Worst Blogger Ever!

Oh, man. It's been almost an entire MONTH since I last blogged! Auuugghhhh!! : (

I now have a new respect for bloggers, especially baking bloggers. I originally started this because baking, as I mentioned in my introductory post, relaxes me. It makes me feel like I have a better handle on things when life begins to feel a little out of control. But, since I started this blog, I feel like I have been placing undue pressure on myself to bake more often for the sake of this blog rather than for my peace and enjoyment as I did before.

Thus began my downward spiral of baking in a subconsciously stressed state, which in turn led to not baking at all, which ultimately ended with a very scattered, nervous wreck Audrey with no outlet through which to relieve my stress. Again, I say, Auuugghhh!! : (

But during my baking hiatus I re-discovered my love for the art of baking itself, to create beautiful and edible things for the people I love. I was thiiissscloosee to closing up my blog in fear that it would hinder my baking experiences. My excuse became: it's too hard. But my inner Barney Stinson rose to the occasion, all suited up and everything, and declared, "Challenge accepted!"

So, I will duke it out until December 31st of this year. If I have no more than 20 blog posts by the time this year is up, I will persist with blogging. However, if I have any less than 20, A Time to Bake will be gone with the wind (I just watched the movie on tv a couple nights ago and all I can say is Scarlett has personality disorder written all over her!).

I did a considerable amount of baking over Valentine's Day weekend.

For my senior pastor's birthday I baked him a three-layered yellow cake with whipped cream cheese frosting and fresh strawberries. It has that Korean bakery taste to it and is perfect for those who don't like their desserts too sweet. I brought it to church and we lit it with tons of candles before we presented it to him in the foyer with the entire surrounding congregation singing him "Happy Birthday." T'was a cute sight, indeed : ) He didn't even end up getting a piece (boo!) but the look on his face as his sheep he so lovingly leads celebrated his birthday with a song was priceless (yay!).

I also wanted to make something small for the church staff so I gave Tartelette's Raspberry Mascarpone Macaron Pops another go. But I wanted to give it a Valentine's Day twist so I shaped them into hearts. Aren't they cute?? Some of them look more like pink blobs than they do hearts but I was pretty pleased with the result nonetheless. This was, to date, my most successful attempt at making macarons. Hooray!! : D

Here's the template that I used to pipe out the macarons. Just place it under your parchment paper on your baking sheet and pipe within the lines as best as you can. Use a toothpick to beautify the sides if need be. I used my regular ol' 1A tip but I think next time I'll be smarter and use a smaller tip. Hehe! ; )

Next up was my baby room folks. At my church we have rooms where families with babies can go in and watch a live televised viewing of the message whilst taking care of their kids. Hubby and I have been in the room for about 8 months now and it's quickly become like a little community for us. We've met some really cool people and made some lifelong friends in that room. So on the first Sunday of every month I bring in some kind of baked good to share with the families and we sing "Happy Birthday" (with unlit candles, of course) to the birthday boys, girls, moms, and dads : )

For February, I decided to go with a Valentine's Day-themed treat, red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I topped them with red, heart-shaped sprinkles to be festive but you can top them with anything you'd like. Or, you can keep it simple and leave the toppings off. Baker's choice : )

I have to be honest- I know people go gaga over anything red velvet these days but I am sooooo over it! I'm just plain tired of looking at them, making them, reading about them, and eating them. Red velvet... bleehhhhh!!! But what can I say? It's a popular flavor and birthdays are all about bringing people happiness, so why not? : )

I decided to share them with my mentoree D and her boyfriend S as well. I packaged them in a 4-pack plastic cupcake carrier and printed this 1 Corinthians 13 subway art from Betty Crocker Wannabe onto sticker paper. I finished it off with a strip of pink and red fabric ribbon. Sorry I don't have pictures : ( You can download the printable for free here.

Since Hubby had to work on Valentine's Day (boo!) we did our thing on Monday. Best date of my life! Whoo hoo! Go hubby! ; )

But I didn't want to sit at home all alone on VDay so I invited my sister and a few girls over from church and we had a pretty & comfy-themed Valentine's Day potluck where we all brought our favorite comfort foods. Fun times! I made my favorite Cajun pasta dish along with these individual strawberry tiramisus. These are a great variation of the traditional tiramisu. The strawberries add such a nice, refreshing touch to the creamy mascarpone and robust espresso/Kahlua flavors. It's fairly easy, too, so if you want to impress someone with an easy yet fancy treat, strawbery tiramisu is the way to go! I downloaded these party circles for free from Anything But Perfect, a great blog with tons of free printables!

