Bittersweet! - Last cake of the year

Hello everybody! It's once again time to share the "Cake of the Month". In The Cake Slice Bakers we are closing our baking year. During 2012-2013 we baked from Vintage Cakes Book by Julie Richardson and it was just a total and absolute delight. The recipes we tried were amazing and we all truly recommend this book! It is definitely a MUST HAVE.

 Because it is our last cake from the book and our last official month of our baking year we each had the opportunity and freedom to pick any cake from the book! I almost immediately knew which cake I would bake and when I asked hubby to pick a cake for me to bake I was delighted to see he picked the one I wanted to bake!

Here it is:

Watergate Cake with Impeachment Frosting
According to the author of the book this cake is from the early 70's and it is a pistachio cake with pistachio frosting.

Cake batter mixed with pistachio pudding, yes, all from scratch

I loved the beautiful golden color of the cake layers, the luscious cream was infused with pistachio pudding as well.

Caramelized pistachios for garnish

Because this cake had to stay refrigerated I couldn't garnish it to make it look prettier otherwise the caramelized pistachios would've gotten soggy and just not good to enjoy. 

Sliced and garnished!

Each slice could be garnished with the caramelized pistachios although I gave my guests the option to have them on the side instead since hubby didn't like the pistachios on the cake. My friends said they loved the caramelized pistachios AND the cake (I loved this cake!!!) but most of them preferred them separately... I am glad I offered the caramelized pistachios as an option. This cake was super moist and flavorful and the pistachio just adds a subtle flavor that is not overpowering or overwhelming, just really delicious, buttery, nutty, PERFECT!

Every ending is bittersweet... There's the sadness to end a chapter and the excitement to start another one! I can't wait to start baking from our new book! (sorry I still can't reveal the name!). I have been honored to be leading such a wonderful group of ladies at The Cake Slice (Like Us on Faceboook) and I hope we'll continue to bake for many more years together! If you'd like to join our secret group (we never reveal what we're baking until the 20th of every month) let me know... I'll be happy to share with you how you can join us (it's very simple! The main requirements are: love baking, have a blog and want to eat cake).

So... now... let me invite you to some other blogs. My friends and fellow bakers baked great and beautiful cakes too... make sure you do some blog hopping to see what they picked!

© Paloma K.

Coffee Friday - Update

Hello everybody! Just to let you know Coffee Friday will be back after the Holidays! Our  next Coffee Party will be on Friday January 4th, 2013! Keep taking pics of your coffee mug, coffee stains, coffee beans.... even a coffee ring! Anything coffee! send them to my e-mail love.for.coffee@gmail.com to be featured here or just mention "coffee", even if just randomly, on any of your posts to link up with us!

Here is our Coffee Party button...

<center> <a href="http://www.love4coffee.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="The Coffee Shop" src="http://goo.gl/XfoA6" /></a></center>

Enjoy!


© Paloma K.

Sweet Thursday! Recipe and Link Up!

 Happy Sweet Thursday Everybody! Thank you for choosing this blog as your "Virtual Coffee Shop" Relax and enjoy the atmosphere, the friends and a good cup of coffee if you like... or a cup of tea/hot chocolate if that's what you prefer! Today... as every Thursday (since last week) we are going to be talking about "sweets/desserts" that's what makes our Thursdays sweet! I will be sharing a recipe and then I'll just ask you to "link-up" with us to your blog... where you will be featuring something sweet like a type of dessert, something baked, candy or any kind of sweet treat! and hopefully you'll also share the recipe with us! Hopefully you will share our "Sweet Thursday Button" too!

<center><a href="http://love4coffee.blogspot.com/p/sweet-thursday.html" target="_blank"><img alt="The Coffee Shop" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzALKyCZ9gd223wtjVPPobBwog9x6ih-cS1IEZ68qANNbzQQmP-wg4c7IDGlexxHmHxIhWWMpNExeJNtG_opkVFCmpUHhx7_LT13dLmIvwAYqL4n_XgZsk6PryJ3Q3_ZD2cxXjgQBkKXw/s1600/sweet+thursday+button.jpg "/></a></center>

So here goes my recipe!

