Well, the first ever Great Bloggers’ Bake-Off has now officially come to an end.  It was a huge success.  I am so honored to have been asked by Mel at crushedcaramel and Gary at  bereavedandbeingasingleparent to participate and to judge this very fun, creative event.  We had so many people send in their cakes along with their fun stories, recipes and photos.  They were all AMAZING!!!  Everyone did a fantastic job.  There were so many creative and delicious cakes. I definitely had my work cut our for me.  I had a tough time deciding the winners.  In my eyes, everyone who participated is a BIG WINNER!!!!!  This could not have been possible without all of you and your delicious entries.  Great job Bakers!

So now …… The moment you have all been waiting for …….

First – For good,valiant efforts, I give the Thumbs Up Awards to:

1.  Our first Thumbs Up Award goes to Gary Metcalf from bereavedandbeingasingleparent for his entry – “Houston, We Have a Problem”.  His kitchen had a lot of gremlins on the day he was baking his cake and they were wreaking havoc on his creation.  But he did not let them beat him.  He overpowered them with his ingenuity and creativity, and created a fun and tasty cake.  Great job Gary!

This was only the beginning, yet it turned out fun and festive.

2.  Our second Thumbs Up Award goes to Amanda Cade from amadacade.com for her entry “The Birthday Cake”.   You have to read her post about her cake.  It’s hilarious.  She chronicles her baking adventures in a fun, step-by-step way.  You can find her story at https://amandacade.com/2019/03/24/the-great-bloggers-bake-off-aka-why-i-will-never-be-top-chef/

The end result looks delicious!

3.  Our third Thumbs UP Award goes to SUZE at https://suziland.site/ for her “Hole in one Cake”.  Now this cake can EASILY be doctored up so no one would ever know it was a less than perfect cake.  All you would need to do to make this a BEAUTIFUL cake is to add whipped cream and fruit in the center of the hole, and people would think it was a beautiful, creative masterpiece.  This definitely has potential.  Keep up the good work Suze.

Starting from 3rd and finishing with first place, here are the winners of the Great Bloggers’ Bake-Off, 2019.  There are no honorable mentions, because EVERYONE who participated is honorable and should be recognized.  EVERYONE did a fantastic job!  I applaud you all.

Our 3rd Place Winner is Ribana from posiclesociety for her entry “The Naked Cake”

This “Naked Cake” is pure simple elegance and is presented beautifully.  Please check out her blog and read her story about her “Naked Cake” at https://popsiclesociety.com/2019/03/23/my-naked-cake-for-the-great-bloggerss-bake-off/

For 2nd Place, we have a tie.  It was so hard to choose, and they both looked fabulous, so, they both get the award.  Our 2nd Place winners are:

1.  Carolyn from hawkfeatherstories.com for her Tiramisu Cake.  This cake just looks perfectly decadent.  I LOVE tiramisu.  Carolyn was a little shy about posting her story, but fortunately, Mel from crushedcaramel  wrote about it on her blog post
   

   The Tiramisu Cake

2.  Our second 2nd Place winner is  Michelle Thomas from thecatlady’skitchen.com for her entry “Ginger Lime Sponge”.   Ginger and lime ….  a perfect summer cake.  YUM!!!!! You can read all about Michelle’s cake experiences on her blog post http://www.thecatladyskitchen.wordpress.com/.

Before annoucing the winner for the 2019 Great Bloggers’ Bake-Off, I would like to show  the other cake entries we received and give EVERYONE honorable mention.  As I stated above, I was very impressed by all the entries, and EVERYONE did a fantastic job!  Keep up the good work Bakers.  I am pretty sure there is going to be am upcoming sequel.  So until then, just keep baking.

Choosing the 1st place winner was the most difficult decision I had to make for this contest.  There were two cakes I absolutely loved.  They were both perfect and so beautifully presented.  But in the end, there can only be one winner, for this round, and I had to choose.  Both were fabulous.  You are both winners in my book.

The first runner up is Michelle Barry from teacupsandsugarlumps.com for her Lemon Meringue with White Chocolate Chip Ganache Drip Cake.  I live in Denver, which is known as being the “Mile High City”.  This cake is definitely a “Mile High” of pure lemony deliciousness.  It is  mouth-wateringly decadent.  I can almost taste all the lemon and white chocolate now.  YUM!!!!!  Great, great job Michelle.  This is one AWESOME looking cake.

