Fun things that happened over the weekend…

Here’s a photo of the cake adorned with candles sent to me from Bonnie during the birthday celebration…

A recap:  2 Vanilla Cream Cakes.  One filled with vanilla frosting and French Vanilla icing.  Elmo was the star on that cake.  Surrounding the Elmo Cake (not pictured) were the Easy Cake Truffles (see below for recipe). 

The second cake was filled with strawberry mousse, iced with French Vanilla icing.  Chocolate covered strawberries topped the cake.  A chocolate scroll “Edible image” was placed around the cake.  Surrounding the cake were Cheesecake stuffed strawberries (See Below).

We made HURRICANES for A Taste of Utica CNYEats.

We raked leaves.  A LOT OF LEAVES!   Now you know why we needed the HURRICANES!

How To Make Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries (Photo Courtesy of Bonnie)

• 1 pint LARGE strawberries or how ever many you can eat.
• 1 ready made cheesecake with a graham cracker crust
• good quality chocolate, melted *To Temper Chocolate, see HERE.

Wash the strawberries and dry thoroughly.  You cannot have any moisture on the berry when you dip it in the chocolate.  Put the cheesecake into a bowl and mix it around so it is all blended together…yes, the graham cracker crust as well.  

Cut the strawberries in half.  Scoop about 1 tsp of cheesecake mixture and place on one half of the strawberry. Place the other half of the strawberry on top of the cheesecake  as if you were putting the strawberry back together again.  Place into a muffin cup and coat with melted chocolate. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

How to Make Easy Truffles From Cake Trimmings

You have to level a cake when double layering.  The bottom should be nice, straight and even and so should the top layer.  But what to do with the pieces you cut off the cake?  Here’s the solution.

• Trimmings from the cake or cakes you have leveled.
• Enough cream to just moisten the cake trimmings
• 1 tsp or to taste of maple syrup  or other flavor. *Optional – you don’t need any extra flavor
• Good Quality Melting Chocolate…see above.

Place the cake trimmings in a bowl.  Moisten with the cream. You don’t want the cake trimming mixture soggy so just add a tiny bit of cream at a time.  Stir the mixture and as soon as it holds together, stop adding cream.

Make about 1 1/2” round balls from the mixture.  Melt your chocolate and dip the “truffles” into the chocolate.  Allow to set and ENJOY! 

MOVIE REVIEW!!!!   “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3″ 

Denzel Washington as a Subway Dispatcher and John Travolta as the leader of a gang of criminals determined to hijack one of the city’s trains.  The language is bad but the movie is good. There is constant action and the acting is superb.  It’s another psychological confrontation that Travolta and Washington are so good at.  Definitely worth the rental.

Oh – I bet THAT got everyones attention!  Well, we do have a new member but it’s not human. It’s the Tribeca!   

We returned the Freestyle today … and  can you believe we actually got money back! What a lease deal!   We picked up our shiny, new and blue, Tribeca and Ted has been busy playing with his new mechanical, motorized toy as I’ve been typing.  It’s a nice car, but …well, it’s just a car.  If we had picked up a new puppy or horse, most anything with soft hair that has a brain, I’d be excited. 

I posted some really cool cake and other food sites today.  Make sure to check them out.

For dinner, Ted is having left overs on top of pizza and I have made ”naked Quorn” chicken.  The Quorn was sauteed in a pan with 1/2 TBS oil.  I drizzled Balsamic Vinegrette and honey mustard on top. I had 1/4 cup white beans and steamed brussel sprouts.  I also “cheated” a little and stole a small bit of pizza: 

As for the holiday sweet treat orders, here is what I’ve accomplished:

chocolate strawberries

1.  White and dark chocolate covered strawberries.

cake truffles

2. Cake Truffles.  You obviously know what a chocolate covered strawberry is  – no explanation needed. But what about the little cake truffles.  This is a really neat way to use the left over cake cuttings when you level out a baked cake prior to icing. 

• Take the cake pieces that you have cut to level it off on top.
• Pour a little of your cake wash (I haven’t touched on “cake wash” yet….I will when I explain cake decorating) into a bowl with cake pieces and mix around. 
• Now form little “meatballs”.
• Prepare your chocolate and using dipping tools:     carefully coat the balls with chocolate.  I actually used a spoon to drizzle the chocolate as well as using the tools. Note: If you have never prepared the chocolate for dipping, make sure you look it up before hand because it must be tempered otherwise it will discolor.  I use Callebaut chocolate. In my opinion, the best you can buy.

dipping and decorating tools

I’ll be walking Shane at some point.  One great thing about walking in the dark is you get to peak in anyone’s window who hasn’t concealed themselves inside with curtains or blinds. I don’t mean stand there for 15 minutes casing the joint…just simply walking past, taking a peak, check the decor… if you see something..ahhhh, private? -quickly turn away ’cause it’s none of your business!  You all have a great night!