Angel Food Cake

One of my less guilty pleasures is Angel Food Cake. I am probably one of the few people that actually love Angel Food Cake. It's so light and spongy and I feel a lot less guilty about eating a second slice. Many people are intimidated by making this cake, but it's really simple and if you have patience, you can make this cake.

The skill you need for this cake is separating the egg whites from the yolks. This skill isn't hard, but it does take a little focus. There are cartons of egg whites in the stores, but I've never had good luck with using them. They just don't fluff up the same way and you never know what type of result you're going to get from those products. You can buy egg white separators, but these are sometimes a gamble as well.  I have one that is wire from Pampered Chef. It works okay. I have only had one yolk break with it and I think it was my fault.

My preferred method is the old-fashioned method. I learned how to do this by watching my friend, Gesh. She was helping to make a meringue for a Baked Alaska. You need three bowls to properly separate egg whites no matter which method you choose. One working bowl over which you are separating the eggs. Another bowl for discarding the yolks and the last bowl is for your clean egg whites. I say clean egg whites, because they must be completely without any of the smallest bit of yolk. This is why you must separate them over the working bowl. That way, if you accidentally break the yolk, you can discard this egg without ruining your entire supply. 

When you crack the egg, keep the the egg in one half of the shell that you've cracked. The goal is to transfer the egg yolk to the other half of the shell while allowing the egg white to fall into the working bowl below. Using the smoothest edge of the shell, allow the egg white spill over your shell and catch the yolk with the other shell. Continue this process a few times if necessary to get as much egg white as possible. Be sure not to puncture the yolk as this will ruin your egg white.

Don't worry about wasting those yolks. There are plenty of recipes you can use them to make. I will link a few Orange Skillet recipes that utilize egg yolks below.

Chocolate Mousse

Creme Brulee

You also will need a tube pan that has legs on it. After you've baked your Angel Food Cake, you will need to invert it while it cools. Having the legs on the pan helps keep your pan raised so air can get into the pan for the cake to cool. If your tube pan does not have legs, you can find a bottle to turn it onto using the hole in the center.

Angel Food Cake

1 cup flour

1 ½ cups superfine sugar, divided

1 ¾ cups egg whites (13ish room temp.)

1 Tbs. warm water

½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. cream of tartar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350º with rack in center.

Sift flour and ¾ cup sugar into bowl 4 times.

In mixer with whisk beat egg whites and water on low until foamy.  Add salt, cream of tartar and vanilla and beat on medium-high speed until soft peaks form, ~3 min. While beating add the remaining ¾ cup sugar, 1 Tbs. at a time. Beat on high speed until peaks are stiff and glossy, but not dry, ~2 min (do not over mix).

Transfer mixture to a large bowl and sift flour mixture over egg-white mixture in six parts. Quickly, but gently fold it in with rubber spatula between each addition. Gently transfer batter to an ungreased 10” tube pan. Run a knife through the batter to release any air bubbles, and smooth with spatula.

Bake until cake is golden brown and springs back when touched 35-40 minutes. Invert pan onto legs and cool 1 hour (completely).

Carefully run large offset spatula around edges to loosen.

Serve with sweetened strawberries and whip cream or whatever toppings you like. Remember to comment, share and enjoy!!

Cauliflower Cocktail

By the name of this post, it should be obvious what this recipe is, but most likely it won't be for everyone. Cauliflower Cocktail is vegetarian Shrimp Cocktail. My mom did this a few times a long time ago and I decided to try to look for ways to share it with all of you.

Cauliflower can take on many different flavors or textures, depending on how you prepare it. If you blanch cauliflower, it sort of takes on the texture of cooked shrimp. The flavor of cauliflower (albeit subtle) is not the same as shrimp (and it smells much better). You can use whatever sauces you want, to help add to the flavors to your cauliflower.

In this recipe, you'll merely find the instructions for blanching the cauliflower.  I found that the best way to coat the cauliflower with the cocktail sauce was to put it in an airtight container and gently shake it around. This is how many restaurants coat wings with their various sauces.

Cauliflower Cocktail

1 head of cauliflower

Cocktail Sauce

Using a sharp knife, remove any outer wrapping and leaves of the cauliflower. With your hands, pull away the large florets of cauliflower from the head. Trim away any large pieces of core and cut the florets into medium size but approximately equal sized pieces. Rinse well under fresh running water.

