My Little Cake Shop

One more piece of my bake shop puzzle arrived today. The Ohuhu cake stand arrived, thanks to Amazon.

Soon I will have my icing spatula and icing comb to create those professional looking lines on the iced sides of a cake. I also have my Wilson icer

Thanks to my new , and sadly overworked oven, I will be trying all sorts of fun recipes and decorating. This week I will be making homemade fudge along with carrot cake cupcakes and banana bread.What I am looking forward to is making my friend's favorite cake - butter with chocolate buttercream. This will my masterpiece. It will have combed sides along with delicate puffs of icing along with  pink buttercream roses and pale green leaves.

My baking days are starting up again.I'm looking forward to all sorts of creations, from coconut macarons to chocolate chip cookies to elegantly iced cakes.

And a few fudge bars too.

Scandanavian Dishes For Lent

Scandanavian, cuisine whether Icelandic  Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or Finnish has the perfect seafood dishes ready for Lent. The countries share a passion for all sorts of fish , from cod to salmon from herring to shrimp. The recipes are just right for these meatless days.

Salmon is a big dish in Scandinavian cooking, namely in the dish known as gravlax. It's basically curing the salmon for four to five days. It requires both salt and sugar to cure it along with dill and cognac for flavor.. It's an elegant main meal for pescatarians too as well as those who are temporarily off meat. A  humbler recipe is the fish pie, filled with whitefish  and potato, Unlike other fish pies that are usually loaded with onions, this one has the mild ,sweet taste of cucumber to counteract the sharpness of  radishes which also add color. There's also the Scandanavian must have dill in it too for a spark of green and flavor. It's a nice dish to make on a Friday night when the family is gathered. Another cozy recipe is fish soup made with the Norwegian standard - cod. The fish's mildness matches up well with the carrots, potatoes, and mushrooms. Crushed tomatoes are also added to give it a vibe similar to the Portuguese soup, cioppino. It's served with warm crusty bread and butter.Norway also has a great flounder soup, from the seacoast town of  Bergen.Like the other it's a cream soup, but also has flour to thicken it. Julienned carrots give it color. Shrimp can be added to it as well.

Flounder is also used in many other Norwegian and Swedish dishes. Try it baked with shrimp for an elegant spin. It's a casserole, with fish filets layered with shrimp ,  tomatoes, and Parmesan cheese, then topped with pats of butter. Another flounder dish is fish cakes, made with flour and tarragon leaves. Cod and haddock can be used too instead of the flounder. Serve with crispy potatoes as a great Friday night dinner. Not surprisingly Scandinavians  also turn seafood into a pudding called fiskepudding. It's ground haddock mixed with milk and eggs to create a kind of custard. It's served with a shrimp and lobster sauce, heightened with a good  slug of sherry. Herring is a big deal in all the northernmost countries. One of the easiest is a salad made with salted fillets mixed with sour cream, chopped dill and the dill's bulb also chopped. Lemon juice is spritzed in for some tang. Serve on rye crackers or with a  dark bread such as kavring.

Scandinavian cooking is in perfect harmony with Lenten eating. The fish dishes are perfect for meatless Wednesdays and Fridays Try them in any way, from a savory pudding to .fishcakes for tasty dining.

Black Bean Soup The Perfect Soup For Now

With the last days of winter and Lent coinciding, it's nice to have a hot meal that doesn't rely on meat. Black bean soup is the best dish for this.It is filling and satisfying, great for a chilly March night,

Julia Moskin wrote about in in Wednesday's New York Times' Food section. Black beans have been around for ages, being a decidedly American bean, growing only on the North American continent. There have always been recipes regarding them in soup, In fact , Ms. Moskin cites a recipe The Times has printed in 1879, that  has home chefs cooking them for three to four hour and then rubbed against a colander to create a paste. The soup tirned out to be smooth and murky, often thinned with cream and served with a sliced lemon and sieved egg. The famed James Beard suggested stirring in a glass of madeira to brighten his black bean soup recipe.. (although a glass of madeira was added to every soup recipe of his). The bean became super popular in the 1970's thanks to the uprise in vegetrian cooking. Thanks to another famed chef, Jeremiah Towers, black beans became the defining  ingredient in Califrnia cusine as he created black bean cakes,  thick tortillas made from a kind of bean dough and topped with creme fraiche and salsa.What is great about these beans  is that they don't need any kind of meat to give them more flavor. The beans absorn the flavors of the aromatics cooked with them.

