Author Archives: Rae

Mama What’s Cookin’? Biscuits!

Posted on by

Aren’t Saturday biscuits heavenly?

I woke up early Saturday morning to make these cream cheese biscuits  for my family (and of course they loved me for it) There is something wonderful about starting out the day with a pleasant (and successful!) baking experience. I’ve baked home-made biscuits before but these were different… almost resilient. The cream cheese gave them an springy quality that was actually quite nice. In my pictures I spread them with pomegranate and raspberry jam but my favorite way to eat biscuits is hot-out-of-the-oven with lots of butter and honey… oh, and of course hot tea.

Visit BakedBree for the full recipe and enjoy!

100 Layer Cake Giveaway

Posted on by

Last year during my final exams (right before Christmas) I won a giveaway from the blog and wedding company 100 Layer Cake. I cannot tell you how excited I was when I received Jillian’s email that read, “Hi Rachel, I’m beyond thrilled to announce you’re the winner of our holiday giveaway!” It happened on the last day of finals and after a long week of study, I was thrilled. Anyway, because I am presently living here in Tianjin, I had all of the gifts sent to my grandparents house in Texas, who would then send it to me… AND ITS FINALLY HERE! I opened the package at around 11:00 pm last night and then snapped some photos this morning.

Cake Challenge: February Part 2

Posted on by

Chocolate Cake with Almond Cream Filling and Sourcream Chocolate Icing–phew, that’s a mouth-full!

This is the second post documenting the February cake I baked. I wanted to quickly write the recipes down for anyone brave enough to try a triple layer cake at home! Its already half way through March and I feel lost by the fact that I haven’t baked any delicious sweets this month. Baking is literally the butter to my bread. Without it I’m simply a dry, over-toasted slice without the buttery topping to moisten it. Lately I’ve been inspired to make something creative with cake such as icecream cupcakes sandwiches, next week is Maddie’s Birthday and I will be making her a layer “ice cream” cake so maybe that will satisfy me.

Anyway, here’s the recipe!

Chocolate Cake:
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped
1 1/4 cups of sugar
1/2 cups strongly brewed coffee
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons of cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 ts. baking powder
1 stick of unsalted butter
1/2 cup of honey (odd I know)
3 eggs
2 ts. vanilla extract
1/2 ts. almond extract
2/3 buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms of 3 8-inch round cake pans, dust with flour.
2. Combine chocolate, 1/2 cups sugar, and coffee. Microwave on high for 1-2 minutes of until chocolate is softened. Stir to blend.
3. Sift flour, cocoa, soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
4. Cream butter and remaining 3/4 cups sugar. On medium speed beat in honey, eggs (one at a time), and vanilla/almond extracts.
5. Alternate adding dry ingredients and buttermilk to the mixture.
6. Pour chocolate/coffee mixture in and your batter is complete!
7. Pour a third of the batter into each pan and tap them gently on the counter to remove any air bubbles.
8. Bake 20-25 minutes, remove from oven, cool in pans for 10 minutes before turning them upside down onto cooling racks.

 

Almond Cream Filling:
2 whole eggs
1 egg yoke
1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups milk
2 ts. almond extract
1 ts. vanilla extract

1. Beat eggs in a small bowl until well mixed
2. In a saucepan, combine sugar and flour. Gradually whisk in about 1/2 cup of milk until smooth. Whisk in eggs and remaining milk
3. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat, reduce heat and cook for 3 minutes stirring constantly
4. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla/almond extracts
5. Cover with plastic wrap placing directly onto the cream filling to prevent a film from forming.
6. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

 

Sour Cream Chocolate Icing:
12 onces bittersweet chocolaté, coarsely chopped
1 stick unsalted butter
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 cup half-and-half (I used heavy cream)
1/2 cup sour cream

1. Melt chocolate with butter and corn syrup in a saucepan over very low heat. Remove from heat and whisk until smooth
2. Whisk in the half-and-half and sour cream. Use while soft (pay attention to this- the icing will get firm!)

Have fun, bake yummy cakes!

Cake Challenge: February Part 1

Posted on by

Hello! Happy Monday. This weekend I continued my goal and in the last few days of February made another triple layer cake… I am overjoyed to announce that I didn’t make nearly as many mistakes this month than in January with my Mocha-espresso-drizzle-cake. Actually the mixing, baking and icing process went quite smoothly. (get the recipe/detailed description in part 2 of this post!)

