[cwcdesign]

Italiancook, Rascals & Cassina, in the KAF ingredients weight chart, which I’ve found to be quite accurate, they say a cup of vegetable oil weighs 7 oz compared to the weight of a cup of butter. I don’t know if this has to do with the lack of water or if it’s just because oil is heavier

[cwcdesign]

On Sunday, I tested the Caribbean rum cake from KAF, taking half to one job. It was a hit!

On Wednesday, I tried a recipe for a pumpkin latte cake for my other job. It had a swirl of an espresso cream cheese “filling” and I made my own pumpkin spice since I didn’t want to have a lot on hand. I added extra spice because the color was too light and I’m glad I did. It was a good cake, but I won’t make it again- the recipe had too many moving parts

[cwcdesign]

Rascals, I have the KAF one bookmarked. Except for flour - theirs is the weight I use unless it’s specified differently in a recipe - I have found it to be very accurate. If they don’t have I google for the specific weight I’m looking for

[cwcdesign]

Basically you just add a little vodka at a time and then wait while the vanilla you have infuses the new vodka. I started out with no pods when Cindy gave it to me 3 years ago. I slowly added used pods. I have about 4 - I would have more if I weren’t such a cheap skate. You just add another when you feel like it. When I have a chance, I’ll post Cindy’s instructions

[cwcdesign]

When I went to rinse the wreath pan for measuring the water, I discovered a recipe for a rum wreath cake inside. Looking at the quantities, I think the recipe I have for my cranberry almond coffee cake will fit nicely. I'm wondering if Cass will concur.
The ingredients for the wreath rum cake
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
½ cup dark rum
2 ¼ cups flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup whipping cream

For the cranberry almond coffee cake
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 ½ cups sour cream

Note that the coffee cake is baked in a 10 inch tube pan - you layer ½ the batter, then a can of cranberry sauce and then the rest of the batter. I have made this recipe many times and it is always a hit. The one difference I might make with baking it in the wreath pan is instead of chopped almonds, I may coat the pan with almond flour.

Both cakes get syrup and glaze

Thanks for your help!!!!!

[cwcdesign]

On Monday night I made a gluten-free ginger pear cake as a test for our bake sale. One of my friends has a later in life gluten intolerance. So we took a small slice and she took the rest to a group cooking for the sale. I used KAF measure for measure flour. I liked this recipe partly because I didn't have to pull out the stand mixer.
The recipe said to bake it for an hour and I baked it for 45 minutes and tested it - the tester came out clean.

As for taste, we thought it needed some ground ginger - it has ripe pear and crystalized ginger - but the texture was a little gooey. I think I should have baked for the full hour - that may be a difference between baking with regular flour and gluten free flour. I am going to make a loaf or 2 with my changes for the sale.

And, I will not be attempting it in the wreath pan, but I have another recipe I've made many times that I'm going to post for Cass to adjust for that pan, after I measure the water in it.

[cwcdesign]

We had leftovers and Harris Teeter freshly made pizza Sunday through Tuesday. Yesterday I tried a recipe for turkey and stuffing meatballs from one of my favorite sites. She used dried cornbread stuffing - I went with the PF Herb Stuffing since that says Thanksgiving in our house. We liked them but all agreed that there wasn't enough stuffing in them for our taste; an easy fix.

I thought the leftovers tasted better last night even reheated in the microwave. Still think it needs more stuffing mix and probably s&p. Although I wouldn’t make it often, it’s a nice recipe to have on hand for a change. I can post the link if anyone’s interested.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by cwcdesign.

[cwcdesign]

Thank you all. Not quite sure why I couldn’t figure that out - I’ll chalk it up to exhaustion. Since I lan to bake a sample ofthecake I wntto use in a loaf pan first, I can measure the batter before I put it in the loaf pan.

[cwcdesign]

Yesterday, I baked a big batch of KAF fudge brownies to take to a party this afternoon and to work at the Lighthouse tomorrow - we are decorating the tree for our open house this coming Saturday.

[cwcdesign]

Let's see - on Thursday I made meatloaf and roasted asparagus and Nate made mashed potatoes. On Friday, I made sheet pan fajitas and yesterday, I tried a recipe for spinach lasagna roll-ups (same recipe on allrecipes and taste of home) to see if it would work for frozen casseroles for our bake sale. We taste tested the cheese/spinach filling and decided to use a teaspoon of kosher salt, ½ teaspoon Penzey's ground pepper and ½ teaspoon nutmeg - the recipe only called for a quarter of each and it was bland. We also added a couple of tablespoons more of parmesan. For our personal taste, we probably would have amped it up more, but we wanted it to have nice flavor, but not overpowering. The good news is that the 3 of us were pleasantly surprised by the recipe.

Tonight and tomorrow, I think we have more than enough leftovers!

[cwcdesign]

On Tuesday, I baked a batch of black & white brownies from KAF to split between the boys and a presentation of packaging for our Christmas Bake Sale. I have the recipe permanently doubled. What I like about it is that although it uses white chocolate, you cannot tell that it is white chocolate and this time I used Penzey's ground nutmeg instead of grating fresh - it really amped up the flavor and it tasted more like the holidays.

BakerAunt, I almost bought Sift at the store the other day - I should see if they still have it.

[cwcdesign]

Thanks, swirth!

I have the ingredients on hand to try this recipe for Pumpkin Latte coffee cake
When I can find the time. I’m also going to make my own pumpkin spice blend - it’s not too hard ?

Pumpkin Latte Coffee Cake

[cwcdesign]

Rascals, my heartfelt prayers go out to you. I join the others in appreciation as I always enjoy reading your comments. Please continue to read and comment when possible.

[cwcdesign]

The house we lived in for 27 years in MA had been a Greek Revival, then turned on its side, moved backed from the road and added on to as a summer house. There was a tiny basement and the rest was crawl space which was very porous. In the fall, when the mice started moving in to keep warm, we would use DeCon bait which would make them thirsty and then they’d go looking for water. The only time we might have one die in the walls is when we’d forget to bait - that taught us - there was nothing you could understand do about the smell.

[cwcdesign]

A couple of years ago, Mrs Cindy gave me a half bottle of vanilla she’d kept going with vodka and used vanilla beans, so I keep adding small amounts of vodka and vanilla beans as it goes down. I do need some more vodka - the only things I use it for are the vanilla, my penne vodka and pie pastry ?

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