CakeSpy for Craftsy: Fall Canning Recipes

Ever wish you could bottle up the flavor of fall and keep it forever? Well, forever might be a bit extreme, but fall canning recipes can help it last longer. Here's a collection of tasty recipes I put together for Craftsy. A lot of them would taste great with cake...just sayin'...

Baker's Dozen: A Batch of Sweet Links!

The cutest Halloween vampire cake...ever!

Cake is cozier with a cocktail. Here are 12 tasty fall cocktails.

Breaking: consumers enjoying dessert at all times of day.

A quest for Australia's best carrot cake.

School bans homemade cakes but allows store-bought. Hum.

How do you get cakes to bake evenly?

Love this: pie makers' stories.

A primer on high altitude baking.

Trail mix: not just for hikers.

Ever made pizzelles?

Yay: Tunnel of Fudge cake featured on Parade.com!

The Bake-Off is Coming: Strawberry Cream Cheese Cream Puffs Recipe

CakeSpy Note: OMG! The 46th Annual Pillsbury Bake-Off is coming! Since I so deeply loved attending the 45th Bake-Off, I thought I would get you excited early by sharing some of the finalists' recipes. Narrowed down from zillions of entries, I'll profile some of the 100 finalists--but of course, based on the subject matter of this site, I will focus on sweets! You can follow them by clicking the bakeoff tag below the post to see which ones have been posted so far. Enjoy! 

These sweet treats are a sure-fire recipe for success. They have so much going for them:

• Strawberries and cream are a match made in heaven, not to mention the fashionable style of a cartoon icon.
• Cream Puffs are delicious and delicate.
• And when it comes to baked goods, cream cheese makes just about any flavor richer, creamier, tangier, and tastier. 

See? I've bullet-pointed the reasons why these scientifically rule, so it's now fact.

These Strawberry cream cheese cream puffs were dreamed up by Dawn Logterman of Verona, Wisconsin, who says "Who doesn't love strawberries and cream? Here's a tasty way to serve up the combo."

Simple but sweet, and they come together in just 30 minutes of active time. Score!

Here's the recipe.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Cream Puffs Recipe

Prep Time: 30 Min Total Time: 1 Hr 30 Min Makes: 12 servings

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup Pillsbury BEST® All Purpose Flour
• 4 eggs
• 1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup Strawberry Preserves
• 1 container (8 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 1tablespoon powdered sugar

Procedure

1. Heat oven to 400°F. Line large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. In 2-quart saucepan, heat 1 cup water, the butter and 1/4 teaspoon salt to boiling over medium-high heat. With wooden spoon, stir in flour. Reduce heat to low; beat vigorously about 1 minute or until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat. Beat in 1 egg at a time, beating vigorously after each addition until mixture is smooth and glossy. Drop dough by 1/4 cupfuls, 3 inches apart on cookie sheet, forming 12 mounds.
3. Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Remove from pan to cooling rack; prick side of each puff with tip of sharp knife to release steam. Cool completely, about 20 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, in medium bowl, beat cream cheese and preserves with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Fold in whipped topping until combined; refrigerate.
5. Just before serving, cut each puff in half horizontally. Spoon about 1/3 cup cream cheese mixture into bottom half of each puff. Place tops over filling. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve immediately. Store in refrigerator.

CakeSpy for Craftsy: Discover ICES, a Cake Convention

Ever been to a cake convention? Well, I'd like to educate you about a big one. It goes by the name ICES.

What is ICES? No, we’re not talking about a convenient and creative way to keep a beverage chilly. ICES stands for International Cake Exploration Societé, an international organization of over 4,000 cake and sugar artists from around the world. Members range from novice cake decorators to famous cake designers. Each year, ICES hosts a cake decorating convention, which is well respected and attended.

In a posting on Craftsy, I'll help you discover both the group and the convention.  Read all about it here!

CakeSpy Undercover: DoCo, Farmingdale NJ

The other day I was in a clothing store in Red Bank, New Jersey. While I was browsing some accessories, I heard two girls in dressing rooms next to one another talking.

"Have you been to the new doughnut shop in Farmingdale?" one asked the other.

I moved closer to the dressing rooms, so I could hear.

"It's really good, they make them to order," she continued.

It's not creepy that I stood outside of someone's dressing room to hear this, right?

Well, rather than identify myself as a creepy stalk-listener, I headed right to the internet on my smart phone to find out more. Turns out, in an unlikely corner of New Jersey, there is in fact a new donut shop: DoCo is its name (it is a cool way of shortening "Donuts" and "Coffee"--sort of like SoHo, but with doughnuts). It should not surprise you that I was there less than 24 hours later.

It took me a few minutes to figure out how DoCo worked, since when you walk in there are no doughnuts on display. It's just boxes and a menu that you see. 

So how you do it is you can either choose one of their menu concoctions, or you can choose a glaze and any toppings you like, and they'll make the doughnut to order. And as for doughnuts, you can either do a "regular" -- a dense, cake doughnut--or a "kronut" as they call them...their riff on the famous NYC "cronut" croissant-doughnut hybrid. On the day I went, they also had beignets.

Going for variety, I got a regular doughnut with apple pie toppings, a "kronut" with cannoli cream topping, and a doughnut with maple topping and bacon. 

What a happy moment.

The apple pie doughnut was a regular cake doughnut round, topped with a spicy apple pie filling type topping and a big ol'crown of whipped cream. Freshly fried, the doughnut was a nice base for the moist toppings, and held its shape. The filling didn't have that "from a can" taste, which was nice. A very pleasant fall doughnut. 

