Lemon Yogurt Cake with Raspberry Creme Fraiche Frosting

We are heading to my in-laws this weekend to celebrate Easter and I have been asked to bring a cake to serve at brunch on Sunday.  While going through recipes I stumbled across an old favorite of mine that I instantly thought would be perfect to bring this weekend.  This cake is actually a marriage of two recipes - Ina Garten's Lemon Yogurt Loaf and Giada De Laurentiis' Raspberry and Orange Cake.  Lemon combined with any type of berry always makes for a fabulous flavor profile, so combining Ina's Cake Recipe with Giada's Frosting Recipe was an instant winner!!!   The bright flavors and colors of this cake make it the perfect addition to any Spring menu.  Whether you are serving this cake for brunch or dessert, it is a definite crowd-pleaser and sings Spring time!

Cake Ingredients

• Double the recipe (minus glaze) for Ina Garten's Lemon Yogurt Cake

Frosting Ingredients

• Giada de Laurentiis' Frosting Recipe from Todd's Orange and Raspberry Cake

Decorations

• 1/2 pint of Fresh Raspberries
• Ina Garten's Lemon Glaze from her Lemon Yogurt Cake Recipe

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Grease a tube/angel food cake pan and set aside
3. Make the cake batter according to the recipe
4. Pour batter into the greased cake pan and bake for 1 hr and 5 minutes, positioning the cake on the lower third tier of the oven (until a cake tester comes out clean).  **Note- During the last 15 minutes of baking, cover the top of the cake loosely with a piece of aluminum foil to prevent the cake from burning
5. During the last 5 minutes of baking, combine 2/3c Granulated Sugar and 2/3c Fresh Lemon Juice in a small sauce pan and heat until it begins to boil and sugar is completely dissolved
6. When the cake comes out of the oven, pour the lemon syrup over the cake and allow it to soak for at least 3 minutes before removing the cake from the pan
7. Meanwhile, make Giada's frosting recipe adding an extra tablespoon or two of milk to ever so slightly thin out the frosting
8. When the cake is cooled, pour the frosting over the cake and allow it to set
9. Once the frosting is dry, garnish the base of the cake with fresh raspberries and drizzle Ina Garten's Lemon Glaze on top of the cake

Chocolate Covered Brownie Hearts

I love gifting my friends with fun treats on Valentine's Day.  Just some small token of appreciation, wrapped up in cute paper with a thoughtful note.  Last year I must admit that I was a little overwhelmed with the blog launch + Super Bowl Party + Valentine's Day.  So in an effort to save time, I ended up buying pre-made chocolate covered heart brownies for my friends for Valentine's Day .  While they were certainly delicious, they were really expensive and way more than I should be spending on little Valentine's treats.  

In an effort to be a little more financially prudent this year, I have decided to make my own heart-shaped brownie bites.  These bites are delicious, easy to make, economical and so flipping cute!  Definitely a unique and delicious treat that almost any Valentine would love to receive. 

Ingredients

• Box of Brownie Mix (Recommend Ghirardelli Double Chocolate)
• 1 pkg White Chocolate Chips
• Red Food Coloring
• Nonstick Spray

**You will also need an assortment of heart shaped cookie cutters and a jelly roll pan

Instructions

1. Make the brownie mix per the instructions on the back of the packaging
2. Pour batter onto a jelly roll pan that has been lined with aluminum foil and greased with spray cooking oil (ex. PAM)
3. Bake for about 20 min at 325 degrees fahrenheit or until toothpick comes out clean
4. Once baked, remove from oven and flip onto a cooling rack removing aluminum foil carefully
5. Once cooled, transfer brownie sheet to a large cutting board
6. Use the heart shaped cookie cutters to create mini heart brownies and set aside
7. In a microwave safe bowl, melt white chocolate chips (stirring contents every 30 seconds until melted)
8. Add 3-5 drops of red food coloring to the melted chocolate and stir until desired pink color is achieved
9. Dip brownie hearts in melted pink chocolate and set on a cooling rack to harden
10. Serve and enjoy!

Holiday Recap

For today's Christmas post I wanted to share a quick recap of some of my favorite holiday moments over the past month.  I've shared posts covering an array of holiday activities and now that I am officially done with all of my preparations, I can sit back, enjoy the fruits of my labor and of course this very merry holiday!  

Trimming My Christmas Tree

My husband and brother both announced that this year's Christmas tree is my best to date.  I would have to agree!  I love the way this "Woodland Chic" - themed tree glitters in my living room and I can't tell you what a difference it has made using green floral wire to aid in decorating my tree.  I think you should always push yourself do your very best.  Even though I am taking a moment to enjoy the way this beautiful tree came together, I have to admit that I have already started thinking up new ideas for next year!

Christmas Tablescape

I hosted a Christmas dinner for both my parents and my in-laws this past Wednesday.  We had a delicious dinner complete with Beef Tenderloin, Scalloped Potatoes Au Gratin, Roasted Asparagus and a Sticky Toffee Date Cake soaked in a bourbon sauce for dessert.  While the dinner was a big success, I have to say that I was especially proud of my Christmas Tablescape.  It was pretty, festive and the only new pieces I purchased to create this scape came from the grocery store (flowers, ribbon, peppermint candies)!  It was a good lesson for me to keep in mind with future tablescapes-- assess what you already have before going out to the store to buy more merchandise you may not even need.  

The second and probably most important lesson I learned from hosting this most recent dinner party is to refrain from taking on too much.  Yes, I ended up hosting a lovely and delicious party, but I was a little bummed that I wasn't able to spend as much time being with my family because I was too busy in the kitchen.  When hosting a party in the future, I am going to make a conscious effort to keep it both simple and delicious so that I can have more time to spend with the people who matter most. 

