E is for Eclairs

So yeah, if you haven't read the O is for Oreo Cupcakes post, read it first then come back to this one.

Right now you're probably wondering, Why is that person dipping the eclair into the custard? Well you shouldn't because, I stated in my last post that the custard didn't thicken up well. This means that you didn't follow my above directions, well then. Anyways the custard didn't come together like it was supposed to, I don't think I simmered it long enough, forcing us to pour it into cups and dip our eclairs into. But that was only one of the many problems I faced with this recipe. 

It should have been fairly easy, but I baked the shells first, then the recipe said to turn the oven off and let the shells dry out as the oven cools off. But me, being frazzled, trying not to butcher these recipes, turned  the oven back on to preheat to 350 degrees for the cupcakes, totally forgetting about the shells. This made them more cardboard-y and less flaky, like I wanted. 

Me trying to find humor in the bag of gooey custard...

Also, while trying to finish up the cupcakes and find a replacement for the missing frosting ingredients, the chocolate topping totally slipped my mind. I had to make it quite frantically before the cupcakes came out of the oven, and recruited my sister's boyfriend into spreading the topping over the eclairs. As you can see, baking is his true calling. Just kidding, I really appreciated his help. 

My guests "enjoying" my "delicious" desserts

Well there you have it, I bit off more than I could chew, again....But I'm probably going to make more mistakes like this in the very near future, just you wait. (I mean I'm a teenager, we make mistakes left and right, gimme a break) 

Well until next time, show off those sweet teeth and don't forget to ask, "What's for dessert?"

Recipe from  page 46 in Teen Cookbook  

O for Oreo Cupcakes

Oops I did it again. Hey guys, now that we are about to end this journey, I'd just like to tell you that of course these last few recipes had to be stressful. So to go out with a (semi) bang, I wanted to make two of my three last desserts, (Oreo cupcakes and Eclairs), for a dinner party that my mom hosted. I got all the recipes, read through them thoroughly ( I swear) and gathered all the correct ingredients. Little did I know my impending doom that would come later that night, because I stupidly chose to go somewhere with my friends instead of prepare my desserts early, (I know crazy to choose my friends of my desserts, WHAAA?!?!). Knowing full well that my mom would be in full fledged cooking mode, taking up the entire kitchen, when I came back.
I don't think you will be surprised when I say, that I forgot cupcake liners, and had to drive to Publix to get some, the custard wouldn't thicken, and I almost burned the eclair shells. This pressure and stress almost sent me over the edge, like the the unspeakable Meringue incident, if it weren't for all the guests rooting for me, I woulda flipped out again.

P.S. my camera also broke in the middle of it, so I had to used some process pictures from the website that I got the recipe from, like the above picture. HA you thought I took that?

Just like this picture, I crumbled some of the oreos, but left the other half whole. But as you pour the batter in, all of the Oreos float to the top. I personally like the crumbled up oreo ones, because it gave you a surprise and the cupcake wasn't so dense.

Oh yeah and I forgot to buy the ingredients to make the frosting so....As you can see it was one of those "Really?!" kinda days. Even without the icing, though, the guests, who were family friends, said that it would have been too sweet with the icing. But I know that they were just being nice. 

So until next time, which will be soon since I have to do the Eclair post, show off those sweet teeth and dont' forget to ask "What's for dessert?"

Recipe from http://www.bakerella.com/cookies-and-cream-cupcakes/

P.S. This blog is so cute!

F is for Flourless Chocolate Cake

This my friends was another picture perfect recipe that was fairly easy, even though the title was pretty daunting. I'm sitting in my bed right now looking at these pictures and it's making my stomach grumble. I'm cravin' this lil' baby, because it would be a perfect midnight snack right about now. 

A flourless chocolate cake, also known as a molten cake,  is made with whole egg foam using low heat to form a kinda of thick chocolate custard. Many gluten-free eaters look to this recipe to satisfy their chocolate cake cravings. Jean-Georges Vongerchten and his restaurants  was known to popularize this dessert.

This was definitely a crowd pleaser, because the consistency was, for lack of better word, fudgy. It was kinda gooey, but still had a crispy crust, like a mix between a brownie outside, fudge lightness, and chocolate cake taste. The cocoa powder create an illusion of daintiness, but the taste packed a punch and it was also perfectly complemented by a heavenly scoop of ice cream. 

So until next time, show off those sweet teeth and don't forget to ask "What's for dessert?"

Recipe from http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Flourless-Chocolate-Cake-14478 

C is for Caramelized Banana Split with Hot Chocolate Sauce

I made this recipe for my dad's birthday. It's from epicurious.com and the picture looked like a crowd pleaser, and just the title drew me in and teased me to make it.
A traditional banana split consists of three scoops of ice cream (vanilla, chocolate and strawberry) on a 
halved banana, topped off with chocolate, marshmallow, nuts, whipped cream, and a cherry. Yummo!

The Banana Split was invented by David Evans Strickler, a 23-year-old apprentice pharmacist at Tassel 
Pharmacy in Latrobe, Pennsylvania and soon became an american classic.


For the letter "C", I originally wanted to do a coconut cake, which I also planned to make for my dad's birthday because he loves coconut. But the only recipes I could find had many steps and too many weird ingredients

We only had enough bananas for this recipe. To ensure that they would not be eaten I wrote a note stating "No touchie. I need them for recipe." It turned out to be very effective, no one ate them :D

I am actually not a huge fan of banana and this recipe made them kinda gooey after they were cooked. Some people might like that texture, like my dad, but, to me, this recipe didn't live up to my expectations.
But my dad loved it and said it tasted like bananas foster, which is one of his new favorites. Glad to make ya proud pop!