I'll tell the truth, I didn't get a chance to try the maple bacon! But judging how quickly SpyDad scarfed it down, I am going to say it was operation: success. Same doughnut base as the apple pie doughnut.

I think the real star of the show, though, was the kronut. It practically oozed with the fry oil that was retained in the flaky folds of dough, which gave me an inkling that I should be feeling guilty eating such a decadent treat...but I didn't.

The addition of the cannoli cream is simply genius. It has that slight tangy bite that, as I never realized til a few days ago, gives a doughnut dimension. Seriously. Try it if you ever have the chance.

Overall, the doughnuts managed to be hearty, healthy servings, with some evident creativity, but zero fussiness. The total bill for three doughnuts was less than $5, which I think is fantastic. 

It may take a few minutes to learn how things work at DoCo when you visit, but it's worth taking the time to figure it out.

DoCo Donut and Coffee Company, 5015 Route 33 and 34, Farmingdale, NJ. On Facebook.

Baker's Dozen: A Batch of Sweet Links!

I'm really proud of this infographic. (I know it's hard to see above--See it big and bold and alive on Craftsy!)

Goat cheese: eat all about it. (Not sweet, but I wrote it and am proud of it!) 

Now that you know all about it, try to recreate this recipe for goat cheese cake for me, ok? 

The cronut is dead! Long live the cronut.

Seven lessons to learn from the gourmet cupcake market.

A primer on the different types of food coloring.

I like it: affirmative action bake sale.

How to make cherries jubilee cupcakes.

Gourmet doughnuts come to Lincoln, Nebraska. Really.

I spent a good few minutes reading the history of Wilton, and found it kind of interesting. Maybe you will, too?

Chocolate caramel cookies with orange mascarpone? Yummmmm.

I googled "unicorn shaped cookies" and found these. They made me smile.

13 ways to mess with candy corn.

Oh, and:

CakeSpy for Craftsy: Types of Food Coloring

Curious about the difference between gel, paste, and liquid food coloring? Be curious no more. Educate yourself via this fantastic article I wrote for Craftsy!

The 12 Emotional Stages of Eating an Ice Cream Cone

Picture this: you're walking down the street on an unseasonably warm and lovely day in New York City. You spy the Mr. Softee truck on the corner, and decide to buy yourself an ice cream cone.

Just like that, your whole day changes. What was pleasant before is spectacular now, and you didn't even see it coming. 

But...are you prepared for the emotional journey of eating an ice cream cone on a beautiful day in New York City? Because truly, what seems like an effortless and breezy experience can really start quite a chain reaction of emotions.

I recently documented my thoughts at several stages of the ice cream cone eating process, and have narrowed it down to 12 stages. Why would I do such a thing? To equip you, dear reader, with a road map of what to expect--the joy and the sorrow--that comes with eating an ice cream cone. So that you can know you're not alone. 

Stage one: the buzz.

You have walked by the ice cream truck and decided to go for it. This is a beautiful moment. You may see sparkles in your peripheral vision. The world seems magical.

Stage two: anticipation. You have ordered. The guy is preparing your cherry dip with sprinkles right now. This is a sweet moment. You've got ice cream coming and it's a beautiful day.

Stage three: slight twinge of sadness.

 

 It's the strangest thing, your ice cream was just handed to you, but you felt the weirdest little twinge of sadness. Why? Because even as your ice cream cone is handed to you, you can sense innately that this joy is already fleeting. It is warm, so the ice cream is soft. Yet it is mingled with joy, because you are taking your first lick.

Stage four: bliss.

 

In terms of eating, you're in a place of "Pleasuretown, population you". You've taken a few licks but your cone still has its perfect shape. It's creamy, it's delicious, but you've still got a long way to go.  You're tasting every little lick and bite.

Stage five: zombie zone. Somehow, you zoned out there for a few minutes and more of your cone disappeared than you mindfully realized. Wait, you want those licks back. Which leads to...

Stage six: minor anxiety.

This cone is beginning to disappear way too fast. What happened to the perfect cap of ice cream? It's half sized now, and things are starting to melt so you're having to lick more rapidly, doing small repairs where the ice cream is oozing near where it meets the cone. 

Stage seven: zen calm.

Wait. You calm down for a minute. You haven't even reached the cone yet, almost but not quite. You still have ice cream to enjoy. It tastes great. You are loving life on this warm day. You feel calm.

Stage eight: surprise.

You bite into the cone, and although you've been dreading this moment because it means you're nearing the end of your cone, the pleasing crunch of the cone against the cool, creamy ice cream is actually quite nice. 

Stage nine: avoidance.

In an effort to avoid the thought of this cone experience ending, you gently nibble the cone as evenly as possible and try to imagine how it would look if a small animal such as a squirrel were holding it. Hilarious!

Stage ten: panic.

This cone is ending fast. Your heart hurts. It's coming to an end.

Stage eleven: crazy desire and irrational thoughts. If some is good, more is better, right? Should you get another cone? Should you go back and tell him you dropped it and see if he'll give you another? Should you grab that cone the little kid next to you has? You may not be proud of thoughts you have during this phase.

Stage twelve: acceptance. The cone was good, but now the cone is gone. You wisely choose to take Dr. Seuss's advice: "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." 

Do you have a specific way of eating an ice cream cone? 

CakeSpy for Craftsy: Cherries Jubilee Cupcakes

Want to know how to make Cherries Jubilee cupcakes? Click here, yo.