New year...new commitments

I started this blog back in 2013 for a few reasons and intentions of writing everyday or once a week or something... but it mostly turned out to be a place to store the recipe that people ask me for the most "Vanilla Cake, Yellow Cake, Butter Vanilla Cake" whatever you want to call it...same cake..same recipe.

And while I don't believe  in New Year resolutions, I do believe  in making new commitments  to better ones self..solutions not resolutions.

So one of my commitments to myself is to write more, increase my online presence  with quality content and improve my brand.

So if you're reading this consider it a commitment  to you as well that I'll  write more and give you more recipes and tips. In the meanwhile, you can join me over on Cyberdust where I give exclusive quick tips and recipes.

Download and add me as yvettemarie. #DustMe http://cyberdust.com/addMe?yvettemarie

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Frosting -Delicious American Buttercream

Oh Frosting..where would I be without you? You cover my cakes, cookies and cupcakes. My clothes, my apron, my counters and my car seats... in fact you cover my life lol.

Today we're covering ABC or American Buttercream.  Let me start by saying it's called "BUTTERCREAM" for a reason and that means it calls for BUTTER, not margarine,  not shortening...But beautiful,  delicious and glorious BUTTER.

Now that that's out of the way..the Salted vs. Unsalted debate is completely up to you. I prefer unsalted but have and will use salted butter in a pinch. If you have a palette it doesn't matter which you use because you'll be able to tweak your frosting to your liking regardless of your butter base.

Not all butters are created equally so select a butter that is delicious to you by itself or on bread. I have quickly come to know that not all butters taste like well.. butter...which is weird and will get me off on a tangent rant so I'll just get back to matters at hand..butter...glorious butter . some of my favorites and reasonably priced brands you can find easily available at your local walmart, Costco or Kroger brand store - these store brands have gotten it right when it comes to delicious butter.

So once you have your butter, you're on the right track and now it's time for powdered sugar....use whatever brand you like. I'm a C&H girl just because that's what my mom used and it's what I grew up eating,  but my grandmother was a Domino Sugar fan. So it really just depends on what you like. There's several different brands out there nationally and regionally,  again use your favorite.

Remember that good ABC requires a lot of powdered sugar so buy 32 oz or more for the recipe below.

Now the secret to a good American Buttercream is to not be overly sweet. Most recipes tell you butter, sugar, vanilla and that's it...wrong. The most amazing buttercream has a hint of acidity to it to balance it out. For me this comes in the form of a pinch of salt and a hint of lemon juice.

Now you see why I say the Salted vs. Unsalted debate is useless.  Personally,  I like to control the amount and type of salt being used. For me it's sea salt.

Lemon juice can be fresh or bottled, either way it's the acidity you need.

Which brings me to vanilla,  use YOUR favorite.  I personally am not a fan of the vanilla in America and special order a special brand of foreign vanilla - a secret I won't be sharing so don't ask lol.

Clear vanilla is best to keep your buttercream bright white but if all you have is dark vanilla that's fine too. To get your buttercream back to white just add a dab of purple to it. A very very very small amount...remember you can add more. Unless you want purple frosting, just a dab will do ya.

OK so recipe time, here we go.

2 sticks room temperature butter (unsalted - if using salted salt to taste)
8 cups of powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt (to taste)
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
4 teaspoons of vanilla
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream or half &half or milk.

You're going to mix all of that in your stand mixer and then TASTE it. If it's not already the most amazing American Buttercream frosting you've ever had then play with it and tweak it to your taste. More salt, more lemon, more sugar (don't go over 10 cups) etc... it's not an exact science it all comes down to taste. And what's important is how it tastes to YOU and what YOU like. Pipability is also important for a cake decorator so get to your desired consistency by adding more or less liquid.

If you're in a high heat or high humidity area and your cake is going to be exposed to the elements here's a couple of tricks for sturdy frosting.

For every stick of butter add a tablespoon of shortening. You won't be able to taste it and you won't have a greasy mouth feel either, but your butter will stabilize and it will keep it from spreading in the heat. The next tip and hint is to add a 1-3 tablespoons of cornstarch until you reach the thickness you're looking for.

I know you're sitting there thinking cornstarch???? Yes cornstarch.  It's already in your packaged powdered sugar and again you won't be able to taste it, you will just be able to thicken and stabilize your frosting to stand up to the high heat and humidity.  You can use either trick by itself or together. Since we're in a high temp area we use both tricks together during the summer and let me tell ya, this frosting will not move or slide once set and will still be delicious. 

So try it out and give some feedback would love to hear from you.

From my frosting covered life to yours...

Yvette Marie

The Power Of The Internet - Argentinian Birthday Cake Recipe (Build off Yellow Cake)

Hi, Howdy, Hello, Hey Y'all, Ahn Neyong Ha Seyo, Privyet, Hallo, Oi, Hola, Bonjur and Zdravo!