Fill a pot large enough to hold the cauliflower florets 2/3 full of fresh water and set it on the stove on high heat to boil. Add some salt to the water, so that it tastes salty. While the pot is starting to boil, fill a large bowl with ice and water. Ensure the bowl is large enough to hold the ice, water and cauliflower.

Once the water has begun to boil, quickly submerge the cauliflower into the boiling water. Cover immediately with a tight fitting lid. Begin timing and blanch the cauliflower for 3 minutes. Start timing when the cauliflower is all in the pot, not when it begins to boil again.

When the 3 minutes are up, quickly drain the cauliflower and plunge it into the ice water. Allow it to sit in the ice bath until it is chilled to the touch. When chilled, drain it from the ice bath and put it on a paper towel to continue drying.

Toss the blanched cauliflower in a bowl with cocktail sauce and serve.  It will taste just like Shrimp Cocktail.

Remember to comment, share, and enjoy your Cauliflower!

Twice Baked Potatoes

My friend, Miriam, made these for me a while back and I immediately asked for the recipe. These are so delicious that you'll eat more than just one. One great thing about this recipe (besides the fact that it's absolutely delicious) is that it is so easy to make it your own. You could easily add bacon, chives, other cheeses or just about anything you like to these potatoes.

When you're baking these potatoes, there is no need to wrap them in foil. I just put them on a silicone baking mat. While the potatoes are baking, you can get out the cream cheese and butter so it can be soft when they potatoes are finished. After they are finished baking, do not wait too long before scooping them out and mixing the filling.

Once you've mixed the filling, it's time to fill the shells (the potato skins with just enough potato to give stability). I sometimes overfill the shells and have to throw away one of them. It's okay if you don't have enough to fill all the halves, just fill as many as you can. The paprika on top is, of course, optional and you can do anything you like. Recipes are only guidelines (things don't always have to be exact, unless maybe you're baking or making bread). Before you bake the potatoes the second time, you can refrigerate them and save the rest for later.  This makes it really easy to have them ready ahead of time and just do the final bake when you are ready to eat them. 

In the picture below, you'll see that I also prepared the Buffalo Style Chicken Cordon Blue to go with the potatoes.  It's a delicious recipe that I posted a while back. If you haven't seen it, you can also give that a try. I have since modified that recipe, however and I bake it now. I have posted an update on that post.

Buffalo Style Chicken Cordon Blue

Twice Baked Potatoes

4 baking potatoes

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

8 oz. sour cream

1 stick butter, softened

1 Tbs. mayo

Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Paprika

Bake Potatoes 75 minutes @ 400ºF.  Halve and scoop out potatoes – Leaving a stable shell.

In electric mixer, combine all but paprika. Spoon mixture into shells, sprinkle with paprika.  Bake 30 minutes @ 350ºF.  

As always, remember to comment, share and enjoy your Twice Baked Potatoes!!

Chicken Swiss Casserole

When my friend and coworker, Kim, told me about this recipe, I admit I was very skeptical. I couldn't believe that you could bake a frozen chicken breast without thawing it first and still have a tasty and tender result. I was completely amazed when I tasted this the first time. It is absolutely tender and the sauce that this recipe makes is the most delicious sauce. 

The sauce for this dish is mostly comprised of Campbell's Cream of Chicken Soup and Chardonnay. I don't spend a lot of money on wine for cooking either. I usually buy the cheapest bottle at Walmart. I think it's about $3.00. The combination of these two ingredients along with Swiss Cheese and stuffing will leave wanting to clean your plate (and that is no exaggeration). 

The look of this dish may not be the best in the world, but it is certainly the tastiest. You will know exactly what I mean when you try it for the first time.

Chicken Swiss Casserole

2 – 6 frozen chicken breasts, boneless

4 – 12 slices Swiss cheese (2 per breast)

1 can of cream of chicken soup

1 cup of white wine (I usually just fill the soup can up with wine)

1 small bag of herbed stuffing mix

½ stick butter, melted

Place frozen chicken breasts in a baking dish.  Cover each chicken breast with two slices of Swiss cheese. Mix white wine and cream of chicken soup together.  Pour over the chicken.

