Easter Bunny Cake

This cake can be made as a single layer or as a double layer cake. You will need either a very large platter or a large round cake disc to set the cake up on.

Ingredients for Easter Bunny Cake

4-8″ round cake pans greased and floured
2 – recipes of your favorite cake or 2 boxes of cake mix
Jelly beans 3 dark and 2 light colored
licorice sticks
shredded coconut, If you have allergies to coconut try shredding white chocolate
2 recipes for butter cream icing

Directions for Easter Bunny Cake

Following the directions for your chosen cake make 4 8″ round cakes. Layer the cakes with a flat side on the bottom and ice the center thick enough so the rounded top of the bottom layer will support the flat bottom of the second cake, with the top of the cake rounded. After you have iced centers cut one layer cake in half. Arrange the circular cake at the bottom of your platter and place the two halves with the cut side facing out above as ears.

For best presentation put the doilies on the platter before the cake and arrange wax paper around the edges of cake so that when you ice sides the icing won’t get on the doilies.

Ice top and sides of layered cakes and then coat sides and top with coconut leaving a uncoated area where the eyes and nose will go and a smaller clear area where the teeth will go.

Place the dark jelly beans for eyes and nose on cake and decorate with six licorice sticks as whiskers if sticks look too thick split them with a knife. Take on piece of licorice and cut in half length wise leaving about an inch uncut at the top. Spread it for the mouth and place the lighter jelly beans in between as teeth.

Butter Cream Icing

There are a number of tricks to a good buttercream icing. If your going to having the cake out in a warm area or if you want the icing to be very white substitute ½ to all the butter with shortening, if your going to use an all shortening recipe for a “very white” icing use about ¼ cup additional shortening.. There are a number of flavorings that are made “clear” use them to flavor an all white frosting, and if you truly like the butter flavor needed, use a no color butter flavoring.

Basics for all the recipes are cream the butter well and then add the flavorings and slowly add the sugar. Scrap the bowl down often to completely combine the ingredients. The icing will appear a little stiff at this point, and to thin to your desired consistency add the heavy cream or light corn syrup and whip the icing at a higher speed to make it airy and light and fluffy. Refrigerate for a while before working with it.

Ingredients for Buttercream Icing

1 cup butter or shortening or a combination of both
3 – 4 cups confectioners sugar
1 tbs vanilla
2 – 3 tbs heavy cream
pinch of salt

Directions for Buttercream Icing

Cream the butter well, then add the vanilla and salt, slowly add the sugar with the mixer on a slow speed scraping down the sides of the bowl often to incorporate all the sugar. Once combined add the heavy cream 1 tbs at a time and mix at medium high speed until you have the desired consistency. Can be refrigerated up to a week covered in the refrigerator.

Here are a few items to help make this recipe:
Chicago Metallic Commercial II Non-Stick 8-Inch Round Cake Pan
Wilton 13 Inch Angled Spatula With Black Handle
Twizzlers Sugar Free Twists, Strawberry, 5-Ounce Bags (Pack of 12)

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Easter Bunny Cake

2013-08-15 17:42:16

Serves 12

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Ingredients

4-8" round cake pans greased and floured
2 - recipes of your favorite cake or 2 boxes of cake mix
Jelly beans 3 dark and 2 light colored
licorice sticks
shredded coconut, If you have allergies to coconut try shredding white chocolate
2 recipes for butter cream icing

Instructions

Following the directions for your chosen cake make 4 8" round cakes. Layer the cakes with a flat side on the bottom and ice the center thick enough so the rounded top of the bottom layer will support the flat bottom of the second cake, with the top of the cake rounded. After you have iced centers cut one layer cake in half. Arrange the circular cake at the bottom of your platter and place the two halves with the cut side facing out above as ears.
Ice top and sides of layered cakes and then coat sides and top with coconut leaving a uncoated area where the eyes and nose will go and a smaller clear area where the teeth will go.
Place the dark jelly beans for eyes and nose on cake and decorate with six licorice sticks as whiskers. Take on piece of licorice and cut in half length wise leaving about an inch uncut at the top. Spread it for the mouth and place the lighter jelly beans in between as teeth.

Notes

For best presentation place doilies on the serving platter and before icing place waxed paper just underneath the cake so that the paper protects the doilies from any icing errors and will pull out easily

Rants Raves and Recipes https://www.rantsravesandrecipes.com/

Buttercream Icing

2013-08-16 14:55:41

Yields 1

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Ingredients

1 cup butter or shortening or a combination of both
3 - 4 cups confectioners sugar
1 tbs vanilla
2 - 3 tbs heavy cream
pinch of salt

Instructions

Cream the butter well, then add the vanilla and salt, slowly add the sugar with the mixer on a slow speed scraping down the sides of the bowl often to incorporate all the sugar. Once combined add the heavy cream 1 tbs at a time and mix at medium high speed until you have the desired consistency. Can be refrigerated up to a week covered in the refrigerator.

