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On Sunday, I decided to cook a fabulous dinner for my husband for Valentines day. I started cooking at noon and didn't sit down until 5. So with all that time in the kitchen, you would think that the dinner was a four star meal. Think again....
Here are some tips that I learned on Sunday.
Mashed Potatoes: NEVER EVER let your potatoes cool before mashing them. I had to make my buttercream twice because I failed miserably the first time. My Kitchen Aid was tied up so the potatoes sat in the pot (drained of course) for over 45 mins. I went ahead and started the mashed process adding the milk and butter. All of a sudden I noticed that the consistency turned quickly to glue. I researched it and found that the gluten relaxes turning the potatoes into a sticky bubble gum consistency. I could have literally wallpapered my house with the gunk.
Buttercream Frosting: I made a lemon curd filled, lemon cake, with lemon buttercream. I wanted to add some raspberry preserves to the frosting to add color and a little sweetness to the tart cake. Tip NEVER EVER add preserves/jam to your frosting until the very end. I added it at the beginning and the frosting turned hard and un-mixable! I threw it out and started over. I added it once the frosting was light and fluffy. (2 tablespoons will suffice for 4 cups of powdered sugar)
Halving your 8 inch cakes: This cake was 4 layers. I had to halve my cakes with my handy wire cake slicer thingy. Make sure you remove your "halves" with a large pancake spatula and not your hands! I completely turned the 4 halves into 100 pieces of crumbled mess. After working on this damn cake for four hours, you bet your but that I pieced the thing together and served it like nothing was wrong! Surprisingly, it cut really well once placed in the fridge.
The top layer...Ridiculous.
Here are some tips that I learned on Sunday.
Mashed Potatoes: NEVER EVER let your potatoes cool before mashing them. I had to make my buttercream twice because I failed miserably the first time. My Kitchen Aid was tied up so the potatoes sat in the pot (drained of course) for over 45 mins. I went ahead and started the mashed process adding the milk and butter. All of a sudden I noticed that the consistency turned quickly to glue. I researched it and found that the gluten relaxes turning the potatoes into a sticky bubble gum consistency. I could have literally wallpapered my house with the gunk.
Buttercream Frosting: I made a lemon curd filled, lemon cake, with lemon buttercream. I wanted to add some raspberry preserves to the frosting to add color and a little sweetness to the tart cake. Tip NEVER EVER add preserves/jam to your frosting until the very end. I added it at the beginning and the frosting turned hard and un-mixable! I threw it out and started over. I added it once the frosting was light and fluffy. (2 tablespoons will suffice for 4 cups of powdered sugar)
Halving your 8 inch cakes: This cake was 4 layers. I had to halve my cakes with my handy wire cake slicer thingy. Make sure you remove your "halves" with a large pancake spatula and not your hands! I completely turned the 4 halves into 100 pieces of crumbled mess. After working on this damn cake for four hours, you bet your but that I pieced the thing together and served it like nothing was wrong! Surprisingly, it cut really well once placed in the fridge.
The top layer...Ridiculous.
4 comments:
Well the important thing is that you learned from it. I can only imagine how the pregnancy hormones reacted to this situation. I probably would have been saying every bad word I know. :)
I just sat there eating the damn carrots, the only thing that was edible, thinking how am I going to feed this kid! Pudding....lots of pudding.
oh sweetie :) we could write a hilarious tell-all book of our combined kitchen disasters. i once made a perfect chicken taco pie, set the glass pie plate on the top of the stove to cool (forgetting that i had just taken something off that burner and it was still very hot) and the glass pie plate shattered, throwing taco pie and shards everywhere. but... i still think the best chefs have gotten their titles from experience :)
I can definitely relate to the cooking stories. My mom always made instant potatoes and Jay was used to "real" ones. The first time we had his parents for dinner I made "real" mashed potatoes and everything was ready but the potatoes were still not cooked....I didn't know you were supposed to cut up the potatoes before you boiled them! I put the potatoes in the pot WHOLE! :) You need the "cake lifter" that was featured on Good Morning America yesterday. It's available at Kingarthurflour.com for $12.95. You can see the video of it on the GMA website. Good Luck!
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