So there's my Valentine's Day weekend in a nutshell. Next time I will do my darnest to get my posts up before the actual holiday comes along : ) Here's to hoping it won't be another month before I see you again!

Recipes

Yellow Cake with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting and Fresh Strawberries

makes 1 8-inch cake, 3 layers

For the cake:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups white sugar

8 egg yolks

3/4 cup milk

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups cake flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

For the frosting:

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. almond extract

2 cups heavy cream

Filling:

1 pint fresh strawberries, washed, hulled, and sliced

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 3 8-inch round baking pans. Place parchment circles in bottoms of pans. Sift cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

2, With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar together for 4 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk, with three additions of flour and two additions of milk. Mix just until incorporated. Pour cake batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely in pans, at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, make the frosting.

4. Combine cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract, and almond extract in electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium speed until smooth. With the mixture still beating, slowly pour in the heavy cream in an even stream. Continue beating until frosting can hold a stiff peak, stopping mixer and scraping sides of the bowl as needed. Recipe makes about 5 cups.

5. To assemble, remove one layer of cooled cake and place it on a cake board. spread with an even layer of frosting and top with an even layer of sliced strawberries. Carefully spread with another thin layer of frosting. Place second layer of cake atop first layer and repeat. Top with third layer of cake. Place remaining frosting in a ziploc bag and snip a corner. Pipe an even amount of frosting all around the cake. Using an offset spatula, smooth out the frosting. Top with berries if desired.

Raspberry Mascarpone Macaron Pops

Follow link to Tartelette's recipe

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

adapted from Paula Deen

makes about 36 cupcakes

For the Cake:

2 cups white sugar

1 cup butter, softened

2 eggs

2 tbsp. cocoa powder

2 oz. red food coloring

2 1/2 cups cake flour

1 tsp. salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tbsp. vinegar

For the Frosting:

2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

2. Mix cocoa powder and food coloring together. Add to the butter mixture and mix well. Sift together flour and salt. Add flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Blend in vanilla extract. In a small bowl, combine baking soda with vinegar and add to the mixture. Pour batter into prepared cupcake liners. Bake for about 15 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. Remove from heat and cool completely before frosting, at least 30 minutes.

3. In an electric mixer, cream together cream cheese and butter. Mix in vanilla. Gradually stir in the confectioner's sugar, tasting as you go along. Do not add entire amount of sugar all at once lest it be too sweet for your taste.

Strawberry Tiramisu

makes 2 individual tiramisus

Ingredients:

1 pint fresh strawberries

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1 cup (8 oz) mascarpone cheese

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 tbsp. Kahlua or other coffee-flavored liqueur

18 ladyfingers

3 shots chilled espresso

1/2 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions:

1. Reserve two whole berries for garnish. Hull and slice remaining strawberries. Blend 1/2 cup sliced strawberries with 2 tbsp. confectioners' sugar. Set aside puree as sauce to go with tiramisu.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine mascarpone, 1/4 cup heavy cream, Kahlua, and 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar and mix on medium-high speed until thickened. Pour cream into sandwich bag and snip corner. Set aside.

3. Place 6 ladyfingers on a serving plate. Brush with chilled espresso. Pipe out half of mascarpone mixture onto ladyfingers and top with strawberry slices. Brush 6 more ladyfingers with espresso, front and back, and place atop the strawberries. Pipe out remaining mascarpone mixture and top with remaining strawberry slices. Brush last 6 ladyfingers with remaining espresso and place on top of the second layer.

4. In an electric mixer, beat 1/4 cup heavy cream with 2 tbsp. confectioners' sugar on medium-high speed until just whipped. Spread whipped cream over ladyfingers. Dust cocoa powder over whipped cream and garnish with whole strawberries. Drizzle strawberry puree sauce onto two plates. Cut tiramisu in half, place over puree, and serve.

Hope you had a happy Valentine's Day! May Jesus be your First Love every day of the year.

Audrey