Grayson's Rainbow Cake

It's been forever since I've posted, I know.  I've been super swamped at work and finishing my friend, Lisa's new website, www.papergrace.com, was my top priority.  But I did take photos while making a birthday cake for David's 5 year-old daughter, Grayson.  Here's David with 2 (Eliana and Grayson) of his 3 youngin's this past saturday.

So May 15th was Grayson's birthday and  I wanted to do something special for her. 

I'd seen the "recipe" for a Rainbow Cake several different places on the interwebz and I thought I would try my hand at it.  I say "recipe" because I used a box cake mix... I know I know...but considering how labor intensive the layers are, I wouldn't do it any other way.  I did, however, make my own buttercream frosting, so that's at least something.

Onto the RAINBOW CAKE!

Go ahead and chuck everything the box says to into your mixer (stand-up or hand held) and just follow the directions.  Easy Peasy.  Literacy = Cooking Ability.

While you're out picking up your boxed cake mix, eggs, etc... make sure to grab the food coloring.  I just went to Wal-Mart and bought some classic gel food coloring from the grocery section.  They also sell them in neon colors, but I wanted a more "traditional" rainbow cake.

Divvy the batter into 4 bowls.  4 bowls for the 4 different color layers.

Now start adding the food coloring to the bowls.  You can use as much or as little as you want.  It just depends on how deep and vibrant you want the colors.

Let me preface the next comment by saying that I'm not much of a baker.  That being said, I only have 2  - 9'' round cake pans, so I had to bake the layers in batches.  If you have 4 cake pans, well bully for you and your baking time will be cut in half. :P  So grease up dem pans good and bake according to the directions on the box.

Red and blue into the oven!

Yellow and green layers coming out of the oven!

The layers MAY brown a little bit on top, like below, but not to worry because you're going to be trimming that off anyway to level the cake.

After the layers come out of the oven, let them cool a little in the pans and then

G E N T L Y work them out.  This is the most nerve-racking part of baking to me.  One wrong move and BOOM!  you're screwed.  So take your time and be careful.

Put them bad boys onto a cooling rack and let cool thoroughly.  Also I would lean back and enjoy your colorful handiwork at this point.  It's so cool!

While the layers are cooling, go ahead and make the buttercream frosting.  I'm not gonna post the recipe because there are a 1000 recipes and the one I just linked to is as good as any and the one I used. 

And yes this frosting is ridiculously bad for you, but hell i f you can't eat a huge, bad-for-you, colorful birthday cake on your fifth birthday, when can you?!

So frosting time:

Cream the butter until smooth and then add the 100,000 lbs. of sifted powdered sugar, salt, milk, and vanilla and again beat until smooth.  And yes a diabetic coma is a distinct possibility while making this frosting.  Just think about carrots or wheat germ or something.

Now I chose to keep the frosting white b/c the cake layers are so colorful.  Plus how boring does a plain, white cake look until you cut into it and HOLY SMOKES!  It's like Timothy Leary died inside my cake!  Truly epic as my gamer-side would say.

So frosting made, cake layers cool.  Let's put this thing together!

STEP ONE:  trim the layer tops as flat as you can without murdering the layer.  It's not too hard, just take your time and a big, serrated knife is a big help.  Save the scraps!  We're gonna throw a little sumpin' sumpin' together with those in a minute.

STEP TWO:  ice the top of your bottom layer with a reasonable amount of frosting. Stack the next layer on top and repeat until all the layers are assembled.

Use the majority of the leftover frosting for the outside of the cake.  This shouldn't be a problem and you will probably ice the whole cake and have a fair amount of frosting leftover.  

What to do with the leftover frosting and all those cake trimmings?  Why not grab an iced tea glass, martini glass, etc... and make a little cake parfait?  Don't worry about them being not the prettiest thing in  town; they'll taste awesome and no one will care.

A few sprinkles and VOILA!  scraps turned into dessert loveliness!

So what's that iced rainbow cake look like, you want to know?  How about this?

The sprinkles.  Oh the sprinkles.  I'm still finding them a month later all over my kitchen...  I recommend putting a dish towel under the whole mess and just go to town with them thar' sprinkles.   Its a good way to take out some frustrations.  But oh the sprinkles...  I even found one on the floor in the backseat of my car today.  That cake was NEVER IN MY CAR!  