Rants Raves and Recipes https://www.rantsravesandrecipes.com/

August 11, 2013November 14, 2014

Beef Wellington & Madeira Sauce

Beef Wellington

Although this is an extremely elegant main course, there is no definitive recipe. Like wise there is no true source with which to say the dish was created. Most people assume that the dish is some how related to Arthur Wellesley the 1st Duke of Wellington, and that it comes from some dish he favored. Others theories suggest it was developed by a patriotic chef, another theory invented it in Wellington N.Z. for some occasion. The least favorite theory I find is that it looked, after cooking, like a highly polished “Wellington” boot, Oh so tasty!

About the only two sure things in the recipes is that the beef is en croute, wrapped in puff pastry and it won’t be found in too many French cookbooks. The other ingredients are up for discussion and you can go from a prohibitively expensive dish with foie gras with truffles and a truffle sauce to a more modest version using some form of liver pâté and a more modest sauce. Seemingly a daunting dish to prepare, it is in truth a fairly simple dish that does use slightly expensive ingredients.

The main ingredient is a tenderloin of beef. It can made as one large piece of meat or as individual servings which takes a little more work. The rest of the processes are the same.

Since it is baked in a pastry shell there is no gravy, so a sauce must be prepared and again here you will have a large variety of choices. My two favorites would be Bearnaise or a Madeira sauce, of course you can go with a simple thicken beef gravy, also there are no “laws” or sauce police to prevent you from experimenting.

About the only “must” is to use a piece of meat that is uniform in thickness so that it all cooks evenly.

Ingredients for Beef Wellington

This recipe is for a piece of meat that is 6 -8 inches in length.

1 center cut beef tenderloin 6 -8 ” trimmed of fat and silver-skin
Salt & pepper
2 tbs butter & 2 tbs olive oil
1lbs. button mushrooms
2 large shallots
4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp thyme
1 sheet of puff pastry
1 – 2 lbs liver pâté (enough liver pâté to cover the beef but not the ends)
mirepoix of onion chopped, celery chopped and parsley,1 bay leaf and pinch of rosemary

For the Madeira Sauce

2 cups brown sauce (recipe to follow)
1/3 cup Madeira wine

For Brown Sauce

4 cups beef stock
4 tbs butter or beef fat
4 tbs flour
1 onion diced
6 tbs tomato puree

Directions for the Brown Sauce

Making the sauce is the most time consuming part of the recipe and needs to be done well in advance of the actual dish.

In a sauce pan melt the butter and add the onion and cook to softened. Then add the flour and cook until it begins to brown. Once brown add the stock and purée mix well and cook until it’s reduced to about 2 cups.

Directions for Madeira Sauce

Take 2 cups of brown sauce and reduce to about 1 cup, then add 1/3 cup Madeira Wine and increase heat. Do not let sauce come to a boil as this will lessen the flavor of the wine.

Directions for the Beef Wellington

Preheat oven to 450°

Take the tenderloin and season with salt and pepper and in a flat pan roast with the mirepoix sprinkled around it for about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

Duxelles:

In a food processor place the mushrooms, shallots and garlic and thyme and pulse until you have a finely chopped mixture.

In a frying pan place the butter and olive oil and melt and then cook the mushroom mixture until almost all the liquid has evaporated. Set aside to cool.

Assembly:

When the meat is cool, take the puff pastry and roll out so that it is large enough to encompass the meat.

Take the pâté and spread to completely cover all the sides of the tenderloin, but not the ends. Spread the duxelles out on a large plate and press the duxelles into the pâté covered beef ,covering all the pâté with the duxelles.

Now place the covered meat onto the puff pastry fold over and seal, completely, trimming ends if necessary. Place it seam side down on a sheet pan. Brush egg wash over entire pastry. If you want before placing in oven you can decorate with leftover puff pastry ie. at Christmas perhaps use a tree cookie cutter and press this piece of dough on top and then brush with egg wash.

Bake in a 450° oven for about 15 minutes, until the pastry is brown. Serve the sauce on the side.

Here are a few items to help make this recipe;
Cuisinart DLC-2009CHB Prep 9 9-Cup Food Processor, Brushed Stainless
Sterlingcraft Oblong Serving Tray
Zwilling J.A. Henckels Zwilling Four Star 2-Piece Carving Set

If you enjoy our site and are thinking of purchasing anything from Amazon, please use the link to Amazon from our site. It doesn’t cost you anything and we profit from the ads and purchases .

Please help us keep our blog going by letting your friends know we’re here and by checking out the links on our front page.

