Update: Why I Suck at Posting

I suck at posting… I know. It's okay. I admit it. To be honest I have like 8 drafts of posts I want to talk about/publish but I don't feel like they're perfect. I have so many ideas on what I want to make posts about but I just hit a brick wall and forget or write a post and forget about it.  I also finally got a job! I hadn't worked since the first week in January which was very frustrating and annoying but now I have a job with a great company and I couldn't be happier. So that happened. I want to make a little list for what I will be posting about in the upcoming weeks!

• How to make cake pops
• Breast reduction story and 6 month post op summary
• How to make a princess cake
• Review of Urban Decay Setting spray
• A review of a restaurant in Sausilito
• Tips on baking for an event
• Dealing with anxiety/depression/stress
• Reese's peanut butter cake
• Maybe some favorites videos????

Here's what I've been up to as well!

 Plain/chocolate chip banana bread

Reese's peanut butter chocolate cake 

Black Bear Diner trips 

Spicy pizza 

 Cuppycakes

Wedding guests 

Oodles of hikes

 Cake pops

 Mini cuppycakes

 Lemon Bars

 Hazelnut ice cream

 Drinking at a concert

More mini cupcakes! 

Philadelphia Style Cheesecake

I don't know about you, but whenever I make something I think is extremely delicious I state, "This is so good, I should marry myself". A little dramatic/crazy but it doesn't happen all the time. I think this moment happens when I've baked an item enough to know how to do it very well, don't make any errors, and follow the recipe perfectly. Sometimes things get cray in the kitchen but I find that my food comes out better when I'm relaxed, organized and I follow directions fully.
This cheesecake was one of those things. It was so light, sweet, creamy, delicious. Ugh, I had two pieces in one day, which is not good because I'm lactose-intolerant but I couldn't help it! And I almost never eat what I bake. I'll snack and taste, maybe eat a piece but nothing like this. I'm obsessed with cheesecake.

I just finished taking an ice cream, custards, and soft desserts class and let me just state this: after the first day I really disliked the class. However, I came to enjoy making most of the projects in class and became more inspired to make those types of desserts at home. In class we had to make two cheesecakes, one as a group and one individually. This was fun except you had to make your own cookies for the crust. You couldn't bring in graham crackers or vanilla wafers, you had to bake them in class. But they were delicious. And I loved/hated making cheesecake. It's really hard to tell when it is done and if you over bake it, it becomes more cake-like instead of being silky. No bueno.

What I did learn was that all custards are done at 180* and they won't always look done; they will be jiggly. Which is very frustrating if you like baking cakes because you never want to take out a jiggly cake. Mmm and cheesecakes are too delicious. So silky, smooth, and simple. The simplicity is the best part if you aren't exactly comfortable with baking just yet!
This cheesecake recipe is from my reader in the SRJC culinary program. :)


Crust:
1 box vanilla wafers
7 tbsp melted, unsalted butter
4 tbsp granulated sugar

To make crust:

1. Place cookies in a food processor and pulse until it resembles coarse sand
   
2. Add the butter and the sugar and pulse until combined
   
3. Press into the bottom of your pan and up the sides.

Cheesecake:

30 oz cream cheese

1 1/4 cup of granulated sugar

5 eggs

1 tbsp vanilla (I used vanilla bean paste)

To make:

1. Preheat oven to 325* If you have convection, put the fan on low.
2. Cream the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until smooth
3. Add in the eggs one at a time and be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl and paddle as you go.
4. Add vanilla and beat the mixture until smooth. Make sure there are no lumps. Don't over mix. 
5. Pour the mixture into your pan lined with crust and place in the middle rack of your oven. 
6. Bake until an instant read thermometer reads 180* let cool at room temperature then put into fridge to chill.
7. Cheesecake should be cut the day after it is made, not the day it was baked.

When you are ready to cut the cheesecake remove it from the pan and remove the metal bottom. Place on a cardboard circle. Be near a sink or have a large container filled with hot water. Also have a serrated knife, chef knife, and clean towel. It's a lot, but it is super important. 

1. Wet the serrated knife then wipe with clean towel.
2. Cut directly across cheesecake. Wet knife and wipe with towel.
3. Cut the cake into quarters. 
4. Take the chef knife, wet and wipe with towel
5. Cut each quarter into 3 pieces. Wetting and wiping the knife between each slice

Important: You MUST wet the knife and wipe clean after each cut because if you don't you'll break up the cheesecake and get nasty, rough edges and crumbs everywhere. Nobody wants that. 

