Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Saturday, December 15, 2012

18th Stop: Belize

Welcome to Belize and its Tropical Coconut Cake.


Above is, essentially, a caramel topping being whipped into shape. 

This cake's topping is amazing if you love caramel and coconut. I imagine you could use this lusciousness for other creations, too. Ice cream, perhaps? It would be tropical, caramel goodness on top of some vanilla ice cream. Instead of hot fudge, go for hot caramel coconut. 

 

I'm telling you, I'm on to something here....


Anyway, below is a photo of the cake right before I started to bake it.



And here is a photo of it all done, after the topping had been broiled to give it a bubbly, lightly brown and crunchy top.  You can see, I've already tried a piece. 

 


The actual cake part didn't have much flavor and was a bit of a disappointment to us. It was more "bready" than "cakey." 

It did remain wonderfully moist, but it lacked pizazz which probably a little more sugar would have given it. 

 

But the topping, again, let me repeat, was AMAZING. 

Just make the topping.

Add it to vanilla ice cream. 

Kind of wish I had.


I'm sure the the person behind My Global Kitchens makes a better rendition. She's actually been to Belize and had this there.


I envy that and thank her for her recipe, which you can find at the link above.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Monday Morsel: Not My Gumdrop Buttons!

Q. How did gingerbread become so gender-specific? 


A. Gingerly of course.


Ha.


"Of course, when gingerbread cookies are shaped like everything from popular politicians to baby animals, polite consumption can be tricky. Is it barbaric to bite off the head first? Or worse to start by amputating an extremity? If you nibble on decorations first, does the plaintive voice of that character from Shrek echo in your imagination ('Not my gumdrop buttons!')?"


~ Amanda Benson at http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/food/2008/12/a-brief-history-of-gingerbread/ 

 

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Happy National Brownie Day

Photo from: http://www.thecookingphotographer.com/2010/05/caffeinated-triple-bypass-brownies.html

As Bakery Traveler, I must tell you one of my favorite things to do is travel the Internet for recipes. I'm sure you gathered that. When I learned that today is National Brownie Day and then I found this blog - well - I just had to share it with you. 

 

I am going to try this for sure: http://www.thecookingphotographer.com/2010/05/caffeinated-triple-bypass-brownies.html

 

But I wouldn't have known about Caffeinated Triple Bypass Brownies if it weren't for this blog: http://www.lovefromtheoven.com/2011/08/23/the-best-brownies-bites-from-other-blogs/. If you love brownies as much as I do, then you must check-out this link. It's a bountiful list of fabulous brownie recipes from all over.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Monday Morsel: Saveur's Smart Cookies

If you don't know about Saveur, then you'd probably like to.  This link, from Saveur, is perfect for this time of year: http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Smart-Cookies-International-Holiday-Cookies!  I really like Saveur.  I like pretending I can pronounce it properly.  I like putting Saveur in italics.  The whole thing just makes me feel far more sophisticated than I really am.

 

Tomorrow is National Cookie Day. "Well, of course it is," I thought when I discovered that. Did you know English word "cookie" is derived from the Dutch word "koekje?" Now you do. 

 

(I learned about that here: http://www.punchbowl.com/holidays/national-cookie-day.)

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Yukon Cornelius


Here is a fellow Bakery Traveler if I ever knew one. He is ready to join me as we explore the delightful month of December.


 A little quote from Yukon Cornelius:

Yukon Cornelius: This fog's as thick as peanut butter!
Hermey: You mean pea soup.
Yukon Cornelius: You eat what you like, and I'll eat what I like!