Cover with the stuffing mix over the chicken.  Sprinkle with melted margarine or butter. Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour or until chicken is tender. 

Cover with tin foil for the last 20 minutes (If the stuffing starts to burn or get dark, cover sooner).

Give this a try and I'm sure you'll love it.  Remember to comment, share and enjoy your Chicken Swiss Casserole!

Cheeseburger Macaroni

I survived college on Hamburger Helper. It was one of the first things that I learned to make by myself that actually require a little cooking knowledge (emphasis on little). At this point in my life, I would almost be too embarrassed to buy Hamburger Helper in the store (almost). I absolutely love the Beef Stroganoff Hamburger Helper and a few years ago, I posted a recipe for a homemade version of that.  This time, by request, I am posting a recipe for Cheeseburger Macaroni.  

What makes it worth it to do this from scratch? The top reason would be flavor. The next reason would be actual vegetables. You can add tomatoes or a variety of other things to this and make it even better. When I make a dish for the first time, though, I try to stick to the basic dish and then I start switching it up a little.

When you're making this dish, it's a little bit soupy, but that's okay. You're going to use that liquid to cook the macaroni. That's the beauty of making something like this. You don't have to use an extra pot for the pasta. You do however, need to make the cheese sauce separately. It's very similar to any other béchamel sauce. This is just a roux that you've added milk and spices to in order to make a white sauce. 

It is okay if your sauce is really thick. When you mix it into your beef and macaroni, it will help to even out the texture. If there is any extra liquid from cooking the macaroni, the thick cheese sauce will help to absorb that.  It will continue to thicken as you take it off the heat and let it sit. I would advise you to let it sit at least five minutes. Any sauce that has a cream base will need to cool before you can even taste the flavors.  If you eat a cream sauce while it is still too hot, you won't be able to taste it.

Cheeseburger Macaroni

1 lb lean hamburger meat

1 package taco seasoning (4 Tbs.)

1 can Rotel tomatoes and green chilies (or petite diced tomatoes)

2 cups beef broth (or water)

1 cup elbow macaroni, uncooked

Cheese Sauce

2 Tablespoons butter

2 tbsp flour

3/4 cup milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Brown and drain hamburger meat. Stir in taco seasoning, Rotel, beef broth, and macaroni. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat and cover pan. Simmer 12-14 minutes until macaroni is tender.

Meanwhile, make the cheese sauce….

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking for 5 minutes or until fragrant and light brown in color. Add the salt and pepper. Whisk in the milk and bring to a boil. Whisk until smooth and thickened. Remove from heat and stir in the shredded cheddar cheese until melted. Pour the cheese sauce over the hamburger mixture. Stir gently to combine. Allow to stand at least five minutes off the heat before serving.

This definitely made it into my recipe book. It will make another appearance in my kitchen very soon! Remember to comment, share and enjoy your Cheeseburger Macaroni!!

Summer Sand Pudding

I want to start by saying that it isn't really sand.  I don't care how much it looks like sand, it isn't sand. It turns out that a box of vanilla wafers and a few Oreos can make very realistic looking  and edible "sand". I recently took this to a party and it won an award.  The mission was to bring the outside to the inside with either an appetizer or a dessert. I figured that a bucket of sand would be perfect. I got a Trader Joe's gift card and a Pepper Mill.

For starters, you're going to need a good food processor. I have a 13 cup Kitchen Aid Food Processor and it worked beautifully for this.  I didn't need nearly that capacity so a smaller processor should handle this job fine. If you're worried about this, you can crush them in two different batches. You will be surprised at how amazing this smells.  I couldn't believe that just vanilla wafers and Oreos could smell that wonderful.

Anytime you're mixing something with cream cheese or butter, make sure it is super soft.  This requires planning a little. I usually put the butter and cream cheese out on the counter in the morning when I know I'm going to make something like this. If I'm making a cake, I'll get the eggs out as well. They will fluff much better at room temperature. In this recipe, I put the cream cheese and butter into the mixer with the paddle attachment and creamed them along with the powdered sugar.  Make sure the cream cheese and butter are completely smooth before you add any other ingredients. Otherwise, you'll have clumps of cream cheese instead of a smooth texture with the flavor of cream cheese.

