Honey Cake and Lavender Earl Grey Cream with Bee K’onscious Artisanal Honey

I was sent products from Bee K'onscious free of charge in order to facilitate the writing of this post.

Convoluted story time: I've been watching the Emmy Made in Japan Youtube channel for many many years. I love all the quirky recipes she attempts, and I especially love her open mindedness to even the most ridiculous sounding flavor combinations and unusual (AKA non-Western) ingredients. Emmy also often attempts to make every day grocery items, like condiments or different types or bread or noodles, from scratch, so it was no surprise when she decided to start raising her own chickens and become a bee keeper. I'm personally not a big fan of bees, but watching her foray into bee keeping and everything that goes into honey production is downright thrilling. All this is to say that I have a new found appreciation for the complexities of honey production and extraction. Much like wine, honey's flavor and texture is dependent on so many things; the season, the weather, of course the pollen available, but even the happiness of the bees in the hive!

When a company called Bee K'onscious reached out to me recently about their line of artisanal raw honeys, I couldn't help thinking of all the drama I'd watched Emmy go through with her bees in order to collect fresh, raw, beautiful honey. Bee K'onscious is based in Denver, but their honeys come from small bee keepers in California, Montana, and Brazil. Each bottle is single source, meaning it can be traced to a single bee keeper via a QR code on the bottle. Since the honey is raw and unfiltered, it retains all of the natural nutrients and anti bacterial properties a lot of over processed honeys loose along the way. Being raw and unpasteurized also means the honey can sometimes come crystallized, which might throw some people off. However, crystallized honey is just as delicious and can be more easily used as a spread on things like biscuits and pancakes. If you would rather have a more liquid honey, that's no problem! Simple dip the jar into some hot water and the honey will transform into liquid gold.

The honey I received from Montana Clover honey, and it had a lovely bright floral flavor without a cloying, lingering sweetness. As I've been baking a lot of bread recently, I really enjoyed spreading it on warm toast with a little local strawberry preserves. I actually really enjoyed it in it's crystallized form, as it added a nice bit of texture! However, I wanted to find a nice summery recipe in which I could really show off how delicious and delicate this honey is.

After going through many, many recipes in which honey was used more as a sweetening agent rather than a flavoring component, I settled in this simple recipe from King Arthur Flour. For some reason, I just think the combination of the whole wheat flour and the all purpose flour really helps the honey shine, and the fact that there is no additional sugar means this cake has just the right amount of sweetness. To compliment the simplicity of the cake and the floral flavor of the honey, I made a version of my Earl Grey pastry cream, but with a lavender Earl Grey and a touch of purple food coloring for funzies. I then topped the cake off with some fresh strawberries and blackberries and a sprinkling of powdered sugar. the result was a delectable treat that could be easily enjoyed for a decadent breakfast or a light dessert! I even crumbled up some of the cake and layered it into a mason jar along with the berries and pastry cream to take on a responsibly socially distant picnic.

If you are a honey aficionado, or you would like to become one, I would highly encourage you to check out Bee K'conscious. Not only are they an ethical and sustainable small business, the very nature of honey production is environmentally positive as can be! Keep an eye out for more honey sources from them as they expand their product line to include single source honeys from all over the world!

Learning to Pipe Buttercream Flowers in the Time of Quarantine

I was sent product free of charge from Nielsen-Massey Vanillas in order to facilitate the writing of this post.

Well, it's been a crazy few months since my last post. Back then, things were just starting to go into lock down mode. Now, we're all adjusting to our new normals, whether that is ordering takeout a few times a week to keep our friends in the hospitality industry afloat, buying meal kits from our favorite small businesses and, vendors, and farmers, or doing a hell of a lot more baking than any one person should probably be doing.

Speaking of baking, if you've been following my Instagram, you'll know I have fallen full force into the quarantine baker role. Bread, butter mochi, chocolate chip cookies. Just all the carbs. So much carbs. Thing is, as good as my baking skills have gotten, my presentation skills are still kind of lacking.