The recipe is a tasty looking one and I'm eager to try it. Ms. Moskin does add chiles, chipotle and jalapeno for heat along with such aromatics as oregano and bay leaves. The recipe starts out with a non traditional kind of sofrito. Along with the chiles it has carrots and onions cooked in oil with  garlic. This is then deglazd with a cup of red wine . The broth used can  be chicken but  vegetable can be used, especially if the soup is designated for a Lenten meal.. Salt isn't added until the beans are at least halfway cooked, and the heat can only be turmed up in the begiinning to create a hard boil for only ten to fifteen minutes. Home chefs can use an immersion blender for pureeing the mixture into a satiny soup.. This will give it a lush mouth feel, like a rich cream one. This way doesn't have to be set in stone. Home chefs can leave the beans whole and serve them over a bowl of white rice.It can also be used as a side dish with quesdadillas or fajitas.Ms. Moskin advises not to cook it in a pressure cooking because it will turn the texture into a kind of pudding with no liquid left. The finished dish is served with a blob of sour cream and avocado slices. I wouldn't mind adding a few crumbled tacos on top for more texture.

A fiery , creamy black bean soup is the perfect dinner for a blustery Lenten night. It is hearty and spicy without being too overpowering. It's the right soup for these days ahead.

Buttercream Basics A Baker's Dream Book

One of the most fun things about home baking is decorating one's cakes and cupcakes. There's nothing prettier than a shower cake  festooned with roses or  cupcakes livened up with squiggles and swirls. However, this art does have to be learned and luckily there is a brand new book to show us how.

Buttercream Basics: Learn The Art Of Buttercream Decorating (Robert Rose Publishers 2017) , a phenomenal how to was written by Carey Madden and shows how to create amazing decorations for cakes and cupcakes.Ms. Madden is known for her cake decorating books, She has previously written one just for cupcakes and small cakes. I love this book. One of the best things about it is that she  eases novice decorators like myself from the very simple to the very elaborate. The book doesn't start off with elaborate roses and curlicues. That's for later. Another big plus is the pictorial on the different decorating tools and their use. The book also shows the difference between the tips' openings and how to employ them to create lines, leaves, and petals. Another aspect I 'm impressed with is her advice to left handers like myself. So often we just can't decorate properly because the decorations are for righties. Ms. Madden tells us to go counterclockwise when the directions say clockwise. There is also a chapter on how to mix colors and pair them up for the best color schemes along with chapters on not only icing the cake but also filling it too.Home bakers will likely follow her how to have a smooth surface as well as how to clean tips.

Of course, there is the buttercream recipe but it's the Swiss kind made with egg whites and cooked.She does offer the American kind, but it's sweeter , denser and stiffer than the other. The Swiss meringue is not sugary sweet and it's the perfect foil for the triple chocolate  and yellow butter cake recipes that she also includes. All the cakes featured look amazing.  Beginner icers will love recreating the vintage look of coiled rustic or the swoopy homestyle iced cakes. My favorites are the simple swirl and twine decorated ones where only a spatula is needed to create circles on the top and sides.Ms. Madden also has a chapter on adding sashes to cakes, making them look like elegant hats . There's an interesting one on decorating with crystallized fruits such as figs, blueberries, and blackberries. This would be not only perfect for a birthday but also for a wedding too. The more adventurous will undoubtedly like to attempt the dusting technique which involves stenciling. The cupcake section is adorably cute, especially with the caterpillar birthday cake, made with a line of  cupcakes.I love the rosette swirls and definitely will be trying that one soon enough. There's also the bunch of balloons cupcakes that 's just so sweet  and just the right thing for a kid's birthday cake.

