Red, White and Pavlova!

I've been wanting to make a pavlova since I got to try it at a Passover seder. It's a huuuuuge meringue, topped with fresh whipped cream and berries. You say "so what?" right? Oh man, it's so good.

I cooked this meringue FOREVER. At a very luke warm temperature (180 deg) for 1.5 hours. It had to stay in the oven for another hour with the temp off to cool down. My patience was rewarded! It was a sweet, crystallized crispy bite into a smooth, light-as-air middle. The fresh whipped cream was perfect, as were the sweet-as-candy strawberries and blueberries. I made a raspberry sauce with raspberries, sugar and raspberry preserves.

Well, my family got a kick out of the funny name, and I got a kick out of exposing them to a very different dessert! Next up: meringue nests for individual desserts. I saw Ina Garten make them, 'nuff said.

Hope everyone had a Happy Fourth!

Graducupcake!

So, Jeff got me a special mold for my birthday last year...the Big Top Cupcake. I had been curious to try it out, but was so nervous because of the strange shape. How would it bake in the oven? How do I know it's done-done? Oh, the torturous thoughts of a baker.
Fast forward to last week. I got a cupcake cake order! A cupcake lover was graduating U of C business school and so, a giant cupcake was ordered.

I had so much fun! I was super nervous baking it (took over an hour!) but it came out just fine. I layered the batter--chocolate and vanilla--so when you cut it open, it would look really funky. Toying around with piping tips, I piped a buttercup yellow tinted buttercream for the cupcake liner. I was going to smooth it out, but the larger round tip worked well to develop the texture I was looking for. I used a large star tip for the top frosting and placed huge star sprinkles around the frosting. Thanks, Party City, for having a graduation cap!! It was perfect for the top :)