If you are ever in the mood for baking, my suggestion is to “bake with your mom!” <or someone you love> I have had so many bonding experiences with her through comfort when stressful emotions bubble up in me if something goes terribly wrong, through listening to her many years of wisdom in the field of food, and through the successes that we’ve shared together! Stay tuned for my March cake coming soon!

<Cake Challenge Series: is a collection of posts which document the cakes I bake each month. More specifically, I have a goal this year to bake at least one (hopefully spectacular) layer cake each month, and photograph/post them here. I hope you enjoy this collection as much as I enjoy baking these delicious desserts!>

Langkawi, Malaysia Lookbook is here!

Posted on by

[issuu width=550 height=272 embedBackground=%23ffffff backgroundColor=%23222222 documentId=120224023922-c72ea1fb5bf84295a3bb6757b160741a name=headricks_in_malaysia username=connectfour tag=beach unit=px id=30d47c53-ee0f-bf5a-bc93-17eb068d9d1b v=2]

Check out this Lookbook of highlights on our recent trip to Malaysia during winter vacation!

Party of Three

Posted on by

Earlier this month, the girls and I enjoyed a small dinner celebration for the start of this blog, Connecting Four. Maddie made her famous chicken skewers (which are actually BakedBree’s famous kabobs), I mixed up a delicious bread dip which we spread on Mom’s homemade French bread toasted in the oven. Jessie contributed with the cake pops which we are still trying to get a hang of… they take a while to master. I think Dad, Mom and Megan felt a little left out but they made up for it with a “special” dinner with Megan at her little IKEA play table. Oh, and I can’t forget to mention that Michael showed up half way through the meal on skype, we talked over video chat for a while which was nice.

If you are in the mood for a celebration of your own, here are a few tips to spruce up the party:

1.) As far as food goes, small appetizers such as chips and dip, prunes wrapped in bacon, veggies and dip, and other finger foods (things you can find here!) are great.
2.) Table decoration are always fun to make and we’ve found that paper place mats are awesome! Stop by at a crafts store and you can find paper in any color scheme with any pattern imaginable, I’m talking EASY way to expand your options.
3.)Make sure you have music!
4.) Don’t be afraid to move furniture around, we moved couches, chairs, side tables and desks to finally achieve the ambiance we wanted.

Have a wonderful Monday and find excuses to party with your friends and family this month!


 

 

Cake Challenge: January

Posted on by

Mocha Espresso Drizzle Layer Cake:

Cake Challenge Series: is a collection of posts which document the cakes I bake each month. More specifically, I have a goal this year to bake at least one (hopefully spectacular) layer cake each month, and photograph/post them here. I hope you enjoy this collection as much as I enjoy baking these delicious desserts!

I’m happy to say that I was able to achieve my goal, for the first month at least. My first triple decker cake this year (and EVER) was from my new cookbook, Sky High. The texture of this cake is more dense than it is fluffy. Personally I enjoyed the change, I’m so used to vanilla cakes with sugar based frosting, so this coffee flavored cake with expresso glaze tasted heavenly.

As I describe this to you, I have to remember all the things that did NOT go right when making this cake. You see, I started this venture with high hopes, the ingredients were measured, the batter was spun to perfection, the oven was ready… but little did I know my “ready” was the wrong temperature. Sadly, the first two layers were slightly overcooked and a bit dry. And although the last layer was baked to delicious moistness, more problems were awaiting when I began the glaze. As you will see below, the expresso glaze calls for a bag of white chocolate chips melted. <This was when I started hitting bumps in the road.> THE CHOCOLATE WOUDLN’T MELT! My parents and their friends were coming back for dessert at our house and the glaze wasn’t even close to completion! At this point, I was quite disappointed with myself and honestly just wanted to give up. Jessie keep me going though, she never gave up hope while I on the other hand was pacing back and forth voicing “what ifs” here and there… after much stress and multiple rounds in the microwave, the chocolate finally loosened (I think something was wrong with the chocolate and that is why it wouldn’t melt).