Wanted to make sure I got a "Hello" in for every country/continent that visited my blog so far. I am so astonished at the power of the internet! I am truly humbled that people are taking the time to read and try my recipe and provide me with awesome feedback. Amazing how we can all connect in such a way, from far away distances.

I started this more so for myself, with the intent to "eventually" share, some day... but when someone asked for help with a yellow cake recipe, I decided to make one of my drafts public, instead of typing it all over again; and some day, became now. To my shock and amazement, within a few minutes I started receiving hits from, literally, all over the world. That is SO amazing to me.

In honor of my blog going international, I decided it would be fun to do an "International" build off of yesterday's Yellow Cake Recipe with one of my favorites, traditional Argentinian Birthday Cake. Ok so I don't know how "Traditional" this is but I was asked by a client to try to recreate it for her; so with a vague description, internet research and being lead of the Holy Spirit I set out to recreate something I've never tasted. My client and her family raved that it was just as good, actually BETTER than what they had at home! It's feedback and experiences like this that make it all worth it. I can honestly say, I love what I do.

So enough about me, let's get on with the recipe! This is a SUPER simple version that you can dress up by making your own ingredients or just go with store bought toppings, either way it's delicious!

What you'll need:

The Yellow Cake Recipe or if you don't feel like making it from scratch use your favorite yellow cake mix. I rarely use mix but when I do I use Betty Crocker "Super Moist" Butter Yellow Cake Mix. In my opinion, it has the closest taste to a scratch cake that I've found in a box, but I digress.

You will need:
2 cups of cooked/stewed peaches with juice (homemade or store bought)
4-6 slices of peach for garnish (fresh or canned, juice removed)
1 can Dulce de Leche (homemade or store bought)
Stabilized Whipped Cream (homemade or Large store bought)
Vanilla Meringue Cookies (homemade or store bought)
Pecans - Chopped

Once the cake is cooled you just get ready to fill and stack, no cutting, layering necessary. This is a VERY sweet cake, so creating extra layers, while pretty, just creates more sweetness. Besides you want a "sturdy" cake for this one.

So now you have your 2 layers (you can also make as a sheet, whatever you like but for the purposes of this blog, I'm working with 2 round 8 inch layers. I'll post a video and pictures of this for you all soon.)

Bottom layer on your board/plate/tray. Take a fork and prick some holes into the bottom layer and add about 1-2 tablespoons of peach juice over the surface of the cake, be careful not to use too much, this is just a nice addition of moisture and to bring the flavor down through the layers of cake. You can do the same to the top layer.

Next: frost/coat top of bottom layer with Dulce de Leche.
Then take the cooked peaches (strained) and gently place and press them on top of the Dulce de Leche.
Follow that step with a layer of crumbled pecans, then a layer of stabilized whipped cream.
Finally crumble up/rough chop a couple/few/several (as much as you'd like, 4-8 does it for me, usually, just a really need a dusting) of the Vanilla Meringue Cookies, you can get fancy with this and do with a complimentary flavor of meringue cookies, I personally prefer vanilla.

Remember this is your only filling layer so make the most out of it....

Now you're ready to add the next layer. Place top layer, if you haven't already done so, do the same fork pokes and  peach juice treatment to this layer, then frost/cover top with the remaining Dulce de Leche.  If you have additional DdL left you can "crumb coat" the entire cake with it, but if you're like me the extra ended up on your tasting spoon.

Once that is done, frost the entire cake with stabilized whipped cream and coat the sides with the remaining chopped pecans. Add a few peach slices and whole meringue cookies for garnish and TA-DA! Argentinian Birthday cake... It's ready to eat right then, or later. If storing in the fridge, remember to let it set out for 30-60 mins depending on the ambient temperature. If taking to an event, remember stabilized whipped cream is still a dairy product, and must be refrigerated. I suggest using a non-dairy solution such as cool whip or pastry pride if cake will be setting out for long periods of time.

Your end result should look something like this...

I invite you all to try this build on recipe and tell me what you think and PLEASE, send me your pics! I would love to see how yours turn out! Bonus points for inside/slice pics. Am I the only one who loves seeing the inside of a delicious cake? YUM!

Gotta get back to My Frosting Covered Life, and get this order together for this morning. Happy Baking!

Yellow Cake: America's Favorite, Yet Most Misunderstood Cake

Growing up Yellow cake with chocolate frosting was a family favorite. Usually still a little warm with the frosting a little gooey and a glass of cold milk. It was good when we made it at home, but it was always so much better at my grandmother, Ms. Christine's house. I never knew why until years later as she would shew everyone out of the kitchen, only allowing you back when she said it was "ok". Usually that came once the mess was cleaned up and whatever she was working on was already in the oven or in the pan. I'll admit I would always try to find an excuse to go through the kitchen to get a peek at what she was in there doing.  

