Birthday Girl!

Some of you may know that there was a birthday this past week at Chez Marshmallow. Being the fiend for baking that I am, I requested that I get to make my own cake, but everything else was orchestrated by Hubband and Mom. I got presents throughout the day,  (Thank you so much everyone! I'm so spoiled!) lazed about in my pj's as long as I wanted, and was given a wonderful dinner at Mom's house, attended by family and friends. 

For the cake, I decided to try a recipe that the Daring Bakers recently used: Shuna's Caramel Cake. Many of the bloggers that I myself read daily, like this one or this one, are members of the Daring Bakers, so I had seen a lot of reviews, and I couldn't resist trying to work with a recipe that some people had hinted was a bit... finicky. (Why on earth would I pick a challenging, new recipe and make it on the actual day it was needed? Because I am wild, people. Wild.) 

I did want a layer cake, but my 9-inch round pan isn't very tall, so instead I divided the batter between two 8-inch pans. They came out slightly uneven, which was a little difficult to hide, even with frosting, but those are the risks you take when you are a wild woman like myself. The frosting was also quite soft, and didn't want to hold any complex piping designs. This could have been solved with ample chilling time, but having left it to late afternoon, I was forced to just smile and tell myself no one would notice. If anyone did, they didn't mention it. Sweet.

It's obvious in the picture just how soft the frosting was; the top layer is sinking and pushing out the frosting in the gap. Do I mind? Not particularly. If the cake had been for someone else, I would have been upset, but it was only for me, and it was DELICIOUS, so I just let it go. 

The cake was moist and dense, but still fluffy enough to satisfy me. It had a distinct buttery caramel flavor that I really enjoyed. The frosting was the real winner here though. T said it should be criminal, and I will take that as a ringing endorsement. I added a teaspoon of sea salt to the recipe for a salted caramel flavor, and it really came through. It cut the extreme sweetness, and added dimension. I will absolutely be adding this to the permanent recipe collection. 

This recipe is a long one, so check it out here. 

Fast, Easy, and Addictive

Recently some friends here in town were having a social evening at their business, the neighborhood bookstore. It was a 'Cookies and Lemonade' night, an open invitation to come in, meet, and mingle with other residents of the town. Now you know me, I never like to show up empty-handed, but I just didn't have all day to devote to making anything elaborate. Enter Almond Bars! I, or should I say my mom, acquired this recipe from our former hairdresser years ago, and it is just too easy to believe. The original recipe specifies margarine, but I didn't happen to have anything other than butter on hand. The substitution did end up creating a few differences: the caramel flavor was richer, definitely a butter caramel, and the caramel itself was more opaque and stayed a bit softer after cooking and cooling. When using margarine, the caramel stays a translucent amber and sets up a little harder and faster. I tweaked the recipe a bit flavor-wise as well; the original recipe had just 4 ingredients, but I added a few drops of extracts and a little salt, as I have a deep weakness for salted caramel. I'd say these were the best Almond Bars I've made so far. 

Almond Bars

adapted from Tina

12 whole graham crackers

1 stick of butter

1 C light brown sugar, packed

Sliced almonds 

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract

Fine sea salt, for sprinkling

Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the butter and brown sugar in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat until very bubbly, stirring occasionally, about 8 -10 minutes. In the meantime, break the graham crackers in half and place them on the baking sheet. Sprinkle each graham cracker with almonds, heavy or light as you like. When the butter-sugar mix is really boiling away, remove from the heat and add the vanilla and almond extracts. Stir to combine, and carefully spoon or pour the hot sugar mixture over the graham crackers and nuts. Bake for 10 minutes. When you remove the tray from the oven, sprinkle each bar with a little fine sea salt. Let cool on the baking sheet, then break apart and serve.