That is one of the reasons I still love visiting bakeries, like my neighbors, Life's Sweet Inc. Ever since this dessert wonderland opened last year, I've been obsessed with everything Melissa, the owner, makes. Every time I walk in the door, I am immediately hypnotized by all the delicious sweets on display in her pastry case. Better yet, if you stick around her shop for any length of time, you are bound to see one of her gorgeously decorated cakes making it's way out the door. Every single time, I marvel at how beautiful and precise her buttercream piping skills are.

Sadly, it's businesses like Melissa's that have been hit the hardest during the COVID-19 crisis. Small, independent, neighborhood restaurants, bakeries, and specialty shops all over the country have been forced into making horrible decisions about whether to remain open for carry out/delivery and place their staff at risk while fighting with greedy delivery platforms, or closing up completely and putting all their faith in the unstable and confusing government loan programs. But through everything, Melissa has stayed flexible and positive by keeping her bakery and cafe going through an ingenious pickup window system. I have made it a point to try and visit places like her shop at least once a week, because I am now so addicted to her ever changing lineup of sweets and perfectly prepared breakfast and lunch fair that I cannot imagine my neighborhood without her. I will single handedly keep her in business, if that's what it takes!

My buddies over at Nielsen-Massey Vanillas recently released a new instructional video over on their Better Your Bake page about how to pipe buttercream roses and hydrangeas. Well, since I have been wanting to step up my decorating skills, this was a perfect opportunity to start learning, especially since I have never ever tried piping before! But, I wanted to see just how close I could get to professional quality flower piping using the instructional video alone, so I roped Melissa into helping me. I ordered some of her impossibly moist mini cupcakes and had her put her signature piping on top of half of them, and I would try my best to replicate her work. How did I do? Well, before you scroll all the way down, take a close look at the next picture and see if you can determine which of us piped which cupcake:

Not bad for a beginner, hu? In case you couldn't tell, that's mine on the right and Mel;issa's on the left. Preparing the two toned piping was much easier to do than I thought it would be, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Now, after I started practicing my piping, I realized that I was using tips that were a bit smaller than Melissa's, but I think I still achieved the same effect. Now, as for the roses... well, it's gonna be pretty obvious who the beginner piper was here!

Yeah, I didn't quite master the height and definition of Melissa's work, but at least after a few tries, I did manage to get something that vaguely looked like a rose! Oh, and by a few tries, I mean two batches of buttercream worth of tries!

Rose attempt number 1

Rose attempt number 2

In the end, the piping was a bit easier than I expected it to be, but it's definitely something that is going to take lots of practice to master. There is a lot of muscle memory and nuance involved, and getting the buttercream to just the right consistency and temperature is crucial (that's why I used Nielsen-Massey's tried and true buttercream recipe to give myself the best chance at success).

So, what do you think of how my beginner's piping compared to that of a professional? And let me know in the comments below what skills you have been learning while you've been stuck at home! Stay safe, everybody! And don't forget to support local small businesses and independent restaurants in any way you can!

Peach Bourbon Brown Butter Cake with Nielsen-Massey Vanillas

I was sent products from Nielsen-Massey Vanillas in order to facilitate the writing of this post. All opinions are my own.

It's odd that some people think of baking as a winter time activity. I mean, I get it; no one wants to unnecessarily warm up their house in the middle of a heat wave by having the oven on.  But it's a real shame, because there's so many flavors that are only available during the summer that work so well in baked goods, not to mention we can all use a little stress relief at all times of the year.

You've seen the title of this post, so you know what I'm going to say next: peaches. Baked goods with peaches are absolutely fantastic. In general, I find that stone fruits are some of my favorite things to bake with, because their flavors are so complex and vivid when the fruits are fresh, but even more so when cooked. And you can't exactly cook with fresh peaches in the dead of winter, so making a delicious summertime treat is really your only option if you don't want to use frozen or canned fruits.

