Fun with baking

[erinwrites]

Originally published at erin-go-blog!. You can comment here or there.

Friends, my shiny new Kitchenaid mixer is sitting on the counter, beckoning to me.

“Erin,” it’s saying, “make something.”

I just don’t know what to make! I’m itching to bake, but I’m not craving anything in particular. And so I turn to you, dear readers…share with me a suggestion, a favorite recipe, whatever, and help me break in my new mixer!

Comments

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Well, is it a bowl-type mixer or more of a blender sort of thing? If the latter, you could always make a milkshake. If it's a real, old-fashioned bowled behemoth, try making fudge or brownies. If you don't crave some when you start, you definitely will before you're through. And even if you don't, others will gladly take them off your hands...and get crumbs all over theirs. :-)

[miss-shortskirt.livejournal.com]

love LOVE the kitchenaid! we've always had one in my house. i'm spoiled like that.

if you're feeling lazy, just make a box of brownies. it's so much easier than mixing by hand. or if you aren't in the mood for sweets, Mashed Potatos!

[pafuts.livejournal.com]

I can't make the stupid link work so here:

This is the lemon cake I made for my birthday last year. Lovely and tart with a good frosting. Yum yum yum

Lemon Cake
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large whole eggs, at room temperature
3 large egg yolks, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup whole milk
Lemon Filling
2 large egg yolks
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, slightly softened
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/2 cup heavy cream
Lemon Frosting:
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1. To make the lemon cake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of two 9-inch round cake pans. Dust the pans with flour and tap out the excess.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir together the dry ingredients with a whisk. Set aside.
3. In an electric stand mixer, using the paddle attachment or beaters, beat the butter on medium speed for about 30 seconds, or until creamy. Gradually add the sugar, increase the speed to medium-high, and continue to beat until the mixture is light, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
4. Add the whole eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and lemon zest. Reduce the speed to low and gradually beat in he lemon juice (the batter will appear curdled at this point smooth out after you add the dry ingredients). Beat in the dry ingredients in 3 additions alternately with milk in 2 additions. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for another 10 seconds. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans.
5. Bake the cakes for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean. Cool the cakes in the pans on wire racks for 20 minutes. Invert the cakes onto the rakcs and cool completely.
6. To make the lemon filling, in a medium nonreactive saucepan, whisk together the yolks and sugar until combined. Whisk in the lemon juice, butter, and salt. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for 5 to 6 minutes, or until the mixture turns opaque, thickens, and coats the back of the spoon. Do not let the filling boil, or it will curdle. Pour the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a medium bowl. Stir in the lemon zest and allow the filling to cool.
7.Cover with plastic wrap, pressing directly onto the surface, and refrigerate for 1 hour, or until chilled.
8. In a clean bowl of the electric mixer, using the whisk attachment or beaters, beat the heavy cream on high speed until soft peaks form. Remove the lemon filling from the refrigerator and whisk until smooth. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the whipped cream into the filling. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the filling until ready to assemble the cake.
9. To make the lemon frosting, in the large bowl of the electric mixer, using the paddle attachment or beaters, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, about 30 seconds. Gradually beat in the confectioners' sugar on low speed. Add the cream, lemon juice, vanilla, and lemon zest. Increase the speed to medium-high, and beat for about 3 minutes, or until the frosting is light and fluffy.

10. To assemble the cake, place 1 cake layer on a serving plate. Pile the lemon filling onto the center using a small offset metal spatula, and spread it into an even layer, leaving a 1-inch border around the edge of the cake layer. Top with the second cake layer. Frost the top and sides of the cake with the lemon frosting. (If some of the filling oozes out from the middle, just blend it with the frosting around the sides of the cake.) Serve the cake immediately, or refrigerate and bring to room temperature before serving.

[vixyish.livejournal.com]

I've been making Alton Brown's brownie recipe in mine! :)

It got misprinted in the book it's meant to be in, but fortunately there's an errata page for the book. The brownie recipe is there, in full.

(I skip the 'sift together in the food processor' thing because I don't own a food processor. It seems to come out fine anyway. Alton's kind of a nut for measuring things by weight and sifting them.)

[min0taur.livejournal.com]

My dad used to make waffle batter with chopped black walnuts in it. Not real elaborate, but *very* yummy results... recommended for Sunday mornings...

[figmo.livejournal.com]

Drool...recipe? It is Sunday morning...out here, anyway....

[min0taur.livejournal.com]

It's a whole lotta years since then, and at the time I was more watching hungrily than taking notes when I shoulda been [g], but here goes...

I seem to recall Dad using an extra egg (for a total of 2) in with the flour and milk (whole milk in those days, but 2% would probably work fine and be kinder to veins) and a capful of vegetable oil to help keep it from sticking to the waffle iron. Chop up the black walnut meats fairly fine (so they permeate the waffle) and add to taste -- start with about half a cup, more if you're going to make 3 or 4 waffles -- and stir them into the batter before you pour, using a long-tined fork or whisk or one of them fancy kitchen gadgets that get it so smoooooth... top the result with syrup, maybe a little butter (hey, who knew about cholesterol in 1960?), or something decadent like French Vanilla ice cream and fresh fruit (we favored blueberries or peaches) if it's a special occasion like Father's Day and you're feeling generous (and why not? my mom was probably making him a blueberry pie with more black walnuts in it, and I can't even imagine the yummy arcanities in her recipes)...

Yikes. I'm gonna have to live on salads for a week just to compensate for remembering all this [grin]. Worth it, though. Thanks for calling back the memory.

[figmo.livejournal.com]

I have one of those beasties too and love it. I could fill your blog with all the things I've used it for, especially since I have the attachment kit. I've used it to make cookies, muffins, cakes, breads, grind meats, juice fruits, and make pasta.

I'd make some kind of bread since it comes with that nifty dough hook that most mixers don't have. You do want to be able to take advantage of what it can do that other mixers can't, right? :-)

[lizjonesbooks.livejournal.com]

mmmm pie.
Tell you my Kitchenaid story-- I've always, always made pie (1.5 sticks butter mashed with 2 cups flour and then milk or water added in dribs and drabs till it's the right consistency makes 2 good shortbread piecrusts) but didn't know about Kitchenaid mixers until I met Dan's mom, who had one. Made a pie there with it, and told Dan that if he bought me one, I'd make hima pie a day for the rest of his life.
We were both students with no money(thought he'd just gotten a better job), and I didn't really think of it again. Somehow, on Christmas morning, there was my mixer!
:D
I'm a few pies behind, but I do think I've used that mixer almost daily for 17 years now.