She caught on and seeing my interest was more than just that of a curious child wanting to know what the grown-ups were doing in another room, she would eventually let me stay, but only at the kitchen table to watch and not be in the way. 

Watching her was like watching a whirl wind of strength, I say strength because she did everything by hand, no electric mixers, or short cuts. She would pull out ingredients throw them in  bowl and begin mixing in a rhythm all her own, I still can hear it in my head, "thapht, thapht, thapt, thapt..tap tap tap...thapht... thapht.. thapht...thapht..." the sound of the whisk going through the batter and hitting the bowl. I was always amazed by how quick her arm moved as she would mix batters, she wasn't the quickest woman in the world, in fact outside of the kitchen she moved rather slow. But there, in that kitchen she was like wonder woman to me. 

My grandmother was the queen of cakes, everyone raved on and on about her cakes and when the holidays came the house was FULL of family and guests, who love the meals but were really just waiting in anticipation until she opened "The Dessert Suite" as I now call it. It was just the middle bedroom that had a pass through so you could easily flow through the house, go in through the hallway in the kitchen and come out in the hallway by the living and dining room. 

She would cook for days to fill that room with amazing cakes and treats and nobody, not even me, was allowed in that room unless you loved cake more than your life. My Granddaddy would get brave every now and again and quickly get shewed out. It was like she had eyes all over that house, she could be in the deepest corner of the kitchen, with her back turned and all the sudden you would hear her yell "BJ get away from those cakes!!!" in wonderment from my seat at the kitchen table I would turn and sure enough he'd come out of that room with a smile. A couple of times he tried to involve me, thinking she wouldn't yell at me, but that didn't save either of us lol. 

I'm not sure of any of her recipes, she was always so secretive. So when I set out to start my own company I was just out on my faith, using God inspired recipes.

When I first started my company O Taste and See Treats, my very first custom order was for a "Yellow" cake... I was mortified! In a panic, I scoured the internet and tried multiple recipes just to be VERY disappointed. It was through that study that I came to realize, most people do not have a true understanding of what "Yellow" cake is... making it the most misunderstood cake, next to "Red Velvet", but I'll save that for another post.

Getting a firm grasp on what "Yellow Cake" actually was my first step, and I've since developed a recipe I invite you to try and give your feed back on.

So let's start with the basics. What is "Yellow Cake"??? You ready for it??? Are you sitting down??? Ok good...  it's just cake with egg yolks in it, as opposed to "White cake" that only has egg whites in it.... just blew your mind didn't it??? 

You'll see it called "Yellow Cake, Yellow Butter Cake, Yellow Vanilla Cake, Vanilla, etc...and whatever other fancy name the boxed cake industry wants to call it to get you to buy MORE, but it's the SAME cake.  Ask them to explain the differences to you... look at the ingredients on the back/side of the box...it's the same for the most part. But today we're not talking about boxed cake, which coincidentally is what we grew up eating at home, and what most Americans are used to, we're talking about delicious moist cake from scratch like my grandmother used to make. Trust me it's not as hard as you think...

What you'll need:

A preheated oven at 350

Greased and floured Pans with parchment bottom (can omit parchment but it makes life easy)

2 cups of sifted flour (use your favorite, if you're using cake flour remember to adjust your measurements)

2 cups of granulated sugar

2 sticks of butter (Butter, not oil or margarine but BUTTER, I cannot stress this enough)

4 room temp eggs

2 teaspoons good quality vanilla (or to your liking personally I use 3-4)

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup of heavy cream (or milk will do)

*Optional ingredient 2 tbs vanilla pudding mix

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

Stand or electric mixer will work just fine:

Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy.

Mix in 1 egg at a time giving it time to be fully incorporated 30 seconds to 1 minute

Add Vanilla, Water and Cream to butter, sugar, egg mixture and mix on med low for about 1-3 minutes. 

While that's mixing, in a separate bowl sift your flour, add in the salt and baking soda to the flour. Whisk all of these ingredients together. *If you're adding pudding, add it to the flour mixture before whisking and whisk in into the flour. 

Turn your mixer off and scrape down the sides of your bowl, add about 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter and egg mixture, let that incorporate in, then add about 1/2 of your buttermilk, let that incorporate in.. then another 1/3 of the flour, incorporate in, the rest of your buttermilk, incorporate in, then the last of the flour. The measurements here don't really matter you just want to go flour, milk, flour, milk, flour. It all works out in the end. 

Let it all mix for about 1 minute on med to med-hi depending on your mixture. 

Pour into the waiting greased pan and bake for about 30 mins. I say about because every oven and region is different, you want the cake to golden brown on top, it doesn't need to be pulling away from the sides, but make sure a toothpick comes out clean. 

Pair with your favorite frosting, chocolate, cream cheese, vanilla, you name it. that's the joy of "Yellow" cake, it goes with everything.