And here are the colorful wonderful insides!

So there you have it.  A Rainbow Cake fit for anyone who doesn't want a boring cake.  Here is Grayson blowing out her candles and then a few pics of the girls chowin' down!

Hope to post again soon!  And for my friend Beth, I will be doing a post on searing soon!  Probably some big, fat Yellowfin Tuna steaks with ginger, wasabi and soy sauce!  YUM!!  Oh I think i'll have that for dinner tonight. lol

Pecan Sandies

I know this is kind of a random thing for me to be doing this time of year.  And granted, I originally made this recipe for the cookie exchange at work before Christmas...but when is there a BAD time for cookies?!

This recipe was in the December 2010 Southern Living, in the cookie exchange article they did.  By the way, if you can get your hands on a copy of that issue, get it!  There are so many great recipes in that issue.

Okie dokie, let me start by saying, this is a weird recipe and I always wonder if I'm doing it right.  The "dough" comes out looking more like cornmeal and I add water, but we'll get to that part shortly.

You can either chop your own pecans or buy the ones already chopped up from the store.  Either way, we are going to be toasting them in the oven.  So go ahead and preheat your oven to 350ºF.  Spread the chopped pecans out in a single layer on a baking sheet and pop that bad boy into the oven for about 7 minutes (you'll start to really notice the fragrance!).

 

While the pecans are toasting, I went ahead and started making the dough.  Cream 2 sticks of softened butter with 1/2 cup of sugar at medium speed using an electric mixer. 

 

 I've done this using my hand mixer before, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to use my NEW Kitchen Aid Stand-Up Mixer!!  It's so cool! 

 

Mix the butter and sugar together until fluffy and then gradually add the flour, mixing until just blended.  

After all the flour has been incorporated, add the pecans and vanilla extract.

Now this is the point where I'm staring down into the mixing bowl, saying to myself  "How is this dough?  It's WAY too dry!"  And this is also where I add approx. 3/4 cup of water.  It makes the "dough" more dough-like and easier to roll into the logs from which you cut the cookies.  It's probably cheating or something, but I don't care... it works!


Go ahead and preheat the oven again, but this time to only 325ºF.  Ok, ss I was saying, next you will divide the dough in half, shaping each half into a log about 1 1/4 inches thick and about a foot long.  Wrap the two logs in parchment and put into the fridge for about an hour.

After the logs of dough (that sounds really unappetizing! lol)...anyway, after you take them out of the fridge, slice them into 1/4 inch thick rounds and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. 

Place them in the oven for 20-30 minutes.  The original recipe calls for only baking them 18-20 minutes, but if you cut them a little thicker like I tend to, they will take longer to cook.  Just keep an eye on them until they turn to a satisfactory golden.

If you don't feel like making the cookies now, the dough will keep for up to 2 months in the freezer!  So there we go: quick and dirty pecan sandies!  Enjoy!

**UPDATE:  These cookies are WA-HEY! better the following day.  Last night I ate a few that were still warm and I have to be honest, I thought they were kinda gross and became disappointed.  But this morning while heating up my leftover spaghetti that I was having for brunch (hey, it isn't ALWAYS Commander's Palace over here, as much as I may make it look that way.) ...ok so while waiting on the microwave, I ate a couple this morning and was so very pleasantly surprised to find out that they were indeed...perfect! YAY ME!  So go ahead and make this recipe until you can't stand the thought anymore because they are that awesome.**

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Southern Living's Pecan Sandies

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
2 sticks butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Parchment paper

INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350º.  Bake pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan 6-8 minutes.  Stir halfway through.

Cream butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until fluffy.  Gradually add flour, beating just until blended.  Stir in pecans and vanilla extract.

Divide dough in half, and shape each portion into 2 (1 1/4 inch thick) logs (about 12 inches long).  Wrap in parchment, cover and chill for 1 hour or until firm.

Preheat oven to 325º.  Cut logs into 1/4 inch thick rounds and place 1/2 an inch a part on a a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake at 325º for 20-30 minutes (depending on thickness) or until light golden in color.  Let cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes, then move to wire cooling racks and let cookies completely cool.