pans.

8. They photograph way better than a full size loaf.

So there you have it. My reasons for using mini loaf pans. And with that I will giveaway a set of 4, Chicago Metallic Professional Mini Loaf Pans, in hope of shutting up one person about my use of mini loaf pans.

Sorry to say that this contest is for US residence only. I know, I suck. Simply leave a comment and the winner will be chosen at random. You have until Friday October 23rd, 12:00pm (PST) to enter. Good luck.

As for this cake, it is a simple yogurt cake (I used Greek) with both vanilla beans and vanilla extract and coated in orange glaze. This has both oil and yogurt so it is super moist. Simple. Moist. Good.

Vanilla Yogurt Cake with Orange Glaze

1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 cup granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean, seed scraped out, pod discarded
1 ½ TBSP vanilla extract
7 oz Greek Yogurt
½ cup vegetable oil
4 TBSP orange juice, divided

Spray two 6 x 3.2 x 3.4 inch loaf pans with baking spray. Or coat with butter and flour.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Using a stand mixer (or a large bowl and and electric hand mixer), beat together the egg, egg yolk, and sugar on medium-high speed, until it turns pale yellow, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla beans, vanilla extract, and oil, beat another minute, until fully incorporated.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

With the mixer on low speed, add half the amount of dry ingredients. Then add half the amount of Greek yogurt, and 2 TBSP of the orange juice. Add remaining dry ingredients and followed by the remaining yogurt. Remove from mixer and finish mixing by hand using a spatula until all of the ingredients are fully incorporated.

Pour into prepared pans and bake for 35-40 minutes.

Remove from oven. Using a toothpick or large wooden skewer poke holes into the cake. Using a pastry brush, brush orange juice over hot loaves.

Let cool for 10 minutes and remove from pan. Place on wire rack to finish cooling. When cool, glaze cakes.

Orange Glaze

2 cups sifted powdered sugar
6 TBSP orange juice

Combine the two ingredients together with a whisk. Pour over cakes.