SUZIE SWEET TOOTH

Cakes, Treats, and Everything Sweet

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    • Coconut-Lime Ice Pops

      Which type of coconut person are you? Are you a COCONUT LOVER or not? I know when it comes to coconut people seem to really love it or not…. Guess which one I am? Yep, COCONUT LOVER. I’m kookoo for coconut. My favorite popsicle or ice pop is coconut cream.

      My Mom was a tupperware lady when I was growing up and we had beaucoup tupperware. Cupboards of the stuff. One of the things we had was a popsicle maker. My Mom used to make us homemade popsicles and fudgesicles when we were growing up. Now a days you have so many choices in the stores when it comes to buying popsicles and there are ones that are certainly more healthy than others that do not contain a lot of sugar. I like both types of popsicles; healthy and ones not so healthy…..The thing is; there is no reason to feel guilty about indulging in a good popsicle. Decide which type of flavor is your favorite and go from there.  The possibilities are endless.

      Coconut-Lime Ice Pops

      Coconut-Lime Ice Pops

      (recipe adapted from Ice Pops by Shelly Kaldunski)

      yield: makes 10-12 ice pops

      1 Cup Heavy cream

      3/4 Cup superfine sugar

      1 can regular (not light) coconut milk

      1/2 Cup sweetened shredded coconut

      grated zest of  3 limes

      1/2 Cup whole milk

      In a chilled bowl combine the heavy cream and the sugar on high speed beat until thickened and reach soft peaks; about 90 seconds.

      In a blender combine coconut milk and coconut until mostly smooth. Stir in the lime zest. Transfer to a 4 cup meauring cup with a pour spout. Stir in the whole milk. Gently whisk in the whipped cream.

      Divide the mixture evenly in ice pop molds. If using wooden sticks; wait about 50 minutes before inserting sticks and continue to freeze until solid; about 4 hours.

    • Carrot Cake

      Why do carrots get such a bad rap?  Carrots are cool; just ask Bugs Bunny. Matter of fact, tre cool! Carrots are healthy. Carrots are full of beta carotine. Carrots help make the most amazing cake! Everytime I make this cake people tell me its the best carrot cake they’ve ever had; and quite frankly I agree. I think it’s because of all the yummy ingredients of coconut, pineapple and raisins. I have never met a person that does not like carrot cake.  I know it’s all in my head, but somehow I feel like a good Mother when I make carrot cake as my child is actually eating carrots– for a change. Yes I know it’s hardly much carrot he actually gets and yes I know it’s wrapped around a bunch of sugar and other things but I can’t help it, I still feel sneaky and giddy. The word carrot usually sends Seth running for the hills. It is literally the only way he will eat a carrot; unless I sneak it into a smoothie. This is a great party cake as young and old alike will fall for this cake. All your carrot phobia offspring will go for it. You can make it in a 9 x 13 pan or if you like it will make a nice 2 layer (9 inch) cake. I have even made a recipe and a half and done an impressive 3 layer cake. The recipe below for cream cheese frosting is the perfect amount for a 9 x 13 pan. If you want to make a layer cake I would double the frosting for a 2 layer. Party on~ Suzie.

      Carrot Cake

      Cake:

      3 Cups all-purpose flour

      1  1/2 Cups sugar

      1 tsp. salt

      1 Tbsp baking soda

      1 Tbsp cinnamon

      1  1/2 Cups vegetable oil or grapeseed oil

      4 Lg eggs

      1 Tbsp vanilla

      2 Cups shredded carrots

      1 Cup golden raisins

      1 Cup of drained crushed pineapple

      1 Cup sweetened shredded coconut

      1 Cup chopped walnuts

      Cream Cheese Frosting:

      8 oz. cream cheese; kept cold

      4 Tbsp unsalted butter; cubed and kept cold

      2 tsp vanilla

      1 pound confectioners sugar

      1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease or spray with nonstick baking spray a 9 x 13 inch pan or 2 (9 inch round pans).

      2. In a large bowl or bowl of stand mixer combine dry ingredients and  whisk together.

      3. Add oil, eggs and vanilla and beat well for about 2 minutes. Stir in carrots, raisins, pineapple, coconut and walnuts. Pour batter into pan(s). Set on middle rack of oven and bake for about 35-40 minutes or until edges have pulled away from sides of the pan; if cake looks like it’s getting too dark cover with aluminum foil. Let pans(s) cool completely on wire rack. Frost with cream cheese frosting. Keep cake cold until about 30 minutes before serving. Store any leftover cake wrapped and stored in the fridge.

