Lemon Cake Roll with Lemon Curd Filling

Happy Mother's Day to those of you celebrating today!  Although I hope you all show your moms how grateful you are to have them in your lives everyday, it's still nice to devote a special day to them.

Happy Mother's Day Mom.  I LOVE YOU!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'll be doing Mother's Day at my home.  My mom, sister and in-laws will be coming over for dinner to celebrate with my family.  Since everyone's coming over I like to make a special dinner.  I'll be making a glazed salmon with spinach and grape tomatoes along with some sides and a salad.  In addition, I thought it would be fun to make a Lemon Cake Roll with a Lemon Curd filling.  I love making roulades whether they're for an appetizer, entree or dessert, just because they are so pretty.  They look difficult but are really quite simple.  I also adore lemon curd.  The flavor is so smooth and mellow that I salivate just thinking about it.  So together I know they'll be a hit.

However, just to play it safe I'm going to whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies.  For those who desperately need some chocolate to finish they're meal.

Whether you're making Mother's Day dinner at your home or going out I hope you have a wonderful day.

My Mother's Day gift to you is to share this wonderful recipe.  It takes no time to prepare and if you're still contemplating what to make for dessert, you still have time to whip this up and have it ready in time for dinner.

Here's the recipe.......


Lemon Cake Roll with Lemon Curd Filling
serves 10

Ingredients for Sponge Cake:

6 eggs
1 cup sugar
Grated rind of 1/2 a lemon
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Ingredients for Lemon Curd Filling:

2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
Grated rind and juice of 2 lemons
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

Confectioners' sugar for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees.

Butter an 8x12 inch baking sheet, then line with buttered parchment paper, and set it aside.

To make the sponge cake, place the eggs, sugar, lemon rind, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat at high speed until the mixture is light and has tripled in volume.  Mix the flour with the baking powder.  Using a rubber spatula, fold this in, being careful not to deflate the egg mixture too much. 

Pour the batter onto the prepared baking sheet with a 1-inch rim. 

Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the sponge cake is very lightly browned.  Let cool for 5 minutes. 

Then invert the cake onto a damp kitchen towel sprinkled with the confectioners' sugar.  Gently peel off the parchment paper. Carefully roll the cake lengthwise in the towel.  Wrap in foil and let cool at room temperature.  

To make the filling, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, lemon rind and juice in a tempered glass bowl, then add the butter and place over a pot of simmering water.  Cook over low heat whisking constantly until the lemon curd starts to thicken.  This could take 20-30 minutes.  Let cool at least an hour. 

Unroll the cake.  Cover with the lemon curd, then carefully roll the cake again, this time without the towel.  Transfer to a serving platter.  Dust with confectioners' sugar.  Chill 1 hour or longer.

Slice and serve with fresh berries and whipped cream if desired.

Enjoy!

OXO Good Grips Mandoline Slicer Giveaway!

I love this time of year.  The weather is warmer and generally most people tend to eat healthier by eating lots of fruits, vegetables and fish.  I'm not sure if it's just because of the weather or because it's getting close to bathing suit season.

At any rate, I use my OXO Mandoline all year round but find I use it even more from Spring through Fall.  It slices fruits and veggies lickity split, without a fuss and doesn't cut my hands or fingers!  With a variety of attachments, sizes and shapes, it makes slicing a snap. 

In fact, when my children were little I'd have them help me in the kitchen by slicing the fruits and vegetables with the Mandoline.  So long as they used the safety grip handle I didn't have to worry about any injuries.  Best of all they loved helping me, and thought it was fun to use the Mandoline.

I've been using mine for as long as I can remember, and thought it would be nice to offer the OXO Good Grips Mandoline  as a giveaway to those of you that read my blog.  I love mine and I'm sure if you win, you'll love yours as well.  Of course, if you don't win, I still highly recommend purchasing one for yourself.  At just $69.99they're well worth it and also make the perfect gift for a friend, college student or bride to be. 

If you've never seen how they work before here's a great video that will show you all the details.



I know after watching this video you can't wait to try and win one thru my giveaway.  So here's all you need to do. 

The first 3 things listed are mandatory.  The others (4 & 5) are not mandatory, but each time you do one of the numbers, make sure you let me know by posting it on my blog.  Each time you post that you've joined one of the 5 items, it will increase your chances of winning the OXO Mandoline.

1. "Like" the OXO facebook page, then post a comment on my blog that you did so.
2. "Like" my facebook page, then post a comment on my blog that you did so.
3. Follow me on Google Friend Connect on my blog, then post a comment on my blog that you did so.
4. Follow my blog by Email which is located in the upper right of my blog.  It says, "Follow by Email."Then post a comment on my blog that you did so.
5. Lastly sign up for my Monthly Newsletter. This comes out at the beginning of each month with recipes, tips and everything food related. Then post a comment on my blog that you did so.