The recipe didn't say to refrigerate the French Vanilla pudding before you added it to the cream cheese mixture, but I highly recommend it.  It helps with the overall texture by letting the pudding thicken a little before you add it to the mixer. I would say that the flavor of this pudding is much like banana pudding, but without the banana part. If you wanted to add bananas, you certainly could do that, but it doesn't need them. 

Layer the pudding in your dollar store sand bucket that you've thoroughly cleaned. I did three layers. Make sure you smooth the pudding out before you add sand to that layer.

Just before you add the finishing layer of sand, clean up the edges around the bucket. It's much easier to do this before you add that last bit of sand.

When you're finishing off the sand, don't over do the smoothing effect.  I think that leaving it somewhat messy makes it look more like actual sand and less like a crumb topping. A friend suggested building a small sandcastle on top. If you do that, please send pictures.

Summer Sand Pudding

1 package Vanilla Wafers

3 or 4 Oreos (it only takes a few)

8 oz cream cheese, softened

¼ cup butter, softened

2/3 cup powdered sugar

2 small packages French Vanilla pudding mix

2 ¾ cup milk

12 oz Cool Whip

Crush Oreos and Vanilla Wafers in a food processor.  They should be the consistency of sand.

In a separate bowl, cream together softened 8 oz cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar. In another bowl, mix pudding with milk.  Add to cream cheese mixture. 

Fold in cool whip.  Layer into buckets with sand, pudding, sand etc. Serve with sand shovel.

Enjoy your award winning Summer Sand Pudding. Beware, you'll probably have to reassure people that they aren't about to eat sand. It looks that real. Remember to comment, share and enjoy!! Have fun!

Devil's Food Cake with Black Pepper Buttercream

For the 100th Orange Skillet Post, I've decided to post a recipe that's truly special.  This cake has quickly become one of my very favorite cakes and if you try it, you will love it, too.

Back in April my friend, Nate, sent me a link to this recipe that was listed on the New York Times website. I knew that I had to immediately try it. The cake itself is pretty straight forward. Three layers of delicious devil's food. The recipe called for preparing the cake pans a little differently than I've done before, though. I have never used cocoa powder to prepare the cake pans.  It worked pretty well, but was a little more tedious than using flour.  I highly recommend following the directions of putting the parchment paper in the bottom of the cake pan. I did this the first time and each layer came out like a dream.  The second time I made this cake, I didn't and they were a little fussy and I had one almost fall apart.

There are two frostings for this cake. The Black Pepper Buttercream goes between the layers and the Chocolate Fudge Frosting covers the outside of the cake. Both of these are absolutely essential in making this cake wonderful. I had a lot of trouble with the original recipe for the Black Pepper Buttercream and was forced to modify it to make it a little easier and a lot less fussy. I know what most of you might be thinking, "black pepper?" I thought it too, but the pepper on enhances the chocolate flavor. You don't even taste the black pepper, but it really does bring out the chocolate flavors. I will attach the link to the original recipe so you can compare the two if you like.  The original buttercream was made with an egg white base, but my version uses a milk and flour base.

In this recipe, you'll notice that made of the ingredients have weights beside them. The original recipe had weight measurements as well as volume measurements (which is what most are used to).  If you have a food scale, it is so much easier (and faster) to weigh your ingredients rather than to measure by volume. It's also a more exact measurement.  A few years ago my friend, Cindy, told me she did this and it was really useful. I bought a scale and she was right. I have written in weight measurements on a lot of my baking recipes. I find it especially useful for ingredients like flour and butter that require more than one scoop or stick to complete the recipe.  

The buttercream also calls for the seeds of one vanilla bean. If you never done this before, no worries, it's very simple.  All you have to do is slice the vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Then, using the blade of your knife, scrape the seeds off of each half. Once you have done it, it seems much easier than you were probably expecting.

The fudge recipe requires that it be whipped while sitting the bowl in an ice bath. The best way to do this is to find two "nesting" bowls.  I found that metal bowls work best.  I bought the stainless steel set from pampered chef several years ago and they worked perfectly.  In the large bowl, fill it about halfway with ice. Pour a little warm water over the ice to begin the melting process. In the smaller bowl, you will have your chopped chocolate, butter and vanilla.  Once you pour your warmed cream mixture over the chocolate, place the smaller bowl into the large bowl. The ice water will chill the mixture as you whisk it with your handheld mixer. The fudge will lighten in color and fluff up like any other frosting.