And now …….. The moment you have all been waiting for ……  Our 1st Place Winner for the 2019 Great Bloggers’ Bake-Off is …….

Sheree D. Whatley from Viewfromtheback.com for her entry, Gateau du Chocolate et Framboises  (chocolate and raspberries).  The quality of the picture is not the best, but I enhanced it as much as I could on my computer, however, I know exactly what she was trying to present.  This is a very complicated, detailed cake.  Sheree presented it beautifully.  The raspberry colored ribbon is a perfect accoutrement to enhance the raspberries on the cake.    You can read all about Sheree’s beautiful cake on her blog post Great Bloggers’ Bake-Off.  Can you believe Sheree said this “was my first fancy cake and went down a treat”?  WOW!!!!  If this was her first time to ever make such a beautiful cake, she is one very incredibly talented pastry chef.  I don’t know if I could make a cake like this today, but especially not on my first attempt.  This cake is SPECTACULAR!!!!!!  AWESOME job Sheree.

CONGRATULATIONS to Sheree and to all the other bakers.  You all did a phenomenal job!  Keep up the good work everyone.  And a very special thank you goes out to both Mel at crushedcaramel and Gary at bereavedandbeingasingleparent  for creating and hosting this fun bake-off.  They both did a fantastic job of putting all this together.  It would not have happened without them and all their tremendous efforts.  Until next time ……..

I am getting so many wonderful pictures of cakes.  Thank you so much to everyone who participated in the first ever Great Blogger’s Bake-Off.   You have all sent in so many great photos can cakes.  Every single cake is made with the very best ingredient – LOVE!!!!!  I am going through all the entries at the moment, and it is going to take me while to go through them, so I will give you a little extra time.  You have until the end of the day to get your cake pictures in to either me at ajeanneinthekitchen.com, Mel at crushedcaramel@gmail.com or Gary at comment-reply@wordpress.com,  before I make my final decisions.  I will have my results and make the announcements tomorrow, Monday, March 25.   So stay tuned ……. I most definitely have my work cut our for me.  And just by looking at all these fabulous cakes, I have already put on 10 lbs.  Thanks Mel and Gary.  🙂

Show us your best, or your worst. Let’s see those masterpieces. Tell us your stories behind them, good or bad. It’s all in good fun. Let’s see what you can do,

It is now officially Spring.  Winter is behind us for the time being.  Now it is time to celebrate Spring and all it has to offer.  I love Spring.  I love all the new blossoms and blooms that are beginning to peak out from below.  I love all seeing all the birds and hearing them sing.  And I also love all the fresh Spring vegetables that are available, just ready to be made into delicious recipes and dishes.  One thing that really brings out all the fresh flavors of spring is lemon.  I love cooking with lemons, limes, and lemon and lime juices.  Using lemon or lime juice in recipes just makes everything come to life, as well as lightens things up.   Winter is done, so we don’t need those heavier sauces at the moment.   We’ll save those for when the mercury drops again.  But for now, let’s lighten things up.

To mark the beginning of Spring, I made a versatile lemon vinaigrette, with lots of fresh.  Right now, I want as much of that fresh lemony flavor as possible.  I just can’t seem to get enough of it at the moment.  Maybe it has just been a long winter and I am ready for something lighter and fresher, but it just seems to hit the spot like nothing else right now.  I used basil, chives, oregano, sage and thyme to make my vinaigrette, but you can use any kind of herbs you like.  I love cooking with all kinds of fresh herbs and these are some of my favorites, particularly for spring and summer.

Lemon-Herb Vinaigrette

1 TBSP each fresh basil, chives, oregano, sage and thyme, chopped fine – or herbs of your choice

1 heaping TBSP garlic

salt & pepper to taste

1/3 cup lemon juice

1/2-2/3 cups olive oil

dash of sugar or honey if the vinaigrette is too tart

Whisk everything together and serve.  You can use it as a dressing for a salad, a marinade for chicken or fish, or as a sauce to add to pasta or rice.

When I first made the lemon vinaigrette, I used it is a marinade for chicken, to make a fresh lemon-herb chicken.  I let the chicken marinade for about 2-3 hours before grilling it.  The chicken was very tender, juicy and flavorful.