This contest is open to U.S. residents only.  I'm so sorry to those that follow my blog that live outside of the U.S but due to shipping costs we are unable to ship outside of the United States. 

My OXO Good Grips Mandoline Slicer Giveaway ends on lucky Friday, May 13th.  The winner will be selected at Random and their OXO Mandoline will be shipped directly from OXO.

Please be sure to enter your contact information when following me, so in the event you are the winner, I will be able to contact you.  The winner will have 48 hours to respond otherwise another winner will be selected at Random.

So what are you waiting for.  Try your chances now at winning this incredible kitchen tool, the OXO Good Grips Mandoline Slicer.

I absolutely love the OXO products.  In fact after posting the above post I went on the OXO website to see just how many pieces I have that they make.  I have 23 pieces, all of which I use.  They are:

• Good Grips Soap Squirting Brush           
• food storage containers
• measuring cups in various sizes
• ice cream scooop
• mandoline
• tongs
• spatula
• salad spinner
• corn peeler
• swivel peeler
• oil stopper/pourer
• apple divider
• dough blender
• bench scraper
• 3", 6" and 8" strainer
• corn holders
• meat pounder
• serving tongs
• pie server
• whisk
• can opener

I was amazed.  I think I should consider buying stock in this company.  I love their grip handles that keep your wet hands from not slipping.  In fact everyone of the products that I have work to perfection and have never broken. Take it from me, OXO products are fantastic!  Check out their website for more information on all their products.

Congratulations #26 VickieB from California you have won the OXO Good Grips Mandoline Slicer!

Kitchen Tip!

Does your cutting board slip and slide all over the counter when you're trying to cut your fruit and vegetables?  If so, here's a simple kitchen tip that will protect you from cutting yourself.

Take a paper towel sheet and put it under the faucet and get it wet.  Ring it out so that it's just damp.  Then lay it down on your counter.

Place your cutting board down on the damp towel.  Now, see if you can move it.  The cutting board should be fixed in place by the damp towel. You shouldn't be able to move it in any direction.

So you ask, "how will this keep me from cutting myself?" 

If you are slicing and dicing fruits and veggies and the board isn't stabilized,  and it moves, the knife could slip causing you to cut yourself.

This is a simple and inexpensive way to keep your fingers safe.  Of course, always be sure that your knives are sharp.  A dull blade is more dangerous than one that is sharp, and of course, never turn your head while slicing something.  That's a sure way to injure yourself.

I hope this tip was helpful!

Happy Cooking!

Make Prince Williams (Grooms) Wedding Cake!

When I heard that people all over the United States and the world would be celebrating Prince William and Kate Middletons wedding by having their own parties, I thought it would be perfect to share with you one of the recipes for the wedding cake.  Apparently, Prince William and Kate Middleton will have two wedding cakes.  Kate Middletons favorite is a type of fruit cake (Bride's Cake) while Prince Williams is a Chocolate Biscuit Cake (Groom's Cake) that he use to have when celebrating  his birthday, and it's still his favorite.

When I heard this I immediately went to a cookbook I purchased a year or so ago by Darren McGrady.  He was the private chef for Princess Diana and her family up until just after she passed away.  In his book he shares the Chocolate Biscuit Cake recipe (Groom's Cake) which will be one of the cakes prepared for all those attending the wedding.

This morning on The Today Show, Bon Appetit shared their version of the recipe.  However, according to Darren McGrady's book,  Eating Royallythis is the recipe Prince William grew up with.

A very simple recipe, with few ingredients, and it's a no bake cake!  The only ingredient that you may have trouble finding are the McVities Digestive Tea Biscuits.  I found mine at World Market however, they also had them at Global Foods here in town.  So if you have either of those in your area you can pick them up or order them on Amazon


To me, the biscuits taste like Carr's Wheatmeal Crackers, kind of a sweet crumbly biscuit.  They're really quite good. 

It's no wonder Prince William loves this cake.  After viewing the recipe and making it, I'm sure you'll agree, it's like a large Kit Kat Cake only with superior dark chocolate. 

Note:
The icing is just simply melted chocolate.  I think I would have preferred making a ganache or using the icing that I use on my Chocolate Avalanche cake where it's a bit thicker and richer.  I didn't try The Today Shows version of icing but that might not be bad either.  Maybe had I left it to set a bit it would have thickened up, however, it said to melt it and then pour it over the cake.  If you try it let me know which version of icing you used and what you thought.

If you'd like to make this cake continue reading........