Tips:

There are many important things you should know about baking cheesecake: do not use a spring foam pan if you can help it. They are not as good. Sometimes the bottom or sides become warped and don't attach properly later on. Instead use a pan with a removable bottom like a tart pan. You do not need a water bath. Do not cut the cheesecake on the metal bottom, it will scratch it up and make future desserts not come out the same. It is also handy because you'll never bring a cheesecake to a party or gathering and lose the metal bottom forever! If you can bake it in a convection oven even better. And BAKE IT TO 180, no hotter, no cooler.

"For what it’s worth: it’s never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you find you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start over again."

F. Scott Fitzgerald 

Tarts and Pies Class!

I am one semester away from getting my pastry and baking certificate which is super crazy. Time went by so fast and I'm sad it's almost over. I met some some amazing people and had great teachers. I think tarts and pies was my favorite class other than intro to baking. Here's a little sneak peek into what I made in the last two weeks! I will be posting the recipes to some of these tarts and pies!

Mini tarts with passionfruit curd, raspberry curd and chocolate rum pastry cream.

Apple Pie

Lattice crust on apple pie

Lemon blueberry galettes

Fresh strawberry tart

Chocolate hazelnut tart with raspberries

Raspberry pie

Coconut cream pie

Chocolate bourbon pecan pie

Lemon meringue pie

lemon meringue pie

Chocolate strawberry tart

Spice pear tart

Stay tuned for recipes!

Davis Farmers Market with Joe :)

One of my favorite things to do with Joe is go to Davis. I love it there. Joe went to UC Davis and wanted to take me there to show me around and we both fell in love. It's such a nice town and atmosphere. You'd think that since it's a college town it would be crazy or wild but it's the opposite. I've never been to a town that I thought was perfect to live. When I think of my future I think of Davis. 

They have a year-round farmers market on Saturdays and Joe and I have gone to two so far this spring. I am overwhelmed and overexcited each time we go. Sometimes I even think of driving over to Davis just to see the market and relax. They have food, fresh/local veggies, fruit, pastries, meat, honey, juice, nuts, plants, flowers, and other cool knick knacks. It's absolutely wonderful. This is a glimpse into what we saw today!

Super tasty berries!

We bought yukon gold potatoes, leeks, apple juice, a bear claw, and cheddar jalapeño bread

These things were so beautiful in the wind! I wish I knew how much they were and I wish I had a place for one at my house because they were so cool and fun to look at

If my parents hadn't already bought three tomato plants I would've gotten some from here!

The carrots were super sweet and delicious, and this is coming from someone who does not like raw carrots.

Our view from the blanket in the field next to the market

Cakes and Cake Decorating Class

I've been MIA because of school but I'm hoping to get back into the groove of things. I've made countless blogs in the past and tend to give up after 5 posts but I'm determined not to do that with this blog. I took a two week long cake and cake decorating class and it was an amazing experience. There were so many tips and tricks I learned about baking and decorating that I couldn't have learned any other way. My teacher owned and operated an amazing bakery close to my town and now works at an extremely successful bakery. The bakery he owned is one of my favorite places to get cake. Anyways, here are some of the cakes I've made since school started. I plan on making a post about how to make a princess cake, which is my favorite cake on earth. Also I'm going to re-do my strawberry shortcake and perfect it before making a blogpost about it as well.

Princess Cake

Strawberry Shortcake

Making a wedding cake was one of the most exciting/challenging things I've ever done. It took so much time and effort and there were times I just wanted to sit down and cry and times I wanted to drive back to school to work on my cake. I learned a lot from making this cake. I had always feared making a tall multiple tiered wedding cake but I realized this was the perfect opportunity to practice. I still have so much to learn and I'm extremely excited to practice my skills in school. 

Bottom Layer: Chocolate cake

Top Layer: Vanilla cake

My next set of classes being on the 22nd and I'll be taking a tarts and pies class followed by an ice cream and soft desserts class. I plan on posting what I create in class on here and also include any recipes I loved! 