Recently my friends at Nielsen-Massey Vanillas released two limited edition vanilla extracts and asked if I'd like to try one of them out. I opted for the Indonesian Vanilla because it was purported to have woody, smokey notes, and that it worked well in high heat/slow bake recipes. The woody/smokey notes immediately made me think of grilling peaches, which was just the thing to compliment the recipe I had in mind.

What did I have in mind you ask? Again... it's right there in the title of the post, so you pretty much know already. Basically, I wanted to try making a take on the Midwest favorite; Gooey Butter Cake. I'd never had this finger-licking treat before I moved to Chicago, but now I've been well educated on this bake sale classic, and it is well loved for a reason. The reason, of course, is BUTTER. But even classics can stand to be improved a little.

The only thing  that has always bothered me about gooey butter caked was that typically, a boxed yellow cake mix is used to make the crust. Why not make it from scratch? It's just as easy as using the box, and you can have more control over the quality of the ingredients. 

I also decided to use brown butter in all elements of this cake to give it a nuttier, more toasty flavor, that I thought would really compliment the Indonesian vanilla. This step by step guide from Nielsen-Massey Vanillas's Better Your Bake series perfectly demonstrates how to achieve brown butter without burning it, which is something I used to struggle with. 

Lastly, I decided that I wanted to top my cake with a richly flavored, slightly tart peach puree in order to off-set the sometimes cloying sweetness of the cake and filing. The addition of some good bourbon and roasted cinnamon is absolutely gilding the lily with even more deliciousness, pushing this cake into a more adult-centric flavor profile. If I wanted to sound pretentious, I might call it "elevated nostalgia."

Peach Bourbon Brown Butter Cake

For the Crust:

1/2 cup (8 tablespoons or 1 stick) of butter, melted and browned

1 cup sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon Nielsen Massey Vanilla Extract

2 large eggs

3 cups cake flour

a pinch of salt

For the Filing: 

1 package of softened cream cheese (8 oz)

1/2 cup (8 tablespoons or 1 stick) of butter, melted and browned

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons Nielsen Massey Vanilla Extract

1 cup sugar

a pinch of salt

For the topping:

1/2 cup (8 tablespoons or 1 stick) of butter, melted and browned

4 large peaches, pitted and cut into slices

1/2 cup good bourbon

1 tablespoon Nielsen Massey Vanilla Extract

1 teaspoon roasted cinnamon

a pinch of salt

sugar to taste

4 sheets of gelatin, bloomed in warm water

Pre-heat oven to 375. 

First, make the crust: In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, vanilla, eggs, and brown butter. Mix until it forms a dough (you may need to kneed it with your hands. If it's too dry and not coming together, add a tiny bit of milk or water until it becomes a cohesive dough). Press the dough into a non stick or greased 9x13 pan, forming an even base and bringing the dough up half way on the sides of the pan.

Next, make the filling: In a medium bowl, add the cream cheese, butter, eggs, vanilla, sugar, and salt, and mix with a hand mixer until everything is combined and smooth. Pour the filling over the crust and smooth out the top. Bake for about an hour, or until the edges of the crust are just starting to brown and the filing is set but still slightly jiggly. Set aside to cool.

For the topping: Add the peaches to the butter in a medium sauce pan over medium high heat and cook until the peaches have become extremely soft and rendered out most of the juice, about 15 minutes. Add in the bourbon, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt and let cook an additional 10 minutes. Take the mixture off the heat and using an immersion blender, puree the peaches completely. Taste the mixture and add sugar as needed (it's best to keep the puree a little on the tart side). Put the mixture back on the heat and add the gelatin sheets, then stir until they have completely dissolved. Pour the puree mixture over the top of the cooled cake and make sure to smooth it out into an even layer. Refrigerate for a few hours or over night to set the topping, cut into squares, and serve.