      For Frosting: Beat together the cold cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add in vanilla and beat.  Slowly sift in confectioners sugar about 1-2 cups at a time and beat until smooth.

    • Common Baking Substitutions

      A word about baking substitutions. Baking is as we all know,  a science and sometimes you can “fool” a recipe by substituting another ingredient in the recipe if you don’t have one. Below are a few common substitutions you can do instead of running to the store if you are hard pressed for time. I hope you find this list helpful and if you like it’s handy to print out and tape to the  inside of your cupboard of baking supplies to use as a handy reference. Happy Baking~ Suzie

      Baking Powder (1 tsp): 1/4 tsp. baking soda+ 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

      Cream of Tartar (1/2 tsp): 1/2 tsp. white vinegar or lemon juice

      Buttermilk (1 Cup): 3 choices here~

      a) 1 Cup plain yogurt, [greek is even fine] OR

      b) 1 Tbsp. white vinegar or lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup then fill to the 1 Cup line with whole milk or 2 % milk and let stand for 5 minutes, OR

      c) 1 Cup milk + 3/4 tsp. cream of tartar

      Half -n-Half   [for baking- 1 Cup]: 1 1/2 Tbsp. butter + enough milk to = 1 Cup

      Super Fine Sugar (1 Cup): Take granulated sugar and process in food processor for ~ 30 seconds (I personally never buy super fine sugar- what I do is whir up a big batch of granulated sugar in my processor and then keep it in a labeled container separately).

      Light Brown Sugar (1 Cup): 1 Tbsp. unsulfured molasses + 1 Cup white granulated sugar. (combine in a bowl with a fork or handheld mixer)

      Dark Brown Sugar (1 Cup): 2 Tbsp. unsulfured molasses + 1 Cup white granulated sugar. (combine in a bowl with a fork or handheld mixer)

    • Green Tea Petite Fours with Blackberry Icing

      I’ve really come to love the taste of green tea in baking. You have to be careful with the amount of green tea when it comes to baking. Too much of a good thing and you’ve crossed over into weird taste territory. Starbucks has a green tea frappe with blackberry drizzle and this was my inspiration for these mini tea cakes. Something special happens whenever you pair a tannic flavor like tea with fruit. Think blackberry cabernet sorbet for instance. Another example is balsamic and strawberry. Tannic flavor and fruit are good dance partners; just remember to let one be the lead and the other to follow; just like any good dance partner, one needs to be more assertive and the other the compliment. I can see serving these tea cakes as dessert for a light luncheon or garden party. They are best eaten the day they are made as the icing tends to melt in after the first day. Enjoy~ Suzie.

      Green Tea Cakes 1_edited-1

      Green Petite Fours with Blackberry Icing

      recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

      (Macy’s carries Martha’s  tea cake pan). psst… you can also buy the same exact pan at Williams Sonoma, which I noticed has the same exact shapes.

      yield: 30 tea cakes

      Blackberry Icing

      1 Tbsp + 2 tsp.  Blackberry preserves

      2 Tbsp. water

      1 Cup confectioners sugar

      1. In a small bowl combine the preserves and water until smooth. Add sugar and whisk to combine. Add more sugar or water as necessary to reach a fluid consistency but thick enough to coat the back of a teaspoon. If the icing runs off the spoon too quickly it is too thin; add more sugar as needed.

      Green Tea Cakes

      6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled

      3 eggs; room temp

      1/4 tsp. salt

      1/2 Cup sugar

      3/4 tsp. vanilla

      3/4 Cup cake flour, sifted

      1  1/2 tsp. matcha green tea powder

      1. Preheat oven to 375° F. Coat tea cake pan with nonstick spray. Melt butter and set aside to cool.

      2. In a small bowl whisk together flour, and green tea; set aside.

      3. Beat eggs, salt, and sugar with a mixer on medium speed, until pale yellow and very thick about 8 minutes. Stir in vanilla. Fold in flour mixture rapidly but gently. Fold in butter without allowing butter to settle to the bottom of the bowl. Quickly spoon mixture into the pan, until batter is just below the rim.

      4. Bake until cakes spring back when touched lightly; about 11-13 minutes. Invert pan onto wire rack and flip out so cakes are facing up. Spoon glaze on cakes while still warm. Let cool and serve.

