{recipe: mardi gras king cake}

{who will get the baby?}

Yesterday was Mardi Gras (which translates to Fat Tuesday), a notorious party holiday, despite its religious origins. It has evolved over the years from a one day celebration to a week-long extravaganza in several places all over the world. There are many traditions following this holiday (although most of us think of beads and booze), and I will be sharing one with you today---king cake!

King cake commemorates the three kings who brought gifts to the little baby Jesus at his birth. Baked inside the king cake (at least here in the states) is a tiny (plastic) baby. Whoever finds the baby is declared King or Queen of the party and is responsible for making the King Cake or throwing the party next year. With great power comes great responsibility---haha. It is composed of rolled cinnamon pastry and topped with a vanilla glaze and sugars dyed in the colors of Mardi Gras (purple for justice, green for faith, and gold for power). While you can find a king cake almost anywhere during this time of year, I thought it was pretty easy to make one myself. Below I’ll share a great recipe I found at Allrecipes.com.

{mmm sour cream, butter, and sugar!}

{yeast baby!}

{justice, faith, power}

{gotta love that dough hook}

{cinnamon sugar…yum}

{look at that yeast action}

{butter and sugar…how can you go wrong?}

{we can’t forget the little baby}

{roll it like a jelly roll}

{ding! almost done!}

{look at all that sugary goodness}

Mardi Gras King Cake:

Servings: 15 – 20 (makes two cakes)

Source: Allrecipes

Ingredients:

·         1/4 cup butter or margarine

·         1 (16 ounce) container sour cream

·         1/3 cup sugar

·         1 teaspoon salt

·         2 (.25 ounce) envelopes active dry yeast

·         1 tablespoon white sugar

·         1/2 cup warm water (100 to 110 degrees)

·         2 eggs

·         6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided

·         1/2 cup white sugar (I used brown sugar instead)

·         1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

·         1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened

·         Colored Frostings (see below)

·         Colored Sugars (see below)

       

        Colored Frosting:

·         3 cups powdered sugar

·         3 tablespoons butter, melted

·         3 tablespoons milk

·         1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

·         2 drops green food color

·         2 drops yellow food coloring

·         2 drops blue food coloring

·         2 drops red food color

Colored sugars:

·         1 1/2 cups white sugar

·         2 drops green food color

·         2 drops yellow food coloring

·         2 drops red food color

·         2 drops blue food coloring

How To:

Step 1: Cook first 4 ingredients in a saucepan over low heat, stirring often, until butter melts. Cool mixture to 100 degrees to 110 degrees.

Step 2: Dissolve yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar in 1/2 cup warm water in a large bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Add butter mixture, eggs, and 2 cups flour; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer 2 minutes or until smooth. Gradually stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough.

Step 3: Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes (you can also use the dough hook in your Kitchenaid for this). Place in a well-greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85 degrees), free from drafts, 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.

Step 4: Stir together 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon; set aside.

Step 5: Punch dough down; divide in half. Turn 1 portion out onto a lightly floured surface; roll to a 28- x 10-inch rectangle. Spread half each of cinnamon mixture and softened butter on dough. Roll dough, jellyroll fashion, starting at long side.  

Step 6: Place dough roll, seam side down, on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bring ends together to form an oval ring, moistening and pinching edges together to seal. Repeat with remaining dough, cinnamon mixture, and butter.

Step 7: Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, 20 minutes or until doubled in bulk.

Step 8: Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden. Decorate with bands of Colored Frostings, and sprinkle with Colored Sugars.

COLORED FROSTINGS: Stir together powdered sugar and melted butter. Add milk to reach desired consistency for drizzling; stir in vanilla. Divide frosting into 3 batches, tinting 1 green, 1 yellow, and combining red and blue food coloring for purple frosting.

COLORED SUGARS: Place 1/2 cup sugar and drop of green food coloring in a jar or zip-top plastic bag; seal. Shake vigorously to evenly mix color with sugar. Repeat procedure with 1/2 cup sugar and yellow food coloring. For purple, combine 1 drop red and 1 drop blue food coloring before adding to remaining 1/2 cup sugar.

I hope you all have a wonderful Mardi Gras week!

Bye for now,

Le Mrs.

{a-town eats: tin can fish house & oyster bar}

Hello Again!

As Jesse and I explore our new town I thought it might be nice to share some of the places we’ve been checking out. Most recently we visited Tin Can Fish House & Oyster Bar, this great little seafood joint in Sandy Springs. Jesse has recently joined the seafood wagon and is slowly trying all the good stuff he’s been missing out on all these years. I’ve been a fan for as long as I can remember and am very happy to have discovered this place to satisfy my cravings.

{tin can fish house & oyster bar}

In summary:

Atmosphere: A little dark, but really warm and inviting. It was a slow Sunday evening, but I’m sure it picks up on other nights. The décor fits the theme without suffocating you with it. They have lots of nice pieces on the walls and a very open layout.

Service: Our server was fantastic! He brought out waters when he came over to greet us and checked on us often throughout our visit. We had arrived closer to closing time but neither he nor the rest of the staff ever made us feel like it was an inconvenience. Our food also arrived in an adequate amount of time and was nice and warm.

Food: The menu is pretty simple and straightforward with the perfect amount of options and variety. Jesse got a burger and I got their oysters rockerfella and mussels cooked in a traditional white sauce. The oysters were substantial and very delicious and there were more than enough mussels for one person in the half pound pot. The white sauce was also nice and light and complimented the mussels very well. Jesse ordered his burger medium but he thought it was a little more on the raw side. For dessert we had a brownie sundae which was decent but not quite what we were hoping for.