I made this recipe for hubby's birthday this year... He REALLY loved it... I just changed it a little bit and used sliced almonds instead of walnuts because hubby prefers them! I found the recipe in the "Martha Stewart LIVING Magazine"

Chocolate Almond Fudge Bars

Ingredients  (Yield: Makes 3 dozen)

• Vegetable oil cooking spray
• 27 store-bought chocolate wafer cookies (6 ounces)
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• Table salt
• 1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 pound bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup toasted and sliced almonds (or finely chopped walnuts if you prefer)
• Coarse salt, preferably fleur de sel (I used Kosher Salt)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray, and line with parchment, leaving a 2-inch overhang on long sides. Spray parchment.
• Pulse wafers in a food processor until finely ground, and transfer to a bowl. Add sugar and a pinch of table salt. Melt 6 tablespoons butter, and stir into crumbs. Press into bottom of dish. Bake for 10 minutes.
• Heat chocolate, condensed milk, whole milk, remaining 4 tablespoons butter, and a pinch of table salt in a double boiler or a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring, until melted. Stir in vanilla.

•  Pour chocolate mixture over baked cookie layer, smoothing top with an offset spatula. Sprinkle almonds and coarse salt over top, pressing slightly to adhere. Refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.

• Remove fudge from dish using parchment to lift, and transfer to a cutting board; remove parchment. Trim edges of fudge with a sharp knife, and cut crosswise into six 2-inch-wide strips. Cut each strip crosswise into 3 equal bars, then cut each bar in half on the diagonal to form 36 triangles.

Enjoy!



© Paloma King

About our Link-Up Party

 Hello everybody! How are you doing? Here in "The Coffee Shop" we are getting ready for our Thursday Link Up Party Sweet Thursday If you want to join you just have to post about something "sweet" tomorrow in your blog (candy, chocolate, dessert, baked stuff anything like that!) and/or share the recipe for a dessert! (Sharing the recipe is not necessary but it would be great!!!) and then just link up with us! I'd really appreciate if you could also share our button:

<center><a href="http://love4coffee.blogspot.com/p/sweet-thursday.html" target="_blank"><img alt="The Coffee Shop" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzALKyCZ9gd223wtjVPPobBwog9x6ih-cS1IEZ68qANNbzQQmP-wg4c7IDGlexxHmHxIhWWMpNExeJNtG_opkVFCmpUHhx7_LT13dLmIvwAYqL4n_XgZsk6PryJ3Q3_ZD2cxXjgQBkKXw/s1600/sweet+thursday+button.jpg "/></a></center>

So more can join and make this a more FUN party! The more the merrier, isn't that right???

We had two great recipes last week! I hope we can have more with each passing week! As I said... it will not only be a GOOD party but a very beautiful one with all the beautiful pictures of good sweetness! :)

I will be sharing a great recipe too of course! (Trust me.... even if you don't link up you want to check that recipe out... did I mention that "chocolate" is the main ingredient???)

So... what do you say? Are you in?? I hope you are! and it will be great to see you every Thursday too!

Have a great day!

© Paloma King

Let's have a SWEET Link-Up Party

Starting next Thursday we'll have our official SWEET THURSDAY Link-up Party... But I want to have a "Party rehearsal" today! What do you think? Would you like to Join us? I will share a "dessert" recipe and then you'll just LINK UP those great Sweet Recipes (desserts only) ... This is your "Virtual Coffee Shop" You don't need to leave your home to have the whole "Coffee Shop" experience! We'll all bring our desserts to your home! I think our Thursday link-up parties won't only be yummy but they'll be all beautiful too! don't you agree???

Please grab our button to share about it!

<center><a href="http://love4coffee.blogspot.com/p/sweet-thursday.html" target="_blank"><img alt="The Coffee Shop" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzALKyCZ9gd223wtjVPPobBwog9x6ih-cS1IEZ68qANNbzQQmP-wg4c7IDGlexxHmHxIhWWMpNExeJNtG_opkVFCmpUHhx7_LT13dLmIvwAYqL4n_XgZsk6PryJ3Q3_ZD2cxXjgQBkKXw/s1600/sweet+thursday+button.jpg "/></a></center>

Here is my recipe:

Pay (PIE) de Queso (Mexican Version of the famous American Cheesecake)

Ingredients:

1 (14oz.)  can sweetened condensed milk

1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk

6 ounces cream cheese, softened

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 prepared graham cracker crust (I use 2 cups of crushed honey graham crackers, 6 tbsp. melted butter and 1 tbsp. sugar. All mixed, pressed into the pie dish and baked for 6 min @375 F -cooled-)

Directions:

Preheat oven at 350F. In the meantime pour both condensed and evaporated milks, eggs, cream cheese and vanilla into the blender cup. Blend until smooth, about 1 minute. Pour into prepared graham cracker crust. Bake @ 350 F for about 45 minutes or until center is set. (Do not overbake)

Remove pie from oven; let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate pie at least 3 hours before serving.





© Paloma King