Chocolate Biscuit Cake
makes 8 servings

1/2 teaspoon butter, for greasing pan
8 ounces McVities rich tea biscuits
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 ounces dark chocolate (I used Lindt)
1 egg, beaten
8 ounces dark chocolate, for icing (Lindt)
1 ounce white chocolate, (Lindt) for decoration

Lightly grease a 6 inch springform pan (I used a 7 inch), with 1/2 teaspoon butter, and place  parchment paper on top.  Break each of the biscuits into almond-size pieces by hand and set aside. 

Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl until the mixture is a light lemon color.

Melt the 4 ounces of dark chocolate in a double boiler. 

Add the butter and sugar mixture to the chocolate, stirring constantly.  Add the egg and continue stirring.

Fold in the biscuit pieces until they are all coated with the chocolate mixture.

Spoon the chocolate biscuit mixture into the prepared springform pan.  Try to fill all of the gaps on the bottom of the pan, because this will be the top when it is unmolded.  Chill the cake in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

Remove the cake from the refrigerator, and let it stand while you melt the 8 ounces of dark chocolate for icing. 

Slide the ring off the cake and turn the cake upside down onto a cooling rack (I placed a cake board on the rack so that I could easily lift it up once iced).  Place some foil under the rack to catch any extra drippings from the icing. (I also laid parchment paper on the board which was slightly bigger than my cake. This way once the icing was poured over the cake I could remove the parchment without showing a mess).

Pour the 8 ounces of melted dark chocolate over the cake, and smooth the top and sides using a butter knife or offset spatula.  Allow the cake icing to set at room temperature.  Carefully, transfer the cake to a cake dish.  Melt the white chocolate and drizzle on top of the cake in a decorative pattern.

That's all there is to it.  Slice and enjoy.  YUM!

I think that either you need to let the chocolate cool a bit before pouring it over the cake, so it has time to thicken a bit or something was left out of the icing recipe or needs to be added to thicken it up.  See my "note" above in the beginning for suggestions.

Even though my cake didn't have a thick coating of chocolate over it, it still tasted delicious.  I followed the directions exactly as stated.  It really is tasty, you should try it or a version of it!

Don't forget to watch the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton this coming Friday at 4:00am EST.

Happy Easter!



For those of you celebrating Easter today, I wish you a very Happy Easter! I hope you enjoy this special day with your family.

Easter Egg Cakes Made Right In The Shells!

I'm always looking for recipes that are out of the box so to speak.  So when I read the post from the Cupcake Project and Delicious Days on how they made Cake Eggs right in the shells of a real egg I thought this was something I needed to attempt. 

It was really quite simple, just a little time consuming, but the results were well worth it, fun and a fantastic surprise for the Easter table!

Before starting this baking project I had every intention of stuffing the cakes once done with lemon curd.  However, I realized once they were cooked there was no way I wanted to tackle that.  The cake eggs were so light and fluffy that I stood the chance of ruining them.  So instead I figured I could plate them with drizzles of lemon curd all around the egg cakes by using a squirt bottle or place each individual cake in a ceramic egg holder.

I decided I'd use Stef's recipe from the Cupcake Project for my first run, but instead of using the sour cream I used plain yogurt. They turned out delicious!  Let me walk you through the steps of how these were done.  I'm sure you'll probably have all or most of the ingredients already in your pantry.

Easter Egg Cakes
makes 10 large egg cakes

Ingredients:

• 10 large eggs - however, you'll only be using one egg for the cake batter.  (Save the rest and make a great Fritatta for brunch).
• 1/2 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• large pinch of kosher salt
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon Pure Lemon Extract
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt

Prepping the eggs:

Using a pin or tip of a corkscrew, carefully poke a small hole in the base (larger end) of the egg.

Then carefully peel away about a 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch circle of the shell and thin film below the shell.  Turn the egg over a bowl and remove the entire egg from the shell.  To remove the remaining egg I used a round popsicle stick to carefully help scoop out the contents.  Do this same thing with the rest of the eggs. 

At this point rinse the insides of the eggs carefully with a slow steady stream of water over the sink.   Then place the rinsed eggs into a bowl of salt water.  I used about 1/4 cup of Kosher salt and then enough water to cover the eggs.  Be careful when submerging the eggs into the water so the shells don't break.  Leave them to soak for 30 minutes.

Rinse the eggs and lay on a paper towel to drain with the holes setting directly on the towel to dry out.

Directions for making the cake batter:

• In a small bowl mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.
• In a large bowl, mix one egg and the sugar until blended and smooth.
• Add the butter and lemon extract and mix until thoroughly combined.
• Add the plain yogurt and blend until smooth.

Using some non-stick spray carefully place the nozzle into the hole of each egg and spray.  Carefully swirl the egg around so that the non-stick contents cover the insides of the egg.

Set a popover pan (which I used) or cupcake pan (which would need a base of aluminum foil set into each cup to help the eggs stand upright) in front of you on the counter. 