Beef Wellington & Madeira Sauce

2013-08-12 02:38:18

Serves 6

A very elegant main course

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Ingredients

This recipe is for a piece of meat that is 6 -8 inches in length.
1 center cut beef tenderloin 6 -8 " trimmed of fat and silver-skin
Salt & pepper
2 tbs butter & 2 tbs olive oil
1lbs. button mushrooms
2 large shallots
4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp thyme
1 sheet of puff pastry
1 - 2 lbs liver pâté (enough liver pâté to cover the beef but not the ends)
mirepoix of onion celery and parsley,1 bay leaf and pinch of rosemary
For the Madeira Sauce
2 cups brown sauce (recipe to follow)
1/3 cup Madeira wine
For Brown Sauce
4 cups beef stock
4 tbs butter or beef fat
4 tbs flour
1 onion diced
6 tbs tomato puree

Instructions

Directions for the Brown Sauce
Making the sauce is the most time consuming part of the recipe and needs to be done well in advance of the actual dish.
In a sauce pan melt the butter and add the onion and cook to softened. Then add the flour and cook until it begins to brown. Once brown add the stock and puree mix well and cook until it's reduced to about 2 cups.
Directions for Madeira Sauce
Take 2 cups of brown sauce and reduce to about 1 cup, then add 1/3 cup Madeira Wine and increase heat. Do not let sauce come to a boil as this will lessen the flavor of the wine.
Directions for the Beef Wellington
Preheat oven to 450°
Take the tenderloin and season with salt and pepper and in a flat pan roast with the mirepoix sprinkled around it for about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

Duxelles

In a food processor place the mushrooms, shallots and garlic and thyme and pulse until you have a finely chopped mixture.
In a frying pan place the butter and olive oil and melt and then cook the mushroom mixture until almost all the liquid has evaporated. Set aside to cool.

Assembly

When the meat is cool, take the puff pastry and roll out so that it is large enough to encompass the meat.
Take the pâté and spread to completely cover all the sides of the tenderloin, but not the ends. Spread the duxelles out on a large plate and press the duxelles into the pâté covered beef ,covering all the pâté with the duxelles.
Now place the covered meat onto the puff pastry fold over and seal, completely, trimming ends if necessary. Place it seam side down on a sheet pan. Brush egg wash over entire pastry. If you want before placing in oven you can decorate with leftover puff pastry ie. at Christmas perhaps use a tree cookie cutter and press this piece of dough on top and then brush with egg wash.
Bake in a 450° oven for about 15 minutes, until the pastry is brown. Serve the sauce on the side.

Rants Raves and Recipes https://www.rantsravesandrecipes.com/

August 9, 2013December 8, 2014

Smoked Scottish Salmon Christmas Tree Hors D’Oeuvre

Smoked Scottish Salmon Christmas Tree Hors D’Oeuvre

Going through old photos we found a number of old recipe shots from parties and dinners long ago. This one was a huge hit at one of the Christmas parties we held. Took a bit of work but they came out great.

Ingredients for Smoked Salmon Hors D’Oeuvre

Smoked Scottish Salmon thinly sliced
Onion (red or white) very thinly sliced
cream cheese softened (Whipped preferred)
capers
diced pimento
thinly sliced pumpernickel bread

Directions for Hors D’Oeuvre

For the trees

Take the pumpernickel bread and using a Christmas Tree cookie cutter cut out as many trees as you are going to be making. Spread a very thin layer of cream cheese onto one side of the trees. Using an aspic cutter star shaped cut stars or what ever other design you want out of the leftover pieces of pumpernickel.

Take the Salmon and lay it out flat and using the same cookie cutter , cut tree shapes of salmon and place onto the cream cheese side of the pumpernickel. Take left over pieces of salmon and group into rectangles slightly larger than the tree and cut out and using spatula place onto pumpernickel. *

Now taking the thinly sliced onion crisscross it down the tree to resemble garland. Place a few capers and pimento to resemble decorations, and place the star shaped bread at the top of the tree. Arrange on a platter to serve.

For Wreaths

Using wreath cookie cutter, cut out the pumpernickel bread, layer with salmon or spread cream cheese or a pâté and decorate. Use small aspic apostrophe cutter to make the bows. For a more decorative touch pipe the pâté onto wreaths and then decorate.

*Note that salmon doesn’t have to be all in one piece, You could also make a pâté to spread on the pumpernickel out of the salmon and cream cheese, to save time.. It doesn’t even have to be salmon you can alternate with a dill cream cheese spread or really anything else you can think of or any shape you want ie: round or bell shaped cookie cutters etc. and decorate as Christmas balls. You can also add fresh chopped dill to the cream cheese to spread under the salmon or any other spice you think might compliment it.

Here are a few items to help make this recipe:
Wilton Holiday 18 pc Metal Cookie Cutter Set #2308-1132
Sterlingcraft Oblong Serving Tray

Although this was way before my time it certainly sounds like a very interesting dish, Anything “Scottish” has got to be good!

If you enjoy our site and are thinking of purchasing anything from Amazon, please use the link to Amazon from our site. It doesn’t cost you anything and we profit from the ads and purchases .

Please help us keep our blog going by letting your friends know we’re here and by checking out the links on our front page.