Devil’s Food Cake with Black Pepper Buttercream

Devil’s Food Cake

10 Tbs. butter, unsalted, softened (140 g)

2/3 cup cocoa powder, natural & unsweetened (70 g)

¾ cup whole milk

2 cups cake flour (200 g)

1 ½ tsp. baking soda (10 g)

½ tsp. baking powder (3 g)

½ tsp. salt, more as needed (3 g)

1 ¾ cups sugar, granulated (350 g)

3 large eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Black Pepper Buttercream

4 ½ Tbs. flour, rounded

1 ½ cups whole milk

1 ½ cup sugar, granulated (300 g)

Large pinch of kosher salt

3 sticks plus 2 Tbs. unsalted butter, softened

1 vanilla bean pod, split with seeds scraped

2 tsp. course ground black pepper (10 g)

Fudge Frosting

1 ½ cups sugar, granulated (300 g)

1 cup heavy cream

Pinch kosher salt

6 oz. unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped (170 g)

8 Tbs. butter, unsalted, diced (112 g)

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 3 (8-inch) round baking pans, line the bottoms of each with a round of parchment paper and grease the paper. Use a little cocoa powder to coat the insides of the pans, rotating pans so the cocoa comes up the sides, then tap out excess.

In a small bowl, whisk together cocoa powder and 2/3 cup boiling water. Whisk in milk. In a separate bowl, whisk together cake flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

In a large mixing bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, until incorporated. Beat in vanilla. With the mixer running on low speed, beat in a third of the dry ingredients, followed by half the cocoa mixture. Add remaining portions, alternating between two mixtures. Beat until smooth.

Divide batter evenly among prepared pans. Bake until the centers of the cakes are firm to the touch, 30 to 40 minutes. Cool cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes; turn them out onto the rack to cool completely. (Peel off parchment paper if it sticks to the cakes.)

Buttercream: Fill a medium pot halfway with water (or use a double-boiler) and bring to a simmer. In a heatproof bowl that fits over pot, whisk together flour, milk and salt. Cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture resembles oatmeal. Transfer to mixing bowl and chill. Using mixer, whip mixture and beat in butter a little at a time, until the frosting is smooth and spreadable. Beat in vanilla bean seeds and pepper.

Using a serrated knife, slice each cake in half horizontally. Place one bottom layer on a large platter or cake stand. Top evenly with a thin layer of buttercream. Repeat, alternating between cake and frosting, ending with a layer of cake. Cover cake loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate while you prepare fudge frosting. (Cake can rest in the refrigerator for up to 1 day.)

Fudge: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, heavy cream and salt. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until sugar completely dissolves, about 5 minutes. Scrape mixture into a bowl. Stir in chocolate, butter and vanilla until smooth. Set bowl over a larger bowl filled with ice. Use a hand mixer or an immersion blender with the whisk attachment to whip until mixture is thick and cool, about 5 minutes. Spread frosting over the top and sides of the cake.

NOTE Measurements for dry ingredients are given by weight for greater accuracy. The equivalent measurements by volume are approximate.

This cake is baked in three layers, but frosted in six layers.  When you're cutting your three layers in half it helps to have a long serrated bread knife. Make sure you have a nice flat surface. I usually keep my free hand on top of the layer to help me judge the thickness as I'm cutting through.  You can also buy a special device for this task that helps to cut layers evenly, but I really don't feel that it warrants its own tool. Just go slowly and remember that frosting can glue it back together.  The beauty of having a cake with this many layers is that you almost get more frosting than cake in each slice.

This is also a very tall cake. It will not fit into my glass cake stand. My $5.00 Rubbermaid cake carrier fits it nicely, though.  Sometimes, I put a 'cake circle' under the cake so I can move it if I need to. It's just a small piece of cardboard.  This allows you to store your cake in a big enough container and when you're serving the cake, you can transfer it to your pretty glass server.

If you don't believe that this is an amazing cake, give it a try and let me know how it turns out. This is a link to the original recipe that I got from the New York Times. Just be aware that I have modified it from that recipe so it won't match up.

NY Times Devil's Food Cake with Black Pepper Buttercream

Remember to comment, share and enjoy your delicious Devil's Food Cake!!