Moola: The prices are all pretty reasonable and you definitely get your money’s worth in respect to portion sizes.

Additional Notes: They have a pretty nice beer selection with good variety of domestic and craft brews. I do think the beer prices are a little high though. I was also disappointed that they advertised Abita beer, but only had one of their brews---I was kinda hoping to get a Purple Haze.

Even though it was slow, it was nice that they kept everyone spaced out so that we weren’t all cramped in the same section. This gave Jesse and me the opportunity to have a good intimate conversation.

Overall, we had a wonderful meal and will definitely be returning!

{weekend fun: military ball}

{aren’t we a pair?}

Hello friends!

Two weekends ago, Jesse and I headed to Spartanburg, SC for a fun and fanciful event---The Military Ball. I got to squeeze into a very pretty dress (my senior prom dress to be exact---oh yea!) and Jesse wore his handsome Class A’s. We had such a great time and I got to meet many of Jesse’s weekend warrior buddies and other army wives. It was also cool to see all the high ranking leaders get crazy on the dance floor. The Army may be all business most of the time, but they sure do know how to throw a party!

{so fancy}

How was your weekend? Any fancy parties?

Love,

The Mrs.

{do a grouch a favor day}

{oh boo}

Do you know anyone with a sourpuss as bad as the one pictured above? If so you might do your best to avoid them and have as little contact as possible with them. I can’t blame you, bad attitudes are contagious. Well today is Do a Grouch a Favor Day (seriously---google it), so why not go straight up to that grouch, give them a big hug, and tell them to turn that frown upside down? They might be paralyzed from confusion, or they might become your new best friend; either way you’ll walk away on the high road! In the spirit of such a loving week…why not?

{recipe: pink velvet xoxo cake pops}

{xoxo}

Since it’s Valentine’s week, I decided to make some valentine’s themed cake pops. This was my first time ever making cake pops and I must say it was a little messy. I did have the handy dandy help of a babycakes cake pop maker which really made the process ten times easier. If you don’t have one, they’re not that expensive and definitely worth it if you are in the pop making business. They even have additional uses which I will be exploring soon.

{it comes with all kinds of goodies}

By the time I was done I had devoured five whole pops (which is the equivalent to one piece of cake in my opinion) and had some cute ones left over to pass out as valentines favors. To keep with the week’s colors I found a great recipe for pink velvet cake at Love from the Oven and dyed my white chocolate melts a nice rosy pink. To decorate my pops I decided to use white sugar crystals and sugar pearls to create x’s and o’s. They looked adorable and were very edible…I checked! The recipe below is tailored to those using a babycakes cake pop maker. If you don’t have one go to the original recipe as it contains another pop making method.

{you start with…}

{then you…}

{after that…}

{later you…}

{then…}

{and after that…}

{almost done…}

Pink Velvet Cakepops:

Servings: 10 - 15

Source: Love from the Oven

Ingredients:

·         1 cup of butter softened

·         1 1/3 cups sugar

·         pink food coloring

·         3 eggs

·         2 tsp vanilla extract

·         2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

·         1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

·         1/4 teaspoon baking soda

·         1/2 teaspoon salt

·         1 cup buttermilk (if you don’t have buttermilk, a perfect substitute is 1 cup of milk mixed w/1 tbsp of vinegar)

·         1 bag of white chocolate melts

How To:

Step 1: In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Once light and fluffy add your pink food coloring. Start with a small amount and increase to reach your desired shade of pink. Blend well.

Step 2: Add in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add in vanilla and beat well.

Step 3: Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.

Step 4: Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the batter and beat until well combined. Add in 1/2 of the buttermilk, beat until combined, followed by another 1/3 of the dry, then the remaining buttermilk and finally the remaining dry ingredients. The batter may look a bit lumpy after buttermilk is first added, but beat well and it will combine nicely.

Step 5: Plug in your babycakes maker and wait for it to heat up and give you the green light.

Step 6: Add about 1 tbsp of the cake batter to each well in the babycakes maker (or fill close to the top). Then close the pop maker and let bake for about 3½ minutes. It’s that quick!

Step 7: After the pops are done pull them out of the pop maker and set them aside to cool.

Step 8: After they’ve cooled for a few minutes put them in the freezer for another 2-3 minutes.

Step 9: Use a double boiler to melt your white chocolate melts. If you don’t have a double boiler, place a heat-safe bowl in a small saucepan filled with about two inches of boiling water.

Step 10: Once your white chocolate starts to melt, squeeze in a few drops of pink food coloring until you reach your desired pinkness. Keep stirring until all of the chocolate has melted.

Step 11: Take the pops out of the freezer, grab a pop stick, dip it into the chocolate, and then push it into the cake pop. Do this for every cake pop then stick them all in the freezer to harden.

Step 12: Keep stirring the chocolate in the double boiler, then after about 6 minutes take a pop from the freezer, one at a time, and swirl it in the melted chocolate, add your décor (in my case the pearl x’s & o’s), then stick it back in the freezer standing up. You can use a Styrofoam block or the stand that comes with the cake pop maker. Repeat this step for every cake pop.

Step 13: Let your cake pops harden in the freezer for about 10 minutes or so, then take out and enjoy!

{and voila!}

I hope you all enjoy these little cuties! They were fun to make…I can’t wait to see what else I can do with this pop maker!

Bye for now,

The Mrs.