Buttercream Basics :Learn The Art of Buttercream Decorating is the best book for home bakers wanting to create professional looking cakes and cupcakes. It's informative and fun. Learning all the techniques and tips is even better than having your cake and eating it too.

Lessons From A Lenten Diet

Today is Ash Wednesday , the beginning of Lent.It's a time when most Christians, especially Catholics give up foods that they love. It's a good time to rethink one's diet and maybe keep the fasting up for a healthier lifestyle all year round..

Most people usually give up desserts during Lent. It's a good idea to carry this through the year. Many lose their taste for sugar and even the taste of cakes and ice cream after forty days. They realize that they can sub in healthier  sweets such as fruit to satisfy their cravings.Instead of cookies or a slice of Red Velvet , they'll nosh  on bananas and grapes. Candy is another Lenten no-no. Again, it's so easy to swap Kisses and Gummy Bears with pineapple chunks and apple slices. It's a better choice that can lead to better daily choices. Instead of reaching for peanut butter cups, they'll now eat apple slices dipped in peanut butter. Giving up any sweet is hard, especially if you go cold turkey, but your body will adjust. After forty days, those cupcakes and Oreos may not seem as appetizing as they did back around Valentine's Day.Another good thing about Lent is that whole families can give up  the same foods and support each other. They can also discover healthy food together too which benefits everyone from the oldest to the youngest.

Some people give up savory foods too. A few people nix potato chips and dip during this time. This can be tough , especially if they're nightly snackers or head straight to the chip bowl at a party. An easy substitute is tortilla chips.  As we all know, there's no grease or extra salt to deal with. Another plus is that they go well with salsa, another low calorie treat. Make it with fresh tomatoes, onions, and peppers or buy the jarred kind. Popcorn and pretzels are also great alternatives the first being high in fiber while the second is high in n9iacin. Some really go hardcore with the fasting such as the Greek and Russian Orthodox and forego meat, dairy, and oil along with sweets. This is an extremely healthy way to  become a full out vegan,  however be warned. Many people who just go vegan for other reasons have a bad habit of also foregoing proteins. Doing such  can cause moodiness and irritability along with sleeplessness. and a lack of energy. Seek out soy products right away and incorporate them into the diet from day one.. Try Morningstar Farms soy products  which has everything from bacon and sausage patties to chicken nuggets and beef crumbles. As for dairy, it's a good time to discover soy and almond milk , along with soy cheese and ice cream.

Lenten fasting can be the gateway to a year round healthier lifestyle. Start now with giving up the bad stuff.In forty days  you'll won;t even miss the sweets, dairy or meats.

Mardi Gras And Shrove Tuesday

Today is Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday, the last day of celebration before Lent. It's a time of revelry and enjoying egg and butter rich foods before forty days of fasting. This is a time for pancakes too, thanks to the tradition of Shrove Tuesday. It's a celebration whatever is made today.

For some Mardi Gras means gumbo. This is an easy cook, a fun stew made with shrimp and andouille sausage along with the holy trinity of Cajun cooking - celery, onions and bell peppers.Okra which gives the dish its' African name is added along with tomatoes and tomato paste. It's a great meal for a dinner party too because of its' ease of serving. The dish is ladled over rice and served. Etouffee is a Cajun dish eaten throughout New Orleans at this time. It has another Cajun and Creole staple - seafood. Crawfish is usually used but shrimp can subbed in along with crab. It's called a smothered dish because it's ladled over rice which helps balance  the dish's fieriness. Again it's an easy make, using the usual ingredients found in the cuisine along with cayenne and hot sauce. A sweeter Mardi Gras treat is King Cake, a brioche type ring cake decorated with Mardi Gras colors and containing a trinket. They can be bought on line, if you're far from Lousiana or you can make it at home. It's basically a cinnamon coffee bread rich with butter and eggs., then topped with a confectioner's sugar icing. Purple, green and gold, Mardi Gras colors are sprinkled on top