When I made the vinaigrette, I had enough left over for another dish and needed something quick and easy to make for dinner, since as always, particularly lately, I was pressed for time, so I used it as my sauce for a lemony shrimp pasta primavera.

Lemony shrimp pasta primavera with my roasted pepper and onion tart; a perfect beginning of Spring meal.  Roasted Pepper and Onion Tart

I still have some lemon-herb vinaigrette left.  It would a perfect dressing for a salad, when the weather warms up just bit more.  When you make it, make a lot, because I think you are really going to like used in many different ways, just like I do.

What If It All Goes Wrong?

It happens to ALL of us, no matter how experienced we are, or how much training we’ve had.  Sometimes those pesky little Gremlins just take over, and run a muck with all your hard work in the kitchen.  The only difference between the experienced pastry chef and the non-experienced pastry chef is that we “know” how to fix our mistakes without you ever knowing about them in the first place.  Then we laugh them off later.  I have CERTAINLY had more than my share of mishaps in the kitchen as well.

One time, I was fresh out of Culinary school and I was trying to make this beautiful cake.  Well ….. It came out all right in the end, and my mom and I had a good laugh over it after wards, but I was certainly in a state of panic for a bit too.  I was making a cake for a friend, and the cake just fell apart.  It did not work out how it was supposed to at all.  So.  I dumped the cake, and God forbid, I made a cake from a box.  Then I doctored it up and “packaged” beautifully, to take to my friend.  There was one lady at the party who just kept raving about how beautiful the cake was, and “how she could ALWAYS tell a cake made from scratch from a box cake”, etc., etc., etc.  Well, obviously her skills were a little overrated, because she COULD NOT tell the difference at all.  My mom and I just looked at each other and started laughing hysterically.  The lady finally asked why we were laughing so hard and what was so funny.  We decided to let her in on my secret, and she too had a good laugh over the whole thing.  My point is, it happens to all of us.  No matter what, do your best and have fun with it.  Everything can always be turned around and used as a learning experience later.  So …. send us those pictures of the “not-so-great” cakes too and tell us your stories.  It’s all in good fun.  🙂

Which baker has not dreamed of receiving a “Hollywood hand-shake”?

Or receiving the accolade of “Star Baker”?

But what if it all goes wrong?

Just a few days to go before

Sunday 24th March 2019

with special judge a jeanneinthekitchen

All of your baking photos will be forwarded to our special judge. We have left it all up to Jeanne to decide who will be our STAR BAKER.

But we all know that anything can happen! This is not a competition, but rather a fun day for our lovely blogging community. So to make sure that nobody is afraid to get involved, we have a special feature of THE GREAT BLOGGERS’ BAKE-OFF.

We would love to receive baking photos from bloggers whose creations are just as staggering as Gary’s. Special recognition will be awarded for baking creations that challenge the rules of physics and chemistry as we know them.

Gary has been been practising for the BAKE-OFF as you can read about in some of his recent posts:

• THE FUDGE CAKE
• IT’S NOT A PANCAKE
• THE BLACK HOLE
• THE ABOMINABLE CAKE

I absolutely love the photos that have been received so far. Can’t wait for Sunday!

My friend Kira and I have known each for quite a few years, but as is so often the case, we don’t have the opportunity to get together much anymore, due to both of us having super busy, super hectic schedules.  I know we are not alone.  This is a common tale between friends and relatives all over.  However, yesterday, we actually did get a chance to enjoy some good quality time together, catching up over a fantastic homemade lunch Kira prepared for us.  She knows I am half Aussie, so she surprised me with a very authentic Aussie lunch that was fabulous.  She made some delicious, very light and flaky traditional meat pies or “pasties” as they are called down under, as well as some wonderful carrot, pumpkin and apple soup, with ANZAC cookies and custard for dessert.  We were so busy talking and catching up though, that we completely forgot about the cookies.  That was perfect OK though.   I ate so much of everything else, and I was really very full at the end of the meal, so I would not have had room for the cookies anyway.  They will just have to wait until next time.  All she wanted me to bring was an Australian wine.  The Aussies make many varietals of delicious wines, but they are really known  for their wonderful Shiraz or Syrahs, as we call them here in the US.  We talked about this and that and everything under the sun, and in what seems like a blink of an eye, it was time to leave and call it a day.   Once again, both of us had places to go and things to do.

