Baking Lesson #1

Pink Lemonade Bundt Cake

I of course found this recipe on Pinterest and I knew I had to try it out. The actual recipe from Sugar Baby Aprons was a mess though. It told you to add food coloring after you had already frosted the cake!!! So I am going to rewrite the recipe for you here.

Pink Lemonade Pound Cake

Ingredients:
1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix
1 (3 ounce) package instant lemon pudding mix
4 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup pink lemonade concentrate
4 drops pink or red food color, optional

Bottom Glaze:
1 cup frozen pink lemonade concentrate, thawed
1/2 cup white sugar

Top Glaze:

1/4 cup butter

2 cups powered sugar

2 tablespoons of cream (actually more then this)

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla flavoring
_________________________________________________________
Recipe
1) Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour one 10-inch tube pan or
bundt pan.

2) Combine the cake mix, lemon pudding mix, eggs, vegetable oil, 1/2
cup lemon concentrate and the milk. Mix until smooth. Pour the batter
into the prepared pan.

3) Bake at 350 for 50 minutes to 1 hour. If your oven runs hot be
sure to adjust accordingly!

Remove from oven and prick cake all over with a fork. Immediately
pour lemonade glaze over the bottom of the cake. This lets it soak into the cake and be extra moist

Let cake stand in pan until almost cool.

BOTTOM LEMONADE GLAZE:
Combine the remaining thawed frozen lemonade and the white sugar. Mix
thoroughly and pour over still warm cake.

 

TOP LEMONADE GLAZE: 
1. Melt 1/4 cup of butter in a saucepan or microwave. 2. Sift 2 cups of powdered sugar into a medium size bowl. 3. Add the melted butter to the powdered sugar. 4. Add 2 tablespoons of cream. 5. If desired either add 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract or 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla for flavor. 6. Beat until smooth and creamy adding a little more milk if necessary. 7. Add Pink food coloring. 8.  Drizzle over a cooled cake.


So there it is, although I recommend not using the top glaze at all. (It does cut down on the tartness of the cake though). The recipe is not like what it is supposed to look like. I kept having to add cream to make it spreadable. I don't know how they made 2 tablespoons work for them. I might also recommend for the next time making double the glaze and pouring some on top of the cake as well.

For now, I am going to enjoy mine with a nice refreshing glass of pink lemonade on my pretty pink bistro table and pretend I am in Paris! Au Revoir!!

xoxo, am&a lynn ♥ 

Cooking Lesson #2 - Stuffed Peppers

On Tuesday Jeremy actually had the day off, so I experimented and made stuffed peppers for the first time. I found the recipe on the back of a Minute rice box and it looked interesting and easy.

I chose 4 of the brightest color peppers I could find and I had to go to two different stores to get them. I wanted one in every color just so things could be festive.

Cleaning them was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be, the insides just scooped right out!

For me, this was the gross part. I am not one for touching raw hamburger meat, but I did it.

They already look so pretty, even with the raw meat inside.

Oh my gosh, the smell while they were cooking was amazing. I only wish I could put the smell onto my blog page.

This is my finished product, ready to eat. I added a few spoonfuls of marinara to the bowl, I knew the amount on top was not going to be enough for either of us. 

The recipe said cook them for 45 minutes but I had to cook them a little longer to get the pink out of the meat. I also had to call an expert, my grandmother, to make sure I had done them right. Once I saw the pink inside I wasn't sure I started to doubt myself. It didn't saw to cook the meat before had so I was a little scared but she assured me that you don't cook the meat so it can mix with the peppers.

I think I did a fantastic job on this recipe and I hope you all enjoy. Here is a copy of the recipe in case you want to try it out for yourselves.

xoxo, am&a lynn ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Cooking Lesson #1 - Italian Spaghetti Sauce

       Yesterday I was tasked with making dinner, which I happen to like since I can't make dinner at my house for one person. (My mom would most likely not eat what I cook, or else she would eat a small amount leaving me to consume what's left. That most likely means half of it would be thrown away after sitting in the fridge so about a week or two.) 

The recipe was called Jo Mama's Famous Spaghetti Recipe from Food.com. (Follow the link for the entire recipe.)

The ingredients ran about $36.

Darn onions made my eyes sting!

Browning some Italian sausage.

I have never cooked with garlic before. I had to "mince" it and I had no clue what I was doing.

Added basil, parsley, brown sugar, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper

Never cooked with wine before either. This was a cabernet from Australia called Down Under. It was only $5.99 in the liquor store and pretty tasty too.

My finished product. I was thinking it would have been tasty with a nice Red Wine Sangria, but I didn't have the other ingredients for that so I added orange juice to my red wine. (That really helped out the flavor.) It was some very strong wine too. I got a buzz from just one glass.

I let it simmer for 3 hours to really soak up the flavor. I do believe I did a fabulous job too. The recipe says it makes 10-14 serving so for three people there was a lot of sauce left over. So tomorrow we are gonna try to use the rest to make a lasagna of sorts. I will let you know about the results from that cooking experience at another time.

Stay Sweet, 
          xoxo, am&a lynn ♥

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