Place the cake batter into a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip or you can use a plastic baggie.  Make sure that the tip will fit into the hole of the egg.  Gently fill each egg approximately 3/4 full.  If you don't fill enough your cake won't look like an egg.  I filled all of mine 3/4 -7/8 full. Remember the batter will expand.  If some of the batter spills out of the egg, don't worry you can easily clean it up and nibble on the scraps.  You can then clean the egg with a damp paper towel.

Bake the eggs in the pan at 350F for about 23-25 minutes. 

Let cool completely before peeling the eggs.  However, if you prefer you can also serve them directly in the shell and let your guests peel their own.

These are great served with lemon curd. As I mentioned, I had fully intended to stuff these with the lemon curd but they came out so light and fluffy that I was afraid I would ruin the cake eggs so didn't bother.

These are fun to make and I am sure your kids will enjoy it as well.  Just make sure they handle the eggs very carefully so they don't break them. 

Have fun making these and have a very Happy Easter!

Fun with Easter Eggs!

Ever since I was a little girl I loved decorating Easter Eggs or any eggs at all, it really didn't matter what time of year it was.  In fact, my grandmother who lived with us would give me the dry outer skins from the yellow onions and have me put them in with my eggs as I hard-cooked them.  The golden color from the skins would come off onto the eggs giving them a beautiful and natural golden color.  You would have thought that we had chickens that laid GOLDEN EGGS!

However, today they have all sorts of dyes to add to your eggs shells (available at craft and cake decorating stores) that enhance their colors and make them almost whimsical-like.  Rather than going out and purchasing all sorts of templates though to decorate your eggs with, below are some fun ideas that you can easily do at home with your kids, so they can have their own whimsical eggs this Easter!

However, before going out and purchasing those eggs here are some safety tips you should consider:

• Always buy eggs from a refrigerated case and keep them refrigerated before you boil them in preparation for decorating. Be sure to check the "Sell by" dates.
• When you boil your eggs, make sure the water is hot (185-190 degrees F). Cool your eggs in cold water or allow cooling slowly at room temperature.
• When shell eggs are hard-cooked, the protective coating is washed away, leaving open pores in the shell where harmful bacteria could enter. Be sure to refrigerate eggs within two hours of cooking and use them within a week.
• Don't eat or cook with cracked eggs or eggs that have been un-refrigerated for more than two hours.
• If you plan to eat the Easter eggs you decorate, be sure to use only food grade dye. (Some people make two sets of eggs - one for decorating and hiding, another for eating.)
• Make sure to wash (and re-wash) your hands, utensils, and work surfaces to keep bacteria from spreading.
• Hide eggs in places that are protected from dirt, pets, and other bacteria sources.
• Limit the hiding and hunting time for real eggs to two hours. Refrigerate them immediately if they are to be eaten.
• Eggs found hours later or the next day should be thrown out -- not eaten!

Now For Some Fun Decorating Ideas!  

Decorating with Stickers is a fun and simple way to create whimsical Easter eggs.

Materials:

• hard cooked eggs
• egg dye
• Stickers (paper reinforcements, store bought stickers or even designs you've created by cutting shapes out from Con-Tact paper

Instructions:

1. Begin with a cooled egg and cooled dye; otherwise, the adhesive gets sticky and difficult to remove. Cover the egg with stickers, then dip the egg until the desired shade is achieved.
2. Let the egg dry, and remove the stickers. If you wish, you can remove only some of the stickers and dip the egg in a second color.

Another fun technique is simply using rubber bands. 

Materials:

• hard cooked eggs
• egg dye
• rubber bands of various widths and sizes, long enough to wrap around the egg several times
• paper towels

Instructions:

1. Wrap rubber bands around the egg, covering it as much or as little as you like.
2. Dip the covered egg into the dye. The color will seep under the bands in some areas and be blocked out in other areas. Remove the egg when the desired shade is achieved.
3. Blot dry with paper towels and remove the rubber bands. If you like at this point you can repeat with a new color.

The last one it to sponge paint your egg.

         

Materials:

• hard cooked eggs
• scissors
• kitchen sponges
• tempera paints

Instructions:

1. Cut out small shapes, about 1/2-inch wide, from the sponge (a thin rectangle was used above to make the zigzag pattern).
2. Dip the sponge into the paint, dab off the excess and make a pattern of stamps on the egg.

Tip:  To keep your colors fresh and bright use a different sponge for each color.
         Of course don't forget you can also use stick-on jewels to embellish your eggs too!Remember if you're hard-cooked eggs never come out right, read my blog post on getting perfect hard-cooked eggs everytime!
Wishing you a Happy Easter and Happy Easter Egg Hunting!