ANZAC is an acronym for the Australian New Zealand Army Corp, originally devised to honor all those from both Australia and New Zealand who fought and died in the Gallipoli Campaign during WWI, between 1914-1918.  Today, it honors all Australians and New Zealanders “who served and died in all wars, conflicts and peacemaking operations” and “the suffering of all those who served”.  My dad lost quite a few uncles in the Gallipoli campaign.  He himself was an enlisted man in the Australian Army, and served in North Africa during WWII.  Last time he went to Australia, many years ago, he was honored and invited to march in the ANZAC parade as well.

Kira proudly displaying both her culinary and entertaining skills.

Pasties are traditionally served with tomato sauce (pronounced toemawtoe).  Here we would use ketchup, but neither of us are big ketchup fans, so we decided to forego the sauce.

The fabulous soup.

And for dessert, the custard.

All of these wonderful recipes were created in Kira’s new kitchen toy, her Thermomix (I think that is the name).  These are very popular cooking machines all throughout Europe and Australia, and are just now becoming available her in the United States.

Kira, thank you for a fabulous lunch and a very long over-due and enjoyable visit.  Until next time, au revoir mon amie, aur revoir.

Photos Are Arriving!!

Some of you have been busy baking

We have already started to receive cake photos

Which has left us wishing it was possible to taste them

with special judge A Jeanne in the Kitchen

The challenge is to make

a sandwich sponge cake

• Your cake must have at least two layers
• Your sponge cakes can be any flavour and any colour
• You can fill you sandwich cake with any filling you like
• We would like you to decorate the top of your cake

Please send a photo of your cake so it can be featured in the The Great Bloggers’ Bake-Off Round-Up to:

crushedcaramel@gmail.com

(If you have any questions at all – please feel free to post your questions in the comments of any of our posts and we will try to get back to you as quickly as possible.)

Of course you can bake at any time convenient to yourself. We include all the photos we receive early in the GREAT BLOGGERS’ BAKE-OFF on Sunday 24th March 2019.

The Great Bloggers’ Bake-Off is this Sunday, March 24. It’s open to EVERYONE, no matter what your baking skills. Come one, come all. Come and jun in on the fun.

Many of the traditional Irish desserts are made with fruit.  These fruits come mostly from the orchards or people’s gardens, or even those that are found in the wild.  Puddings and custards are also very popular and are widely used in Irish desserts as well.  This dessert is a delicious blending of both.  Not so long ago, most of the traditional Irish recipes were passed down from one generation to the next orally, through their stories and shared family experiences.  The same basic recipe will vary from one family to the next, since every family always adds their own special secret ingredient to make a dish really stand out.  Luckily today, many of these treasured heirlooms are found in cookbooks everywhere.  This was our St. Patrick’s Day dessert, served along with the rest of our traditional Irish fare.  An Irish Celebration

Apple Custard Pie

The Filling

4-5 apples, peeled and chopped

2/3 cup sugar

2 tsp ground cloves

The Crust

1 stick of butter, cold, cubed

2 TBSP sugar

1 1/2 cups flour

1 egg

1 tsp salt

5-6 TBSP heavy whipping cream

The Custard

1 egg

1 TBSP sugar

2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla

Place the flour, butter, salt and sugar into the food processor and blend until it is crumbly.  Then add the egg and the cream and continue to blend until the dough forms into a ball.  Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before using.

Preheat the oven to 350* F

Cut the apples and mix together with the sugar and the cloves.

Roll out your dough on a lightly floured surface and fit it into a tart pan, then press it firmly into the pan.  Add the filling and spread evenly.   Cut the remaining dough into thin strips and layer it across the top of the fruit mixture in a criss-cross.  Make an egg wash with one egg and a dash of cream and brush the crust and the edges of the tart with the egg wash.  Place the tart into the oven to bake for about 30 minutes, or until the apples are almost done.  Then remove the pie and add the custard filling by pouring it into the open areas of the tart, making sure to evenly distribute the liquid to cover the whole tart.  Place the tart back into the oven and continue to bake for another 30-40 minutes, or until the dough is lightly golden and the liquid has set.

Once the pie is done, let it cool for at least 30 minutes or so before cutting it.  It is best when served warm, with a bit of ice cream on the side.