Wish List

Happy New Year friends! I hope your holidays were warm and filled with love and sweets :)

After an unexpected extended stay in the midwest, I am back home in Colorado and ready to bake with the help of a whole bunch of new, fun things. Christmas came early when Kristin and Tyre got me a white, ceramic, scalloped pie plate and these pie birds.


Don't know what a pie bird is for? It's okay, I didn't either! Find out here.
Then Amanda and Casey got me these. Not only was I surprised by the gift in general, but each item was on my wish list!


Next is this delicious collection of recipes, but it's not to keep. Brett's Mama is loaning it to me because it's her favorite.


Brett gave me this beautiful apron! It's from my favorite store!! I LOVE it!!!


I opened up this present from Sissy on Christmas morning. I don't have a picture yet because I couldn't fit it in my carry-on suitcase. I will have to wait for it to arrive by mail (sad face) but it's another item I can check of my list!

Mama shipped some of Christmas back home ahead of me and when I arrived, I had a package filled with all sorts of baking goodies, including these.


When I'm done trying out all of my new tools, I'll start reading the top book on the stack next to my bed. Rachel sent it to me with a "seems right up your alley" note. Thanks Rachey!


It came as a bit of a shock when I didn't get one of these, so I'll go ahead and leave them on my list. If someone could please take a bit from the French Country, Napa Valley, and Craftsman designs and build me my very own, that would b great. Thanks ;)

What did you bake over the holidays?

Baking Layer Cakes

Layer cakes are hard. More than anything, well only baking wise of course, I want to be able to produce a perfectly shaped, flat toped and smoothly iced layer cake. Three layers is my favorite. I once made a carrot cake that seriously took forever but I learned a few things that day and hope to not repeat 8-hours-standing-barefoot-in-the-kitchen again. Ouchie. Unless someone is paying me because it’s five years later and I’m the best at-home cake baker in Denver ;)

The occasion was Matt and Rebecca’s wedding celebration at work. We got them a waffle iron and served this cake.


Here are some things I have learned thus far about layer cake baking:
1. Have enough pans to bake all of your layers at once. Not doing so takes twice as long and produces layers with slightly different textures.
2. Be overly generous when greasing your pans. I always thought, “A little is all I need – more cost effective and a tad bit healthier.” I was wrong and HAVE cried when large chunks of cake are still in the pan after flipping the rest out.
3. Use a measuring cup or scale when diving batter between pans for evenly sized layers.
4. Drop each pan on a hard surface (only from a few inches above) a few times after the batter is in and before you put them in the oven. This levels the batter and helps eliminate any large air pockets.
5. Take the cake out of the oven within the cook time suggested. I left the cake above in a bit too long after forgetting that it will have time to fully set while cooling afterwards. It was a good recipe but ended up being too dry.
6. Run a butter knife or small frosting spatula between the cake and pan after removing from the oven to make sure there aren’t any tiny snags on your edges.
7. Let your cakes cool completely before trying to remove them from their pans or you may encounter the problem described in tip #2.
8. Level your cake layers by cutting the tops off with a long, freshly sharpened serrated knife, or one of these handy wires I bought at Cake Crafts in Englewood.


And for many, MANY more tips on cake baking, read America’s Test Kitchen baking book for THE overall best baking tips I have found. Supplement those with high altitude adjustments found in Susan G. Purdy’s Pie in the Sky.

Maybe someday my layer cakes will look more like this!


Congratulations to Lisa and Brandon in Texas, whose wedding I just returned from this morning. Their amaretto cake above was delish!

Tips on frosting layer cakes to come and please, please let me know if anything I post ever works (or doesn't!) for you.

Start With Something Easy

Chewy Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Adapted from America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book

Save energy! Preheating an oven for an hour or more is not necessary. “When European and American cooking tools and classic recipes were developed, wood- or coal-fired home ovens were slow to come up to temperature and ovens were unevenly heated until the cook had time to spread the embers and wait for heat to disperse from all sides: hence, preheating made sense to our ancestors and early cookbook authors (Treehugger.com).” Figure out how long your oven takes and time its turn on appropriately. if you have a relatively new model, it shouldn't take long. Also consider turning it off near the end of bake time. My digital thermostat makes it easy to monitor the exact temperature and come to find out, is more accurate and efficient. And don’t open the oven to peek, that’s what the window is for ;)

2 and ¼ cups unbleached all purpose flour
Just under ½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
12 TBS (1 and ½ sticks) grade AA unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla
1 to 1 and 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chunks and or chips (I use 1 plus a few extra)
Baking sheets
Quilon free, unbleached parchment paper
Hand held or standing mixer
Wire cooling racks

1. Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl.
4. In a large bowl, beat the melted butter and sugars together with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth (1-2 minutes).
5. Next beat in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla on medium until combined (about 30 seconds), scraping down the bowl and beaters as needed.
6. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add 1/3 of the flour mixture until just combined.
7. Increase mixer speed to medium and add another 1/3 of the flour mixture.
8. Add remaining flour mixture and chocolate chunks. Use wooden spoon to finish mixing dough if your mixer sounds like it's working really hard. It may feel stiff but this is needed to help the cookies keep shape and thickness at altitude!
9. Roll dough into 2 TBS balls (see cookie spoon pic below), making sure chocolate is well incorporated and dough isn’t cracking. If it is just keep molding and rolling between your warm hands for a few more seconds.
10. Place dough balls on baking sheets, spaced about 2 inches apart.
11. Bake cookies, one sheet at a time, for 8 minutes and then rotate sheet and bake for an additional 8 minutes.
12. Remove from oven (even if they haven’t browned at all) and let cool on pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
13. Serve or store in air tight container immediately. Cookies baked at altitude dry out QUICKLY!
14. Eww I hate odd numbers so let's make up step #14. Eat with cold milk!


I use this handy dandy cookie spoon I got at Bed Bath and Beyond for scooping. It has a flexible bottom for easy dough removal. To create 2 TBS balls for this recipe, I aim for "rounded" spoonfulls. That means more than level but less than "heaping."


Taking pictures of baked goods is hard. Taking pictures of baked goods at night is harder. I think I'll have to develop my photography skills along with this blog...