    • Mini Raspberry-Vanilla Bean Cheesecakes

      In the late summer of 1998 I moved to San Francisco from New Mexico. I had been living in the “Land of Enchantment” for a short time when I was a traveling Nurse. I still remember the long drive through the central valley of California on my way to San Francisco and seeing all the fresh produce trucks driving past me in great numbers. Convoys of huge trucks filled with roma tomatoes, and other fresh produce were cruising past me on my journey to my new home. It suddenly dawned on me that California was going to be an exciting place when it came to shopping for fresh fruits and veggies. The first taste of a really ripe apricot was one of my first amazing discoveries, the second was tasting a really ripe juicy raspberry. Grocery shopping suddenly became a little more exciting to me. Being a “foodie” this was fun for me to find such gorgeous fruit. I don’t mean to wax poetic, but this was something new to me; a raspberry that was really sweet and not half ripe. Cartons of beautiful ruby-red raspberries all stacked atop each other in neatly organized rows. A raspberry that was picked from the coastal region of California the day before at its peak of ripeness- not hard, not pale red, but deep dark red and sweet. Raspberries have been on sale this week so I took the opportunity to grab quite a few and made some fresh raspberry sauce to top my cheesecakes. You could also use frozen raspberries and it would work fine. Here is another favorite recipe of mine; a raspberry tart recipe while raspberries are in season. Click here for more facts about California raspberries as well as how to pick and store fresh raspberries from the fine folks at Driscolls. Enjoy.

      Mini Raspberry-Vanilla Bean Cheesecakes

      yield: 24 mini (standard muffin size) cheesecakes

      Raspberry Topping

      24 oz. fresh raspberries

      1/2 Cup sugar

      1 tsp. cornstarch

      1 tsp. water

      In a 3 quart saucepan combine the raspberries and sugar and let them macerate for a few minutes. On medium high heat, bring the raspberries and sugar mixture to a boil for 3 minutes while stirring continuously with a rubber spatula. Mash the raspberries with the spatula while letting it come to a boil. After 3 minutes, in a small bowl combine the cornstarch and water to make a slurry. Stir in the slurry and continue to stir for another 3 minutes to let the mixture thicken. Strain through a fine mesh strainer over a medium bowl to remove all the seeds and press the mixture with the spatula back and forth to allow all of the raspberry filling to pass through. Scrape the underside of the strainer to make sure you get all of the filling into the bowl. Let the filling cool and chill in a covered container in the fridge.

      Cheesecakes:

      4 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese; room temp

      1 Cup sugar

      1 tsp. lemon zest

      2 tsp. vanilla bean paste

      4 eggs; room temp

      1  1/2  Cup fresh raspberries rinsed and drained well

      24 “Nilla” wafers

      1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Prepare 2 standard size muffin tins with paper liners. Place a Nilla wafer in the bottom of each muffin cup with the flat side down. Beat together the cream cheese, sugar, lemon zest and vanilla bean paste until well combined. Beat in the eggs one at a time until just combined. Carefully fold in the fresh raspberries. Fill the liners 3/4 full with cheesecake mixture. Bake about 15-18 minutes until the centers are ALMOST set. Cool completely and chill the cakes for 3-4 hours. Top each cheesecake with raspberry topping. Serve cold.

    • Strawberry Mojito

      I think we should just make Mondays Mojito Day and be done with it. You can thank me now. Mind you; this has to start of course at 5:30 Pm, or when you hit the front door.  Today I hit the front door at promptly 5:45 Pm and yes the mojito was made BEFORE DINNER. Somethings take priority and yes, the dog can wait if it was a particularly painful Monday. Fido will understand when he sees you chillin. Just remind your husband [ahem] not to weed wack the nice pile of mint you have growing in the backyard. Yes, I know the weed wacker can be fun. Yes, I know you can’t tell mint from a weed. Listen up husbands with weed wackers- soon you will be hip to the properties of fine mint once you taste this bad boy!  It’s officially summer now and all the components are ripe for the picking. Fresh mint, limes and strawberries with a little libation thrown in. Mondays are a bit too painful sometimes and you need something to kill the pain. Today was one of those days. Rum beats advil any old day in my book. Bottoms up.

      Strawberry Mojito

      1 Tbsp. sugar

      9 fresh mint leaves

      2 shots white rum

      3 Tbsp. diced strawberries

      1 shot fresh lime juice

      seltzer water

      ice cubes

      Muddle the mint leaves with the sugar in a glass. Fill the glass half way with ice cubes. Add the rum, strawberries, and lime juice. Add enough seltzer water to fill the glass, stir well. Garnish with a strawberry and mint sprig. Serve chilled.