Finally, I mixed in the the sweetened condensed milk, other ingredients and vuoila, the glaze was done. My parents were already home waiting for the cake and although the glaze was on the thin side, we quickly assembled the cake and brought it out to be served. I was definitely not eager to serve this cake; after agonizing over it for so many hours I thought that it would taste horrible for sure. But it DIDN’T! On the contrary, I quite liked it… As I happily ate this beautiful cake, I reflected on my baking experience and found that…

Baking my first layer cake taught me three things:
1.) Check the oven temperature before you start baking!
2.) Only make chocolate based icings/glazes when you are mentally, emotionally, and physically sound- and don’t start unless you have LOTS of time.
3.) If you taste bits of cake crumbs and licks of icing here and there, you won’t have any appetite left to eat the finished creation!

 

Mocha Cake

Ingredients:
1 cup freshly brewed espresso OR double-strength coffee
2/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
4 eggs
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 2/3 cup cake flower
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter

Method:
1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of your cake pans.
2. In a medium bowl combine the hot coffee and the coca stirring until the mixture is dissolved into a glossy, smooth mocha. Let cool to room temperature.
3. In another bowl beat eggs lightly and whisk the buttermilk and vanilla in.
4. Place all the rest of the ingredients (dry) into a mixing bowl. With the mixer on low first add butter, followed by the mocha mixture. Beat until well incorporated. Raise the mixer speed to medium and blend until light and fluffy, at this point add the egg mixture in three additions.
5. Bake the cake layers for 35-38 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean but still moist. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes then invert onto wire racks.

Espresso Drizzle

Ingredients:
12 ounces white chocolate
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
6 tablespoons freshly brewed espresso OR double-strength coffee

Method:
1. Melt the white chocolate using either a double boiler (more reliable) or a microwave.
2. Whisk in the sweetened condensed milk and espresso until smooth. (If your drizzle is too thin, stick it in the fridge for an hour)

To assemble simply pout glaze in between each layer of cake, and add more on the top layer so that it will drizzle over the sides!

 

Mama What’s Cookin’? “Tomato” Restaurant Edition

Posted on by

After five long and glorious weeks of winter break, free from school, teachers and exams, I’m now (as of today) back in a classroom. Goodbye to late night movies, Starbucks coffee outings and days where my to do list consists of <1. get dressed & brush hair 2. watch Adobe application tutorials 3. Take sisters out to dinner>. Today we started school in a brand new building and it was wonderful… well except for the fact that I had to leave my house 10 minutes earlier than usual to catch the bus (hey, 10 minutes is a lot when your talking getting ready in the morning), waiting in the frigid weather because Mom want’ed to make “certain” we didn’t miss the bus, and having my body temperature turn from freezing to boiling in a matter of precisely 2 minutes after loading the bus because of extreme overuse of bus heating capabilities. The day progressed more smoothly once I actually arrived at the new campus.

Anyway, on to what this post is actually supposed to be about:

During our winter vacation in Malaysia we adopted a small, beach side Indian/Malaysian restaurant as our very own. I don’t exactly know why but the restaurant was named, “Tomato” and its a small place nudged between two larger restaurants, although its easy to miss on a drive-by, we found that it was almost always packed with people inside. The prices were literally dirt cheap, the selection of dishes vast, and the various curries, rotti, and rices were delicious. Throughout our stay, we ate there at least four times, including once for a 2:00 am snack! The popular Malaysian drinks such as kopi (Malaysian coffee) or teh (like a milk tea) were spectacular not to mention the large variety of other drinks they provided. In remembrance of this cute restaurant, brighten your Monday by taking a friend to eat Indian food with you and talk of pleasant things!

Four Responses: What’s in My Bag | Rachel

Posted on by

1. Believe it or not I do carry tea bags around in my bag… I’m obsessed with the hot beverage
2. Sweets are definitely my weakness, can’t leave the house without some kind of sweet morsel in my bag…
3. Lovely Vanilla Mint lip shine from Bath and Body Works/Revlon Colorstay Liquid Liner
4. Lots of hair calls for lots of maintenance.
5. Music is a must
6. Desperate weather calls for desperate measures.
7. I can’t leave the house without my journal (I know so middle school girl right?), I like to carry a book with me as well just in case I find myself sitting somewhere bored out of my wits BUT its seldom that I actually pull it out to read (guilty feelings)
8. MUJI pens and pencil case- a definite must!

 

Check out Jessie’s response here!