Superhero Saturday

Yesterday, my niece Amber (and Tim!) hosted the cutest Superhero party for their two adorable kids, Caleb (4) and Kelly Ann (2). Since their birthdays are separated by only a week, we celebrated both together. What a perfect theme! It was Keely's idea to wear a Superhero t-shirt:

My present to the kids (or maybe Amber?) was the French vanilla cupcakes with buttercream icing. I found these wrappers on Amazon. Pow! Bam! Zap! I didn't think about this at the time, but the kids creatively began wearing them as Superhero bracelets once they finished their treat. I always love a 2-for-1!

All of the snacks fit perfectly with the Superhero theme: Energy Cakes! Wonder Dogs! Hero Sandwiches! Super Vision Sticks! Power Dip!

 

For drinks, you could have Kryptonite punch! or Hero H2O! 

Without a doubt, though, the best part of the party was seeing all of the little ones enjoy their own Superhero cape. It was the perfect party favor! Honestly, I couldn't get them still enough to take pictures. I would have loved a group shot, but I knew it would be a futile attempt. 

Kelly Ann's pink cape combined with a pink Superman t-shirt and pink tu-tu: it doesn't get any cuter than that! It wasn't hard at all to picture Keely running around in that outfit at two. (Oh wait, didn't she wear a tu-tu to the Taylor Swift concert last week? Do you ever grow out of wearing tu-tus?)

Happy birthday, sweet Caleb and Kelly Ann! :D

Alfresco Dining at the Carnton Plantation

Although Steve and I have only lived in Franklin for a short four weeks, we are already in love with this town. Live music while dining is everywhere! Our newest experience came last night. We enjoyed alfresco dining at the beautiful Carnton Plantation, sight of one of the monumental conflicts of the Civil War, the Battle of Franklin. A five course meal was served on vintage china next to the beautiful garden and live oak surrounding the historic home.

The night began with cocktails and appetizers. One appetizer consisted of biscuits topped with apple butter and goat cheese. I would have never thought of that combination, but it was wonderful. Now I'm thinking this is another way to enjoy Mom's homemade apple butter. There's no sense in saving it for breakfast anymore!

The other appetizer was a wonderful twist to traditional barbecue. It was served on sweet potato cornbread cakes, topped with pickles. Yum!

A charming espresso and coffee bar was also available:

Now for the rest of the menu:

First course:  Fire roasted tomato sweet corn bisque with country ham dust

Second course: A salad of baby spinach greens, beets, red onions and cranberries with a maple mustard vinaigrette, spiced pumpkin seeds and crumbled feta

Third course: Barbecue spiced gulf shrimp with white cheddar Anson Mills grits (my favorite!)

Fourth course: Smoked beef brisket, braised collards, turnips puree and pickled root vegetables. (The vegetables were so bad that I had to contain my giggles!)

Fifth course: Jack Daniel's pecan pie, whiskey creme fraiche, Olive & Sinclair chocolate (Steve's favorite course. Not even close.)

Open air. Full moon. Live music. Diverse crowd. Good food. Great conversation. Magnificent landscape. Rich history. What a fun experience!

Unbelievably Moist Red Velvet Cake

Although we started Keely's birthday this summer with some extra-special birthday cake pancakes, that sure didn't stop me from making her a birthday cake, too. Keely's request, not surprisingly, was red velvet cake. Red Velvet Anything has been a favorite of hers since I can remember. So, I set out on a mission to find the best recipe. Mission accomplished!

There are several key features about this recipe that truly distinguishes it from others I have had:

1.  It has hot coffee in the batter, which intrigued me. As a result, it is the most unbelievably moist red velvet cake I've ever had.
2.  It has two layers of chocolate ganache. I know all red velvet cake has cocoa, but rarely can I actually taste the chocolate flavor. The chocolate ganache is hardly visible, but packs the perfect punch of chocolate.
3. The frosting is lighter and fluffier. Yes, it still contains cream cheese, but it isn't the extremely dense, thick frosting found on most red velvet cakes. This one is made with whipped heavy cream. The real stuff. And, so worth it.

Needless to say, the birthday girl was quite pleased. I knew then that this will be my go-to recipe for other special occasions. Speaking of special occasions . . .

Dad turned 77 a couple of weeks ago. He continues to be in great health and working full time. Unfortunately, I had to miss his birthday as I was watching Steve and his brother play tennis in the national Senior Olympics in Cleveland, Ohio. How can I possibly make it up to him? Unbelievably moist red velvet cake to the rescue. We're getting ready to head to Knoxville and continue his celebration. I'm counting on him enjoying this special cake as much as Keely did.