Another name for the day is Shrove Tuesday or Pancake day. Big in Britain and in Slavic countries like Poland housewives are supposed to use up all the butter and fat along with milk and eggs before Lent starts. Pancakes also symbolize the pillars of Christianity, eggs for creation, flour for the mainstay of human life,  salt for wholesomeness and milk for purity.There are races in Britian , with
the tradition starting in 1445.A housewife cooking pancakes heard her local church calling all to
church and ran to Mass, still flipping pancakes to prevent them from burning. All of the UK participate in this annual event, including William and Kate. Pancakes are one of the easiest dishes to make This simple dish can be jazzed up for the holiday with the addition of walnuts and pecans along with a fat pat of bourbon butter, Bourbon can also be added to maple syrup too. For a more sophisticated take,try crepes for Shrove Tuesday or even for meatless Lenten Fridays.The recipe is sort of like the pancake but the butter is melted first.It also helps to chill the batter for an hour before cooking for a crisper crepes It only takes two minutes to cook it on both sides.


Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday  is a day of fun eating before the fasting of Lent. Enjoy it with either a bowl of gumbo ,a slice of King Cale or a stack of pancakes or crepes.. Celebrate with good food.

A True Cajun Mardi Gras

This is the time for Mardi Gras and all the flavors of New Orleans.However, it's the cuisine of the Cajun backwoods that's the true taste of the holiday. some recipes have been handed down , first originating in Nova Scotia and France and marrying dishes from Africa and Spain. Their traditional dishes is what the holiday is all about.

Gumbo is an excellent example of  Cajun cooking. Every family probably has a recipe handed down through the decades. Its origins are from the French seafood stew bouillabaisse and the hearty soups of West Africa.Okra is the binder in it,In fact the name gumbo comes from the Bantu word for the plant nkombo. Any kind of caught meat , from squirrel to venison is used. A meatless variation, gumbo z'herbes for Lent. made with beet greens spinach and turnip greens. Spanish colonists brought paella to the area and it was refashioned in jambalaya.Again, the recipe varies from family to family. The basic one is made with chicken and shrimp along with the holy trinity of Cajun cooking, celery onions, and bell peppers. Thyme, bay leaf and parsley are also added.  Some parish home chefs add andouille the homemade garlic laced sausage along with alligator (!). Tomato paste is omitted from the recipe unlike the professional ones in New Orleans.Crawfish is a huge part of any celebration and the spicier the better. The fish is dipped in a blend of paprika , cayenne and chile powder along with garlic , salt and pepper.

Sweets also plays an important part in any Cajun country celebration. There is the King Cake a fun sweet yeasty brioche type  bread. It's decorated with a vanilla glaze that's been sprinkled with gold, purple and green sugar. Gold symbolizes power, green means faith, and purple means justice . Home bakers hide little trinkets inside such as a coin meaning prosperity in the coming year, a baby doll representing the infant Jesus and a wedding ring , hinting at a possible marriage for the finder. Another sweet Mardi Gras treat is chocolate yummy  or pudding cake..It begins with a cookie base , followed by layers of chocolate pudding, sweetened cream cheese and Cool Whip. Every house has a different spin on it. Instead of cookies, the first layer can be a cake or a mixture of  flour , pecans and butter.. Some home bakers will add an extra layer of vanilla pudding to the layer of chocolate pudding. Instead of a third layer of Cool Whip, freshly whipped cream can easily be used as a third layer.Chopped pecans or chocolate chips can be sprinkled on top.


True Mardi Gras celebrations are in the parishes surrounding New Orleans. Locals revel and eat these delicious dishes that have been  handed down. It is a fun way of enjoying the last day before Lent.