Cat Cakes: Lisa Frank Inspired

Cat Cakes are back!!!

If you were a young girl growing up in the early 90's, you might remember school supplies and Valentines Day cards that were covered in designs by Lisa Frank.  For those unfamiliar with the brand, think of psychedelic scenes consisting of technicolour animals.  A young Mila Kunis was in their ad campaigns and it should also be noted that the designs were not just sported by trendy little girls.

I have some friends who understand my nostalgic fascination with Lisa Frank and they have been known to surprise me with colouring books and stickers from the brand. As a token of my appreciation, I made them a Lisa Frank-inspired cat cake for their joint birthday.

The Lisa Frank cat was a lemon cake (a little sour puss!) topped with a cream cheese icing. I could not find the flaky cream cheese icing recipe that I used for the Arthur Cat Cake.  This was too bad because it was great for piping.  The icing recipe I did use turned out to be fairly wet but ultimately I was able to get the basic design I wanted. I can't forget to mention that in typical Lisa Frank fashion, this cat cake was full of rainbows on the inside!!!

   

W: White Chocolate Trifle with Spiced Pears

I made this white chocolate trifle from Bon Appetit Desserts by Barbara Fairchild for Christmas Eve last year. If you are going to be the one in charge of making a dessert for a party this coming holiday season, perhaps this is the recipe for you! With the richness of the cream and white chocolate as well as the seasonal spices used in poaching the pears, this makes an appropriate, comforting treat for the cozier winter months. It includes several more expensive ingredients such as white chocolate, mascarpone, and vanilla bean so I would save it for a special occasion. It also has a large serving yield, so its great to share with a big group; we had a lot leftover!

Here are my cooking notes for this recipe:

i) Make sure you use GOOD quality white chocolate. The recipe called for this (Lindt was an example). I happened to be one-stop-shopping and just used what they had at the store I was in...I think it was Baker's chocolate which wasn't as good a quality and resulted in a slightly grainy trifle cream. 

ii) I could not find any pear brandy at the liquor store. I ended up using regular brandy instead and put in a little less than what the recipe calls for for fear of compromising the flavour.

iii) Before reading this recipe, I had never heard of pear nectar. It was surprisingly easy to find in the grocery store and was made by an Italian producer. 

 There are a lot of steps to this recipe although it does allow you to prepare steps ahead of time for your convenience. Making this trifle felt like quite a laborious activity with mediocre results (in my experience), but I must say that when I was poaching the pears in all of the spices, my kitchen had never smelled so good! 

V: Vanilla Cheesecake Crunch-Top Cupcakes

Letter 'V'! We are getting very close to the end of the alphabet and these cupcakes from Cupcakes! by Elinor Klivans are a great way to celebrate prematurely. They are comprised of a simple yellow cake batter, covered with a layer of cheesecake and then some crumbly goodness on top--a party in your mouth. With all of their layers there are several steps involved in the cupcakes' baking process, but generally this is a pretty simple recipe to follow. The gold cupcake liners I used are part of my ever growing collection (I CAN'T stop buying them). They give the cakes a very festive look--a glass (or two) of champagne would be a great accompaniment!

A taste of: The Canadian East Coast (Nova Scotia, P.E.I. and New Brunswick)

     

U: Upside-Down Pineapple Cake

For the last Super Bowl I whipped up this upside-down pineapple cake from The Williams-Sonoma Baking Book: Essential Recipes for Today's Home Baker. It is an old American classic so I thought it would be an appropriate choice for the occasion. For those like me who occasionally attend Super Bowl parties without understanding any of the rules of American football, you must make sure that you are armed with lots of snacks in order to make the evening as enjoyable as possible.  This tasty little number seemed to do the trick and was so easy to make!

T: Tea Party (Bonus Post)

Tea for…more than two…

It was quite a while back but my last birthday was certainly one to remember.  I had a wonderful time that was spent with friends and family.  I went to a concert on the night of my actual birthday so I decided to host a little tea party beforehand in order to celebrate with those who could not make it to the show, as well as an attempt to class things up a bit.   

