Black and White never tasted better!

Hello friends... and patient readers... patient because I don't blog often anymore but those of you who remain faithful to "The Coffee Shop" wow... THANK YOU! I appreciate it! I continue to bake and enjoy cooking... I just don't find the time to blog as much as I used to... But... here I am ... at least once a month to share about my baking experiences with "The Cake Slice Bakers"  and by the way... we are now On Facebook TOO so you can join us there to see what we're baking and learn from our own experiences as we experiment in the kitchen, we'll share our successes and our fails as well!

We are currently baking from the "Vintage Cakes" book by Julie Richardson... most cakes in this book have been a great success for all of us! We have unanimously raved about some outstanding cakes from that book, so please make sure you get it...

I must say that the "Black and White" seems to be everyone's favorite so far... We had friends over who enjoyed it with us... Hubby was just in some other "dimension" while eating it! He ate so much he gave himself a stomachache... and my friend Laurie said she "never wanted it to end" it was THAT GOOD!

This cake is formed by 2 chocolate layers of cake, the batter calls for some warm coffee, then once the cakes are baked, and cooled off, you cover the first layer with a sumptuous chocolate ganache, then add some of the AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS vanilla bean buttercream, place the other layer, spread the rest of the ganache on top and then entirely frost it with the rest of the buttercream... It was a bit tricky for me to not get the ganache and frosting mixed... the top layer was easier because I left it longer in the fridge before completely frosting, the frosting by the way was amazing, this buttercream required you to make a "meringue kind of thing" it has almost a "marshmallow" texture to it ...and then, after all those egg whites have been whipped with the melted sugar, you start adding butter and more butter... for some of our bakers this proved to be a little bit challenging.... maybe I just "got lucky" and it turned out just FANTASTIC! I am definitely keeping this recipe close by so I can make it again and again!

If you want to know exactly how this cake tasted... remember you can make it too... Get this amazing book! You will not regret it!

Now... some pictures of my cake:

A lot of stuff going on in the background, lol! Here you can see the ganache both in the middle and on the top layer

Here I am ready to completely frost it, the crumbs have been sealed with a thin layer of white frosting

 I hope you will take some time to check out our Facebook Page and our Blogroll so you can see how the rest of the Cake Slice Bakers did as they reveal their cakes!

© Paloma K.

Craisins/Chocolate Chips Oatmeal Cookies

Hello everybody! You might be surprised with this post... It's been a while since I last wrote "out of the blue" I am usually just publishing something once a month (when it's time to reveal the "Cake of the Month" that I bake with my friends from "The Cake Slice Bakers" but two days ago I made a batch of absolutely delicious oatmeal cookies with craisins and chocolate chips and I thought I couldn't just keep this recipe to myself so I am sharing it today!

These cookies are absolutely fabulous, not overly sweet and just with a delicate hint of cinnamon which gives them a spicy background note, it's just very mild, you might not even be able to tell "it's cinnamon" but it's just perfect to blend with the rest of the flavors, so you can enjoy them all!

So... Here's my Recipe (which I adapted from the original Quaker Recipe for "Raisins Oatmeal Cookies")

Craisins and Chocolate Chips Oatmeal Cookies

Yield: Makes about 50 cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2  cup of butter (room temperature)
• 3/4  cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/2  cup granulated sugar
• 2  eggs
• 1  teaspoon vanilla
• 1-1/2  cups all-purpose flour
• 1  teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2  teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2  teaspoon salt
• 3  cups of quick or old fashioned, uncooked oats
• 1  cup chocolate chips
• 2/3 cup craisins

Preparation
Pre-heat oven to 350°F.
In a bowl combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, whisk it all together until it's all incorporated. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium/high speed of electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well (do not over-mix). Add oats mix well.Then using a spatula fold in the chocolate chips and craisins until it's all incorporated.
Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls (you can use a small ice cream scoop) onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 9 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

Enjoy!



© Paloma K.