Now, if only I can get someone to make this for me on my birthday! :)

Unbelievably Moist Red Velvet Cake

Ingredients for the chocolate ganache:

• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 baking chocolate squares (56 g total)

Ingredients for the cake layers:

• 2 cups plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons cocoa
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1-2 oz red food coloring
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1/2 cup prepared, plain hot coffee

Ingredients for frosting:

• 2 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese, room temperature
• 1-1/2 cups confectioners sugar
• 1-1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Begin by making the chocolate ganache. Heat whipping cream and chocolate squares in the microwave for 1 minute. Do not boil.

 Stir until smooth. Refrigerate to cool and thicken.

Now prepare the cake layers. Whisk the first five dry ingredients and set aside. In a mixing bowl, blend together the remaining ingredients. Add dry ingredients. Blend well. The batter will be quite runny. Pour into two greased and floured 9" cake pans. ( I just use Baker's Joy.) Bake at 325 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Do not over bake. Cool completely.

Spread half of the chocolate ganache on each cake layer. Refrigerate to set before frosting.

Prepare the frosting. Blend the cream cheese and confectioners sugar until smooth. Set aside.
Whip the heavy cream until thick and fluffy. Do not over beat. Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture until thoroughly mixed. Use about 1 cup of frosting to spread on the bottom cake layer, then top with the other cake layer. Use the rest of the frosting to ice the whole cake.

Enjoy!

Source: Adapted from Adora's Box

On a Roll

Last year, about this time, I was teaching a class on experimental design techniques. Wanting the students to "develop a taste for interactions," I experimented with my basic recipe of cinnamon rolls that I've been making for years. I'm teaching the same course this week and decided to experiment once again with my basic recipe. This time, however, I used different factors. Here are the questions I wanted this experiment to answer:

1. Is an orange-flavored dough preferred to the basic plain dough that I normally use?
2. Is an orange-cream cheese icing better than the plain sugar glaze that I normally use?
3. Is it OK to freeze the cinnamon rolls? Here, I was speculating that freezing the cinnamon rolls wouldn't necessarily make them taste better. However, if the test subjects couldn't tell a difference, that would be a "win" for me. I would be able to make these rolls well in advance for my friends and co-workers instead of baking at 5:00 am before heading to work.
4. Is an individual serving of a cinnamon roll that is baked in a muffin cup preferred to one that is taken from a batch baked in a larger pan that I normally use?
5. Do UT fans have different preferences re: cinnamon rolls than those who are not UT supporters? Here, I was speculating that orange-blooded folks would prefer the orange variations . . . no matter what. In contrast, I was speculating that the non-UT fans would say they didn't like any of the orange variations . . . no matter what.

As before, for those of you who just want to bypass the details and simply find the answers to these questions, simply scroll to the bottom of this post. For the rest of you . . .

Here is another way of listing the factors, or changes, that I wanted to try:

Factor:            Current Condition:      Change to Try:
A: Dough          Plain                          Orange
B: Icing             Plain sugar glaze       Orange cream cheese icing
C: Frozen          Not frozen                 Frozen
D: Muffin Cup  No muffin cup           Muffin cup
E: UT Fan         Not a UT fan             UT fan

I made 8 different batches of cinnamon rolls, each with differing combinations of above.

The first four batches were made fresh this morning (not frozen):

Batch 1: Plain dough with plain sugar glaze icing that has been baked in a muffin cup, then tasted by a UT fan

Batch 2:  Orange dough with plain sugar glaze icing that has not been baked in a muffin cup, then tasted by a non-UT fan

Batch 3: Plain dough with orange cream cheese icing that has not been baked in a muffin cup, then tasted by a UT fan

Batch 4: Orange dough with orange cream cheese icing that has been baked in a muffin cup, then tasted by a non-UT fan

The last four batches were made a few weeks ago and frozen. I took them out of the freezer to thaw last night:

Batch 5: Plain dough with plain sugar glaze icing that has been baked in a muffin cup, then tasted by a non-UT fan

Batch 6: Orange dough with plain sugar glaze icing that has not been baked in a muffin cup, then tasted by a UT fan

Batch 7: Plain dough with orange cream cheese icing that has not been baked in a muffin cup, then tasted by a non-UT fan

Batch 8: Orange dough with orange cream cheese icing that has been baked in a muffin cup, then tasted by a UT fan

As before, I asked each student/co-worker who wanted to participate in this experiment to taste a particular batch (or batches) of cinnamon rolls. (A big thanks to all who participated!) Then, each was asked to provide a "likeability" score (using a 1-5 scale) by completing the following survey:

I collected 8 surveys for each batch, for a total of 64 observations.