I grew up with my mother throwing beautiful afternoon teas so I wanted to see if I could do hers any justice.  Alice in Wonderland was my theme since it seemed like the obvious choice for a birthday celebration.  Tea was certainly served, as well as a plethora of edible goodies (featured after the jump), however I think the sparkling wine was probably the most popular beverage of the evening!

I started preparing for the party about five days in advance, doing a little bit every day, while trying to juggle that with my work schedule. I prepared some of the food items in advance and then placed them in the freezer. I also tried to get an early start with making the decorations and purchasing the necessary party supplies.  

       

A taste of: Nicaragua

Cat Cakes: Arthur

I just wanted to share a picture of a cake I recently baked. It is of my old coworker's cat, Arthur, which I made for her goodbye party last week.  Arthur the Cake was a banana cake with bits of dark chocolate.  His fur was made from a stiff cream cheese icing.  My coworker was so moved by Arthur the Cake's resemblance to Arthur the Cat that she was unable to bring herself to slicing up and distributing the cake that night.  I did not have a chance to taste the cake myself but later reviews from my coworker and her boyfriend were very positive. Arthur the Cat did not comment. 

In order to make Arthur, I bought a Hello Kitty cake pan from my local Bulk Barn store.  I needed to do some reshaping once the cake had baked and cooled.  I cut away the Hello Kitty bow, restructured the sides of the face, and re-positioned the facial features once I started decorating.

In order to justify my purchase of the pan I am thinking that "Cat Cakes" might  become a regular thing and potentially a new segment on this blog...so, to all my friends and family members who are cat owners...BEWARE!

S: Scones With Strawberry Butter

This simple and delicious recipe for Scones with Strawberry Butter is from Out to Brunch: At Mildred Pierce Restaurant by Donna Dooher and Claire Stubbs. I got this book after going to Mildred Pierce Restaurant for brunch a few years ago.  The restaurant was named after the original movie which starred Joan Crawford and was recently remade for TV with Kate Winslet.  It was a beautiful and ornately decorated restaurant with an innovative menu. For brunch they served dishes with names that were inspired by characters from the film like, "Huevos Monty" and "Mrs. Beiderhof's Pancakes".  Shortly after my visit there, the restaurant closed. If I have my facts straight, I am pretty sure this was due to issues with releasing the space.  

It eventually reopened in a different neighbourhood, with a more modern and minimalist aesthetic in its decor and a new name: Mildred's Temple Kitchen. I have only been to the newer location for dinner which was great.  According to their website (www.templekitchen.com), their brunch menu seems to be similar from what I can recall. If you happen to be in the Liberty Village neighbourhood in Toronto, it is definitely worth checking out!

As for this particular recipe, the scones were crisp on the outside, with a fluffy interior.  They have a pleasant hint of lemon which makes this typically dense treat seem lighter. Combined with the strawberry butter, you have a refreshing teatime treat that would be ideal in the spring and summer months. The butter can be made with any kind of fruit that is in season. 

R: Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

Whoopie!!! We are back again!!! I have a backlog of blog-post drafts that I baked for and documented ages ago that I have been meaning to edit for about a year now (yikes!).  I will not make any excuses for the long hiatus but will just say that I am ready to put this blog back into full swing and will celebrate my intentional productivity with this Red Velvet Whoopie Pie recipe from Whoopie Pies by Viola Goren. 

Before making these whoopie pies, I had never made or tasted any red velvet recipe before.  For those who haven't either, it has a distinct cocoa flavour which I was a big fan of. They get their red colour from food colouring. I used food paste which is more saturated in colour and it doesn't take a lot to get a vibrant pigment. I found that the batter did not look as red as I thought it should, and so I used much more paste than the recipe called for. I find that the red pigment finally reveals itself  once the cakes are baked and that one really just needs to use the amount of paste that the recipe calls for. 

I used a special whoopie pie pan which gave the cakes a uniform shape since the batter is fairly runny, but you might be able to get away with not using one. I also found that the recipe for the filling made more than enough. I sandwiched a fair amount of it between the cakes and was left with quite a bit extra, so you might want to halve the recipe depending on your fondness for buttercream icing.

Enjoy!