Chocolate Angel Food

I recently had a birthday, as seeing as how my birthday falls in August, I usually have ice cream cake. This year though, the weather has been cooler and I wanted something different. I wanted chocolate, but light and airy as it is summer. When I saw a chocolate angel food cake, I knew I had to make it!

Ingredients:
¾ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup cocoa powder
¾ cup granulated sugar


¾ cup granulated sugar
12 large egg whites (make sure not to get any of the shell or egg yolk in with the whites or they won’t beat up properly)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ teaspoon cream of tartar

Directions:
1. Heat the oven to 325F.
2. In a bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, sugar (3/4 cup) and set aside for a minute.
3. In a bowl with a stand or hand mixer (I guess you could do this by hand but there is no way my arm is that strong) mix the egg whites and vanilla. Beat the egg whites on medium high speed until they are frothy.
4. While beating the egg whites sprinkle the cream of tartar into the bowl mixing it in as you go.
5. Continue to beat the egg whites until soft peaks form (the egg white will come up with the beater if you remove it, but will flop over and not really hold its shape).
6. While beating the eggs slowly add the remaining ¾ cup of sugar and continue to beat until the eggs white become glossy and stiff peaks form (will hold a peak shape when the beater is removed).
7. With a whisk fold in the mixed dry ingredients.
8. Pour into an angel food pan (do not grease the pan, or flour it). Using a spatula smooth out the top of the cake.
9. Bake for 40-45 minutes (mine actually took about 55 minutes, but I think my oven might be a little off). The top of the cake should spring back when touched and the cracks should appear dry.
10. Let cool upside down (I stick mine on a top of a bottle or the top of the cake will get soggy).
11. Slide a knife gently around the pan to release the cake.
12. Enjoy

Reviews:
I love this cake! It is great without anything on it, but fantastic with strawberries and whipped cream. It was a great light birthday treat!

Lesson Learned for Making Jam

I was visiting my parents when they informed me that they had a bunch of strawberries for making jam that they had picked up that day. No problem, I can handle jam - right? Well after two batches of plain strawberry I was bored and wanted to try something new. I was already putting together an apple rhubarb crisp, and apple strawberry jam sounded great. I googled a bit and came across a few recipes, but non used commercial pectin - they used the pectin already contained in the apples. Being ambitious I decided to try my hand at making jam the old fashioned way - condense the fruit enough so the pectin already there gels it. I read the directions, I measured and I started. Then I stirred, and I waited, checked the temperature, stirred and waited some more. After an hour or more I was thinking that this had to be done - it was getting really thick, but the temperature wasn’t moving! I waited some more, and the mixture of apples and berries on the stove was slowly moving toward the consistency of apple butter, not what I was going for. Upon looking at the stove, my Dad discovered the burner had been turned down. I had been keeping the mixture hot enough to evaporate the liquid but not enough to increase the heat - ooops. Upon turning the burner back up, I quickly reached the desired temperature of 220F and moved on the fill the jars with my really thick jam. The result of my mishap is a thick and delicious concoction - somewhere between a jam and fruit butter.


I am determined to get this process right, so I will be trying more jams the old fashioned way hopefully later this summer/fall. Next up is Strawberry Cherry jam.

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

This jam was a special request from my father. They have a large patch of rhubarb at their house, and when asked if they would like me to do something with some of it, I was promptly told to make some jam. Strawberry rhubarb is one of my Dad’s favourite jams and he usually makes a batch every year. This year I did it for him. When asked what recipe he uses, I was told he used the certo recipe, and loves it. So I once again pulled out the insert sheet from a box of certo and got to work.
Ingredients:
2 cups crushed strawberries
1 ½ cups chopped rhubarb
6 ½ ups granulated sugar
1 pouch ceto liquid pectin
5-6 1 cup (1/2 pint) sterilized jars and lids.

