- Part 145

Vanilla Rainbow Buttercream Frosting

Vanilla Rainbow Buttercream Frosting – A sure bet at any kids’ party. Okay, well any buttercream is really. Add the rainbow effect and they will think you can work magic, at least my three-year-old son did.

Sorry the photo tutorial will be coming soon. Under the gun, I ran out of time and wasn’t able to take pictures while I was making this. I even almost forgot to take the above picture. And yikes, it shows. I left all all the proper photo taking equipment at home, as evident by the blown out highlights. But you get the idea from the picture.

Here’s a quick written how-to or click here for a pictorial step-by-step on how to acheive this frosting effect:
1. Make your favorite vanilla buttercream.
2. Choose your colors and dye them accordingly.
3. Grab your pastry bag and start spooning the colors one on top of another.
4. Pipe unto a plate first to start the rainbow effect. Should only be about a 2 inch stream before the frosting pipes with the rainbow affect.

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Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Chambord Ganache

If you’ve been following me, you know that February is just insane for me. From work to home I’m running on five cups of coffee a day and resting on about 4hours of sleep each evening. Just when work finally stands down, my personal life begins to rev up to an intensity that parallels a thoroughbred at the Kentucky Derby.

I’m on the last lap though-only two more birthdays to go. The next birthday belongs to a good a friend whose favorite drink is a Chambord Martini. After hers, is the toddler of the house. Between the two of them rattling off various cake and cupcake choices, the loading bar in the speech bubble above my head is quickly colliding with a “Fatal error” pop up window.

In an attempt to simplify things and mitigate the dizzying requests, I’ve decided taste and flavor will reign supreme this year.

The rule for 2010: Simple is the new sexy. They are both going to have chocolate cupcakes with different frostings.

My girlfriend’s will be dressed up with some liqueur sophistication and the toddler will have a vanilla rainbow colored ganache frosting (go to my Facebook this weekend for the how-to on this cool frosting effect).

Having said that, here is my easy Dark Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Chambord Ganache.

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Classic French Madeleines

Madeleines – The soft buttery flavor of these French cakes are a favorite in my house. Pure and simple, these are a classic that if you haven’t tried making them, you should. They are a perfect accompaniment to your coffee or afternoon tea. The madeleine recipe I used is from Heidi Swanson of Cookbook101 without any adaptations. Visit her site for the recipe and be prepared to lose 45 minutes looking around—you will see why she is one my favorite food bloggers.

A quick word of caution: When it comes to this recipe, make two batches-they go quickly! For someone who loves to bake, I have one sweet tooth in the house and that’s me. So when the yielded 24 lasted less than 24 hours—I was delighted!

A few notes:

If you have nonstick pans don’t butter and flour them, the dark nonstick finish tends to over bake the scalloped sides. See the pictures below to see what I mean. If you aren’t using nonstick, very lightly butter your pans.
Fill the madeleine pans ¾ full. Since this recipe does not contain baking soda, the distinctive hump on the back and the spreading is kept to a minimum.
Do make sure you cook the butter to the point of browness for the nutty aroma and flavor to come out.