P.S. This recipe was also kinda stressful because there was a lot going on; I forgot about walnuts and had to frantically toast them last minute, then the bananas got gooey and cold, the ice cream melted, and I didn't wanna burn chocolate
Recipe from http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Caramelized-Banana-Splits-with-Hot-Chocolate-Sauce-240583
Until next time, put those sweet teeth to work and don't forget to ask "What's for dessert?"

T is for Tiramisu

Tiramisu means "pick me up" in Italian; it is the perfect combo when some people want coffee, some want sweets after dinner. Ever since I was young and had tiramisu in some random restaurant or bakery I now always look for it on the dessert menu whenever I go out, in search of that perfect  "pick me up." And I think I found it, surprisingly, in my own kitchen.

 According to the article, The Trail of Tiramisu, the present day version of tiramisu was said to have been created by Carminantonio Iannaccone in a restaurant in Treviso, located northwest of Venice on Italy's northern Adriatic coast, called Le Beccherie. In the 70's he opened up a restaurant where he cooked up a dessert based on the "everyday flavors of the region": strong coffee, creamy mascarpone, eggs, Marsala and ladyfinger cookies. He says it took him two years to perfect the recipe, which was originally served as an elegant, freestanding cake."

The man who started it all; Mr. Carminantonio Iannaccone

Nowadays you can find all of these ingredients at your local grocery store. Mascarpone is a soft, mild Italian cream cheese.and usually found in the specialty cheeses aisle. 

This dessert is oh so very light. My family and I hacked at it one spoonful at a time, til it was a sad small lump. I would be at school just dreaming about this dessert; I would come home and eat some for snack, I ate it for breakfast, and of course after dinner.

I tried to soak the lady fingers to give it a stronger coffee flaver, but they dissintegrated quickly. So follow the recipe and just brush them with coffee.

Some other recipes wanted me to make a difficult creamy thing, but we are all normal people and don't wanna waste time doing that. This recipe was awesome; easy, quick, delish, which is all I ask for in a dessert recipe.
Recipe on page 54 of Teens Cook Dessert.
So until next time, show off those sweet teeth and don't forget to ask "What's for dessert?"

Z is for Zip-Lock Bag Ice Cream

I honestly can't imagine a world without the invention of ice cream. So my dessert weaknesses include; cupcakes, gummy candies, and frozen treats, mostly importantly, ice cream or custard.

Oh boy, someone needs to hold me back so I  don't try to lick the computer screen...

The first ice cream parlor was opened in New York in 1776. It was named ice cream from iced cream, like iced tea. Major breakthroughs of the ice cream industry include adding salt to the ice to lower the temperature,  Nancy Johnson patenting the hand-cranked freezer, and Jacob Fussell creating a commercial ice cream plant.

Nancy Johnson's beautiful invention

This recipe is awesome and super handy. Definitely will be using this again once summer rolls around. It's so fun, fast and easy. It would be a great activity for kids, like my little cousins or the kids I babysit for. They would love to squish the bags and see the ingredients transform into ice cream. The chemistry behind, not only in this recipe, but baking in general never ceases to amaze me. How can half and half, a splash of vanilla, rock salt and ice, come together to create this delicious creation? Beats me.

 It honestly tastes just like store bought vanilla ice cream, just not as frozen solid, which is fine with me. If you like it firmer, you could definitely just pop it in the freezer for a couple hours or overnight.

Nowadays, there are those cool, new, high tech ice cream machines, (even though my family owns one...) but now I know all you need is 2 Ziplock bags for a perfect summer classic!

It was "Mmm Mmm Good!"

Recipe from http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/homemade-ice-cream-in-a-bag-684806/

K is for Kahlua Angel Food Cake

Kahlua was invented in 1936 when a chemist, Senor Bianco, added Arabic beans to a liquer recipe from the Alvarez brothers. Kahlua then became a well known brand as it became the number one liquer brand in the world in 1984 and has sold 3.1 million cases in the United States, even though it was only brought over in 1962. Similar liquers include Tia Maria, which is the one I used in this recipe, Kamora and Kona gold. On the other hand, Angel Food cake has been an american staple for hundreds of years. Because lots of labor and strong arms are needed to whip the egg whites, historians believe that African AMerican slaves baked the first Angel Food Cake, because they are also traditional post-funeral foods.

I had never had Angel food cake before this. I was expecting super light and airy with the perfect twinge of coffee liquor aftertaste, like this yummy Chinese sponge cake my mom would buy at the bakery.

Instead of buying a whole bottle of Kahlua, I used some of my parents old coffee liquor that is probably 1,000 years old.

But that is not what I ended up with...this recipe made go "eh". No offense but it kind of ruined this perfect idea of angel food cake for me.

But it was partially my fault; I didn't stir it well enough and there were chunks of flour all over the cake. But not only that, the recipe said to put the batter in an ungreased baking pan, but when in came out, it was super sticky. I had to inch a knife around the a couple of times before it even started to budge, I wanted to use my hands to coax it out of the bundt pan, but it only left the gooey topping of the cake on the surface of my hands.

I didn't like the spongy-ness to begin with and it just got even more spongy over time. It had an awkward taste as well; the coffee wasn't strong enough for it to be coffee cake, but it also wasn't too little for it to be a hint.

The Kahlua liquor also added that alcohol flavor that I wasn't expecting or wanted. I brought some to my friend, who also ate my janky, dry biscotti. I feel bad, he's getting all my bad desserts.. Even after I brought a huge hunk of it to my friend, there was still a third of it left, until one day I came home from school and didn't wanna look at it anymore so I threw it out.
Recipe from page 57 of Cuisinart cookbook.
Until next time, put those sweet teeth to work and always ask "What's for dessert?"