♡

✿ Spring Lemon Blueberry Cake ✿

Spring is finally here! The sun is shining, days are longer, and flowers are blooming. The weather in California has been beautiful lately! It's been warm and sunny all week and it's gotten me really inspired. I kept saying "I'm going to bake cupcakes. I'm going to bake cookies. I'm going to make ice cream". None of that happened. I make a lot of excuses but today I knew I wanted to bake a cake. I was thinking chocolate then strawberry then vanilla. But ultimately I thought lemon blueberry would be the perfect thing for a Sunday evening. The cake is lemony and decadent, the blueberries are a nice surprise when you take a bite! And the frosting is perfectly lemony without being too sweet or too sour. The ingredients are things that you would normally have in your house, most likely you'll only have to buy the blueberries and lemons. This recipe is also pretty simple to execute. I followed the recipe made by Sweetapolita, but I did a few things differently! If you want to learn how to make a delicious lemon blueberry cake then keep on reading. :)

The ingredients you will need are:

• 2 cups and 6 tbsp all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt (I used vanilla, it said to use plain but who cares)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice (about one lemon)
• 2 tbps lemon zest (I used one giant lemon)
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 sticks (one cup) butter (room temp)
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 6 oz of fresh blueberries

1. To begin, pre-heat oven to 350* and butter two 9 inch pans, line with parchment and then re-butter
2. Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl, set aside
3. In a separate bowl mix milk, yogurt, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla extract together, set aside.
4. In a stand mixer cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
5. Add eggs one at a time and then scrape down the sides of the bowl.
6. Put one third of the dry mixture into the mixer, then half of the liquid ingredients, add another third of the dry then the rest of the wet ingredients followed by the rest of the dry ingredients
7. Before the batter is completely combined take the bowl off the machine and fold the batter by hand
8. Wash and dry the blueberries, then gently fold into the batter
9. Evenly divide the batter between the two pans and put into the oven. Bake for 25 minutes or until the top is set and lightly golden.
10. Let the cakes cool for 15 minutes out of the oven then remove from the pans and place onto a wire rack.

Lemon buttercream

• 2 sticks of softened, unsalted butter
• 5 cups of sifted powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• a splash of milk, half+half, heavy cream
• yellow food coloring (optional)

To make the frosting

1. Cream the butter until light and fluffy
2. Slowly add the powdered sugar one cup at a time until fully combined
3. Add the vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest and mix until fluffy and delicious

This cake was so delicious! Light and lemony. Hint of blueberry. It would be perfect for after dinner, a midday snack and even something to eat with tea in the morning. This recipe also makes delicious cupcakes with or without the blueberries. If you try this recipe out let me know! 

Happy Spring! ♡

Dillon Beach!

If you've never been to a beach in California, you're missing out. I went out to Dillon beach on Saturday with my boyfriend and it was fantastic. The beach is a little over an hour away from San Francisco but from where I live it takes a little over a half hour. The nice thing about this beach is there is always parking and it's only $8 for the whole day. The beach is open until sunset but sadly there is no overnight parking or beach camping there. There's also a market right before the beach so if you forgot snacks, water, sunscreen or anything else you can buy it right there!

Poor crabby got flipped over by waves after I took his photo :(

Joe and I left around 4:30ish and stopped to get some food from a local market before heading out. The weather has been in the 80*s here but the beach isn't always as warm. Okay, I've never been to the beach near where I live and have it been 80* that I can remember. Or if it was close to 80* it was completely overcast. But when we went Saturday it was beautiful out! I was worried because when we got into the Bodega area it became really foggy and we had wanted to see the sun set while we were there. Luckily it was perfectly clear at the beach and not windy at all. :)

♡ 

We were at the beach for a few hours, running in the waves, taking photos and collecting seashells. We walked for a long time down the beach and I didn't even realize how far we had gone until we had to make the trip back to the car. I tried taking photos with these birds and tried having Joe take a photo of me and these little birds but every time I went near them they ran even while they were looking for food. They were so cute and short and they ran to the waves when they were being drawn back into the ocean and then running away when a wave came in. I gave up when we had to go back to the car. But we saw the crab and that made up for it. The drive home was just as fun because we laughed and sang "No One" by Alicia Keys and "I Would Walk 500 Miles" by The Proclaimers even though we only knew the choruses. 

This beach trip was exactly what I needed to get back into a happy, relaxed state of mind. I've been feeling really stressed and not my best for a few weeks now and it hasn't been easy for me or Joe. He has been nothing but loving, supportive and patient with me which is important in any relationship, but it means so much to me. I don't want to get too personal or say too much but I also feel like I could fill up a book with how much I love and appreciate Joe. I'm just happy we both got to step back and forget about the stresses of every day life and enjoy an evening at the beach. Saturday was the first day in a long time that I laughed as hard as I did and smiled as much as I did. I can't stop looking through all of the photos we took and wishing that I had a few more hours or that I could spend each day like that. This beach trip was the most amazing day I've had all year and I was so happy to be spending it with my best friend. :) 

"Those who love you are not fooled by mistakes you have made or dark images you hold about yourself. They remember your beauty when you feel ugly; your wholeness when you are broken; your innocence when you feel guilty; and your purpose when you are confused."

Alan Cohen