My Holiday Baking Marathon

From my homemade peppermint bark recipe to the dozens upon dozens of bourbon balls I rolled for my colleagues at work, this month has been quite the baking marathon.  So happy to have successfully delivered all of these treats and to finally have the many delicious temptations out of my house (cookie intervention please)!  

Homemade Eggnog

Last night I served this recipe for holiday eggnog while we opened up gifts.  Whatever feelings you may have had about eggnog, just forget them because this recipe is fabulous and a definite must try.  

While my holiday hostess duties may finally be complete, the holiday celebrating continues!  My husband and I are currently on our way to Utah for a fun and snowy ski adventure with my sister and brother-in-law.  Stay tuned for Redefining Domestics "Utah Edition" coming to the blog next week!  

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!

December Kitchen Tools

The holidays are officially in full swing, which means baking and lots of it!  This month's kitchen tools are three pieces that I cannot live without during this baking marathon month.  By no means are these tools that I am sharing today new or cutting edge, but they are all MVPs in my kitchen (especially during this "most wonderful time of the year!"). 

Silpats

In my opinion, the Silpat is a baking staple.  I can remember watching an episode of Martha Stewart Living way back when and hearing her give cookie baking instructions that usually included "and don't forget to use your Silpats!"  If you aren't familiar with this product, a Silpat is a reusable silicone non-stick baking sheet that comes in a variety of sizes.  It's perfect for baking cookies, rolling out dough and even roasting vegetables.  To clean these sheets, you need only to wipe them down with a damp cloth and a little mild dish detergent.  Plus, they roll up for easy and compact storage.  Silpats are also a great way to cut down on the amount of parchment paper and aluminum foil typically used for baking, saving you money and helping the environment (double win!).  

Traditional Flour Sifter

I would have to say that sifting dry ingredients through a sieve is probably one of my least favorite baking tasks.  The bowl shape of the mesh on the sieve never fails to have my dry ingredients flying out of the mixing bowl and I usually have to use a utensil of some sort to help push all of the dry ingredients through the sieve.  Sifting is an extremely important step in baking and definitely does make a difference with the final product, but the sieve method is less than ideal.

Throughout both college and grad school I would babysit on a regular basis.  I really enjoyed it and of course it was nice to have a little extra spending money.  One day while babysitting, I had decided to make cookies with the kids.  It was then that I came across the traditional flour sifter and OMG can I just say, LIFE CHANGING!!  Simply place the dry ingredients in the canister, turn the crank and you will have perfectly sifted dry ingredients in seconds with no mess!  I was so ecstatic with the discovery of this kitchen tool.  So practical and made the baking process infinitely more enjoyable.  I'm sure you can only guess what I received under the tree that year for Christmas.  

9" Springform Pan

I think the springform pan often goes overlooked. Most people think that round baking pans serve the same purpose, so why create redundancies in your kitchen?  Well, let me just say that there certainly is not a redundancy by adding a springform pan to your collection of baking equipment.  The most common use for the springform pan is to make a classic cheesecake, but what has really sold me on the springform pan has been using it to bake coffee cakes!  How many times have you gone to remove a coffee cake from a pan, flipped it over and lost 90 percent of the crumble topping in the process.  Crumble is the best part of the coffee cake and seeing it go to waste is a tragedy!  It wasn't until I tried my hand at making this Pumpkin Pecan Coffee Cake, that I learned about the brilliance of using a springform pan for coffee cake making.  When the cake is done baking in the oven, allow to cool for 30 minutes and then pop the lock on the springform pan and gently remove the ring.  All crumble still in tact means coffee cake perfection!  This pan is a great investment and an essential for any kitchen.   

DIY Packaging for Fall Baked Goods

Fall baking is something I have already started enthusiastically embracing (see this post and my instagram page).  Since apples are just coming into the peak of their season this month I have been focusing on an assortment of apple-based treats.  While my various baked goods have turned out beautifully, my challenge has been the packaging/presentation.  I will spend the time to make a delicious dessert and to have to cover it in either plastic wrap or aluminum foil for transport just seems wrong.  When you go to a lot of trouble to bake a homemade dessert, the last thing you want is to have the treat encased in packaging that isn't reflective of the treat.   

Recently while perusing The Paper Source (love this store!), I came across the most adorable Kraft paper berry baskets by Meri Meri.  These baskets were absolutely adorable and immediately became the inspiration for this post. Best part? They are actually part of Meri-Meri's summer collection so I was able to purchase them on sale! (**you can too!--link below) 

To Make these Goody Baskets:

• Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Mini Muffins
• Mini Muffin Baking Pan
• Meri Meri Berry Baskets
• Cellophane Wrapping Paper
• Raffia
• Gift Tags
• Gold Pen

To create these festive Fall treat bags, I started by baking up a delicious (and healthy!) batch of fresh Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Mini Muffins. Once the muffins were baked and completely cooled I lined a berry basket with a sheet of the red and white checked parchment paper (sold with the baskets) and carefully filled the basket. (*these baskets can hold more than a dozen mini muffins, so if you want to stretch your batches of mini muffins a little further add tissue paper to the bottom of each basket).   

Once the basket was filled with muffins I wrapped them with clear cellophane paper so the contents of the package would still be visible and tied it all together with natural colored raffia ribbon for a rustic Fall touch. The chalkboard gift tags were then personalized with a note written in gold pen, which gave these little treat baskets a final finishing touch.  I love the way they have  turned out and I am thrilled to have a packaging that is both pretty and festive for sharing these delicious fall treats!