How to:
1.Mix the sugar and fruit in a large saucepan. Bring the mixture to a hard boil (doesn’t stop boiling when stirred). Continue boiling for 1 minute while stirring.
2.Remove the pot from heat and stir in the liquid pectin. Stir and skim off the foam for about 5 mintues (this lets the jam cool a little and thicken so all the fruit doesn’t float to the top).
3.Pour the jam into sterilized warm jars, up to about ¼” from the rims. Place the lids on and leave sit at room temperature to cool and set.
4.Check the lids to insure they have sealed – press gently in the middle of the lid, if it moves up and down your jar is not sealed. It is still alright as long as you put it in the fridge and use it right away.

Reviews:
I ended up with only a single jar of this at home, as most was left for my parents to enjoy. Iza grabbed the jar that hadn’t sealed properly and she is probably almost done that by now. Everyone seems to really love this jam, and I will admit it is tasty (after I pick out the fruit chunks).

Strawberry Surprise Cupcakes

I saw these Straw-Berried Treasure Cupcakes on I Heart Cuppycakes blog (oh how I love her blog. She is a genius), and I have a friends birthday coming up. I love to make fun cupcakes for people's birthday and these seemed like so much fun, and the strawberries would be a great surprise when you bite into the cupcakes.

However, I didn't need 18 cupcakes as I was also planning on doing some Canada day baking later this week, and I really just needed a few for my friends birthday, so I cut down the recipe a bit. I ended up with 9 cupcakes which was a great amount.

Chocolate Cupcake:
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup, 2 tbsp cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/8 tsp baking powder (this is an estimate when measuring)
3/8 tsp salt
1 lg egg
1 1/2 tbsp safflower oil ( you can use any vegetable oil)
1/4 cup, 2 tbsp butter milk (I used skim + a little lemon juice)
1/4 cup, 2 tbsp warm water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Filling:
9 strawberries, washed and tops removed

Frosting:
1 7oz jar marshmallow creme
1 8oz block cream cheese, softened

Garnish:
Brown sugar (optional, I didn't put it on all cupcakes and they were still delicious)

How To:
Cupcakes:
1. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Add the wet ingredients and mix with a mixer on low until all ingredients are incorporated.
3. Pour into cups (2/3 to 3/4 full), and bake for 17 - 20 min (I needed 19 minutes) at 350F.
4. Allow to cool completely.

Frosting:
Combine marshmallow creme and cream cheese in bowl of mixer and mix with flat beater until smooth.

Assembly:
1. Remove a cone from the cupcake about the size of the strawberry ( I placed the strawberry on top and went quickly around it with a knife and then removed the cone. This way the strawberries fit snug in the whole I made for them).
2. Place strawberry in the whole of the cupcake.

3. Top with frosting ( I squirted a little frosting into the hollow strawberry as well).


Reviews:
These were delicious. I love this chocolate cupcake recipe and it is going to be a recipe I go back to again and again. It is easy and makes a delicious dark chocolate cake. The topping was not to sweet and worked really well, the strawberries are a fun surprise when you bite into the cupcake.

Owen loved these, he decided he wanted the extras to himself, and ate 2 in the first hour after I had made them. He loved the strawberry in the middle, and loved that the whole thing wasn't too sweet. I can't remember the last time he ate so many cupcakes so quickly.

Strawberry Banana Muffins

So while shopping at costco I picked up some strawberries, well of course there were too many for me to eat and they were getting a little ripe. I decided that I might as well bake with them. I had been craving banana muffins for a while, and had some bananas ready to go, so I decided to try Strawberry Banana Muffins.

Strawberry Banana Muffins

1 ½ cups mashed ripe bananas ( appox. 3 large bananas)
¾ cup white sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup of melted butter/margarine
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 ½ to 2 cups chopped fresh strawberries

Add the sugar and the egg (slightly beaten) to the mashed bananas and mix.
Add the melted butter and mix.
Mix the dry ingredients together and mix. Fold in the strawberries.

Fill muffin cups about ¾ of the way full of batter.

Bake at 375F for about 20 minutes (until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean).

Review:
These were delicious brownies and they taste wonderful. They stay soft and moist for quite a while after being done.

Side note: I also use the same banana muffin recipe to make banana chocolate chip muffins by substituting the strawberries for chocolate chips.