After analyzing the results, I learned that baking in a muffin cup and freezing the cinnamon rolls significantly affected the likeability score. This is depicted in the chart below by the very long bar that exceeds the reference line.

Even though most of the responses were very favorable, I learned that using a muffin cup (Factor D) had a negative effect on the likeability score. That is, the average likeability score from those batches where I used the muffin cup was statistically significantly lower than the average likeability score from those batches that I baked in a regular large pan. (see fourth graph below). Hindsight, I think this makes sense. I know that I prefer the gooey centers as opposed to the outer crusts. The rolls baked in muffin cups had less gooey centers and more outer crusts.

In addition to the muffin cups, I learned that freezing the cinnamon rolls (Factor C) also had a negative effect on the likeability score. Ouch. I really didn't want to see that.

Interestingly, it appears that the average likeability score is about the same, whether or not you use orange cream cheese icing or the plain sugar glaze icing (Factor B). Also, there was essentially no difference in the likeability score among the non-UT fans and the UT fans (Factor E). That surprised me! See the second and the last graphs above.

Although changing the dough (Factor A) wasn't technically significant, the average likeability score from those batches with the orange dough appears to be heading in the right direction, as shown in the first graph above. Hmmmmm. I kept exploring. Then I uncovered that changing to the orange dough actually produced more consistent results. This is depicted in the graph below. Scores from the plain dough ranged anywhere from 1 to 5 (all over the place!); whereas, scores from the orange dough only ranged from about 3 to 5.

For this experiment, I found a clue where possibly the dough and the icing interact. That is, what happens when you combine these two variables? The data suggests that if I use the plain sugar glaze icing, then it would be best if I used the orange dough. If, however, I use the orange cream cheese icing, then it doesn't matter too much what type of dough I use. Even more surprising is the combination of the plain sugar glaze icing with the plain dough (the status quo condition). This produced the lowest likeability score!

Bottom line: Unlike the previous experiment, I now have more questions. Maybe I shouldn't "leave well enough alone" after all. I definitely want to avoid freezing the rolls and avoid using muffin cups. I definitely will continue to share my rolls with the diverse population of friends and co-workers (orange-blooded or not). At this point, I will stick with the basic sugar glaze icing. Since icing didn't matter much, why incur the added expense of cream cheese? It's the dough that I'm still a little uncertain about. So, that means more testing. I'm guessing that my students and co-workers will have no problem with that!

If you have any ideas on what changes I should try next, send them my way! :)

Birthday Cake Pancakes

For Keely's 24th birthday, I knew I wanted to start the day off in a most special way. When I ran across birthday cake pancakes on Pinterest, I didn't have to look any further. It's a no-brainer. This is for a girl who carries a Kate Spade tote bag that says, "Eat Cake for Breakfast."

Of course, mine didn't look anything like the original picture, nor does anything else I make from Pinterest for that matter! These are real. And really, really good.

Next time I make them, I would change two things:

1. Cut the recipe in half. I had twice as much batter as I needed for the three of us.
2. Add the sprinkles to the batter as you go. . . unless you want a tie dye effect, which is pretty cute, too.

Steve said that these are the pancakes he wants to eat from now on. I immediately told him, "Nope. You have to wait for your own birthday." Come to think of it, though, I think Keely was right when she posted, "Life's too short not to eat birthday cake pancakes. #sprinkles." So, I promise to not have Steve wait 350 days for this treat. Yes, we should all eat something cute on our birthday, but perhaps this is a fine motto for any other day!

Birthday Cake Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup yellow cake mix
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1-1/2 cups buttermilk
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup sprinkles 

Directions:

Heat a griddle or nonstick skillet over medium heat. Mix all dry ingredients; set aside. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs with a whisk. Add the milks and vanilla and whisk to combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir until fully mixed. Fold in the sprinkles. 

Scoop portions (approximately 1/3 cup) onto the griddle, leaving room for the batter to spread into larger rounds. When the pancakes begin to bubble, flip and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Serve with syrup or optional icing (powdered sugar and whipping cream mixed to desired consistency).

Source: Adapted from Seeded at the Table