Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Lemon Meringue C*O*W


This week’s COW is a lemon meringue cupcake, from the new Martha Stewart Cupcake book, coming out June 2nd.
The lemon curd is what makes this cupcake, in my opinion. I didn’t think the cake was very lemony tasting at all, and the 7 Minute Frosting is a little too airy for me. It holds up better than traditional meringue, which is good. I really don’t know when else I’d ever use it though. I certainly wouldn’t use it to frost an entire cake, although I see Martha recommends it over and over again. The recipe for everything is here.

I was afraid that the frosting might jiggle itself off the cupcake during the ride to work, but it stayed in place. I think traditional meringue would have slid off. This frosting didn’t collect the little drops of condensation on top, either.

It must be me – this is the second recipe for lemon curd I’ve made which seemed to remain  too runny – like a lemon sauce. Still good, but not firm enough to hold up as a pie filling. I did watch Martha demonstrate these cuppies on her show, and her lemon curd was much thicker. Wonder what I’m doing wrong? It made a lot, though – much more than I needed for this recipe. Same with the frosting! That’s a shame, because you need to use that immediately, otherwise it firms up and is like trying to spread marshmallow cream. I wasted it all.
What my friends thought . . .
One comment echoed my own - that cake wasn't very lemon-y, but it was very moist.
Everyone loved the lemon curd.
They all also thought they were bee-u-tee-ful!
All in all - rave reviews!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Chocolate Birthday C*O*W



This week is a chocolate birthday cake for someone I don't know - my husband requested one for work. It's a boxacana, but I did make the chocolate frosting from scratch. I just love Hershey's recipe! It is my go-to.

As mentioned a week or 2 ago, I also make a birthday cake for my friend Rhonda. She requested lemon cake with "wedding cake icing". You know - the surgary buttercream icing most people don't like - however, we both love it. I made fresh lemon filling, but I am afraid it is going to dissolve into the cake. Ir seemed a little runny to me, but boy did it taste good! I am ashamed of the way the cake looks - very amaturish, but, I'm an amature, so you get what you pay for, I guess. I am posting a lilttle size picture in hopes of saving myself a little embarrasment.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Cinnamon Ripple Angel Food C*O*W


No decorating on this one. It is just a simple angel food cake with a few ripples of cinnamon running through. It is topped off with a dollop of cinnamon whipped cream. Very light and tasty cake!