Peppermint and Almond Christmas Poke Cake with Nielsen Massey

I received free product from Nielsen Massey in order to facilitate the writing of this post.

Christmas time and baking are pretty synonymous. Who thinks of Christmas time and doesn't conjure up memories of delicately iced sugar cookies, warm gingerbread, or boozy fruit cake? Sometimes on wintery weekends, I start feeling the impulse to just get up a bake. It keeps my hands busy, it keeps me warm, and it gives me something to do while binging Great British Baking Show for hours on end. Well, one of these impulses over took me this past weekend, and it resulted in something I'm actually pretty proud of.

I had a vision, you see. It was of a cake my mom made once, long ago. A sort of yellow sheet cake with icicle-like drips of red and green running through the slices. I don't remember how old I was when she made it, nor do I remember how many times she made it. But the memory of those magically colored squares of cake popped into my head and I decided I wanted to make a Christmas Poke Cake of my own.

Now, because I can't do anything the easy way, I realized I was going to have to improvise a little. Nearly every recipe I found for poke cakes called for boxed cake mix for some reason. Does no one make their own cake mix anymore? I don't know about you, but I like begin able to control the salt levels and types of flour I'm using for my baking recipes. I also didn't want to make a sheet cake because... well... I don't really know why I didn't want to make a sheet cake. So I decided to make it a bundt cake instead. Because bundt cakes are prettier. And more festive. Lastly, I decided not to use pre-flavored gelatin. This was mostly down to the fact that red and green gelatin look great, but don't exactly make a very Christmas-y flavor combo (but if lime and cherry are your idea of Christmas flavors, I'm not judging).

For my Christmas Poke Cake, I wanted to highlight a trio of the best flavorings on earth: Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract, Pure Almond Extract and Pure Peppermint Extract from Nielsen-Massey Vanillas. I've been working with Nielsen-Massey Vanilla's extracts for many years now and it would be a horror to open my cabinet and not find them. It's so great that a family owned company from right here is Illinois has become world renowned for producing such excellent products (seriously, you can even spot their bottles on the contestant's stations in Great British Baking Show!). Obviously, these three extracts in particular play an important role in Christmas baking, which is why they have bundled them all together for super convenient baking supply shopping. The Nielsen-Massey Vanillas Holiday Flavors Bundle is available exclusively on Amazon in 2 oz and 4 oz options.

I started off by using the basic pound cake recipe from Nielsen-Massey Vanilla's website. The only modification I made was to not use the almond extract in the batter. I baked the cake in a bundt cake pan, then let it cool. Once the cake was at room temperature, I used a wooden skewer to create holes down the center and sides of the cake. For the first syrup, I brought 1 cup of water, 1 cup of sugar,and 1 packet of gelatin to a simmer. Once everything was dissolved, I removed the mixed from the heat and added a few drops of red food coloring and 2 teaspoons of the Peppermint extract. I did the same for the second syrup, except with green food coloring and 1 tablespoon of the almond extract.

Now you have to work kind of quickly with this next step. I used plastic pipettes to inject the syrups into the guide holes I'd created with the wooden skewer, making sure the syrup got at least halfway down into the cake. I did one half of the cake with the peppermint syrup and one half with the almond. Once all the holes had been injected, I carefully spooned what was left of the syrup over the top of the cake, making sure the whole top and sides were coated. This will create not only a wash of color around the edges of each slice, but will help to seal the moisture inside your cake and keep it from drying out.

Once I was ready to serve my masterpiece, I covered the whole thing in a dusting of powdered sugar and sliced away! So what are your favorite holiday baking projects? Head on over to my Instagram page and look for the post with the picture of my cake, tell me your must have holiday goodies, and you will have a chance to win a Nielsen-Massey Vanillas Holiday Flavor Bundle of your own! And for more great baking ideas, make sure to follow the hashtag #NiesenMasseyInspires across social media.