Painted Owl Pumpkin

You all know how I love Take The Challenge with Mou, right?

So last night when I saw the challenge go up while I was at the grocery store I immediately decided to paint a pumpkin with chalkboard paint and then turn it into an owl. 

The challenge is:

October is the month of Halloween, at least here in the States. If  you are around children, you know that what they love most about that, is the Trick or Treat ritual. So, I thought, for October, why don't I issue you a two-part challenge? No no, don't worry it won't be too tricky and as always there will be a treat at the end! And even if you are not in the States, you can totally play along too. So, without further ado, your challenge this month is:Part 1: Use BLACK Chalkboard Paint (as much or as little you like) on something you create. It does not have to be Halloween-related, although that would be fun too! Part 2: Add an owl. Sketch it, doodle it, draw it, transfer it, stamp it... you decide it.

I think it turned out pretty adorable, my not-so-hot owl drawing skills aside :-)

The steps were simple:

1. paint pumpkin with black chalkboard paint. Let dry.

2. Sketch owl on pumpkin with chalk

3. Paint owl.

4. Add details with paint pen. 

I think he needs a name.

Cute story: when my boys were 2, 3 and 4 they loved a book called 'Owl Babies'. That same year, their Uncle Al came to visit. They were ecstatic as they thought 'Uncle Owl' was coming. And they referred to him as 'Uncle Owl Babies' for years. 

My porch is starting to get the memo that fall has arrived!

Thanks for visiting!

P.S. Thanks to Alisa Burke for inspiring this attempt :-)

Acorn Treats: Food Craft for Kids

Every year we make some sort of acorn treat this time of year. Mostly we've made these:

You take a donut hole, frost the top third, roll it in toffee bits and then stick a piece of pretzel in the top. They're delicious.

But I was a little tired of them and thought we'd make something different this year. I saw Hershey's Kiss acorns floating around the internet and we gave them a try.

You need melted chocolate chips, Nutter Butter  Bites, Hershey's kisses, butterscotch chips ( or PB chips) and a couple of toothpicks.

Pick up some chocolate with the wide end of a toothpick and glue together like this:

If you find the cookie is moving around too much let them sit a minute, cookie side down, before 'gluing' on the butterscotch chip. They set up really fast.

My kids loved making these and my husband LOVED eating them.

Happy Thanksgiving to those who are celebrating tomorrow :-)

Cake #36 Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake

This cake was floating around Pinterest and I had to take a crack at it. I LOVE upside down cakes. They're like a little bit of magic in your oven. Think about it, you make a very boring, sad looking cake, then.... ABRACADABRA... you flip it over and it's a thing of beauty.

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One word of warning about this cake:

The glaze/syrup/topping is so delicious you'll want to drink it, serve it on pancakes, pour it over ice cream - it's insane. It tastes like autumn, apples, caramel, fairs... it's a thing of beauty

And the cake soaks it up, transforming it into a crazy-delicious concoction.

And please excuse my pictures, the light was terrible and I didn't do the cake justice at all.

Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake

King Arthur Flour

TOPPING


2 medium apples
4 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tablespoons boiled cider or thawed apple juice concentrate (we used apple juice concentrate)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup light corn syrup or golden syrup (we used Roger's Golden Syrup)

CAKE


3/4 cup vegetable oil (normally I'd use 1/2cup oil and 1/4 cup applesauce but I was out of applesauce)
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tablespoons boiled cider or thawed apple juice concentrate (we used the juice concentrate)
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 large apple, peeled and finely chopped
3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, optional (we used pecans)

Directions


1) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" round cake pan at least 2" deep. Line the bottom with parchment, and grease the parchment. (I only had a 10" deep enough so my cake is a bit shorter)
2) Slice the top, including the stem, off one of the apples and set it aside before peeling and slicing the rest of the apples into 1/4" thick wedges.
3) Place the apple top, stem side down, in the middle of the pan, and overlap the rest of the apple wedges in a ring around it.

4) Prepare the topping by heating the butter, sugar, boiled cider, cinnamon, and corn syrup together over low heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.

5) Pour 1/2 cup of the syrup mixture into the prepared pan, and set the rest aside.
6) To make the cake: Beat the oil, brown sugar, boiled cider, eggs, spices, and salt together for 2 minutes at medium speed

7) Mix the flour with the baking soda, and stir it into the batter.

8) Add the chopped apple and nuts, and mix until just blended.

9) Drop scoops of the batter atop the apples in the pan, gently spreading to cover.

10) Bake the cake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted near the center comes out clean.
11) Remove the cake from the oven, and run a thin spatula around the edge to loosen.

12) Let the cake cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn it out onto a serving plate, bottom side up. Scrape out any sauce that remains in the pan, and spread it over the cake.

13) Reheat the reserved topping. If butter starts to separate as you reheat, add water by the teaspoon and stir until the butter rejoins the rest of the sauce.

14) Pour the sauce over the cake.

This took quite a bit of scooping to get it to stick to the cake. I think I warmed mine up too hot and subsequently too thin. It REALLY thickens as it cools and the cake absorbs massive amounts of the apple-caramel sauce. It's crazy good.

Serve cake warm or at room temperature, with whipped cream if desired.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings.

If you're looking for another fall cake but this one doesn't strike your fancy, check out my Cinnamon Chip Applesauce Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. It's fall-tastic!

P.S. Sorry about all the cake this week. I've been crafting assignments that I can't share yet and we're quickly burning weeks if I'm going to get all 52 Cakes baked in 2011. But have no fear, there are rumblings that we'll be doing 52 MORE Cakes in 2012.

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Cake #33 Big Crumb Cake with Rhubarb

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With the end of summer rapidly bearing down on us, I thought it was essential that I include some seasonal produce in at least one of my cakes. For me, fruit begins and ends in the citrus section, plus apples. I don't eat berries of any sort and the only friendly melon is watermelon. Which makes it even more astounding that I don't hate rhubarb. It's like the platypus of the fruit world and due to it's weirdness, I give it a pass.

This recipe gets a 2/5 as in two Makis LOVED it - like, 'wow, this is the best thing ever!' and three Maki's said, 'interesting... but I think I'll pass'

Personally, after hearing Buddy Valastro rave about "big crumbs" and my prior amazing experience with Smitten Kitchen recipes, I was expecting something a whole lot more impressive. And it was too buttery, by a power of ten. Chris and Brayden would call that, 'just buttery enough' and I feel compelled to point out that I have a quirk about foods being too buttery - it's why I don't like most cookies. I know, crazy!

‘Big Crumb’ Coffeecake with Rhubarb
Adapted from The New York Times 6/6/07

Not rhubarb season? Don’t fret. I think this cake would be amazing with a blueberry, raspberry, sour cherry or any other tangy fruit filling you can think of. Simply adjust the sugar level accordingly–most of these will need far less than rhubarb does to make them palatable.

Butter for greasing pan

For the rhubarb filling:
1/2 pound rhubarb, trimmed
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

For the crumbs:
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) butter, melted
1 3/4 cups cake flour (I was out and used all-purpose and it worked great)

For the cake:
1/3 cup sour cream
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup cake flour (ditto on the all-purpose flour–worked just fine)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons softened butter, cut into 8 pieces.

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8-inch-square baking pan. For filling, slice rhubarb 1/2 inch thick and toss with sugar, cornstarch and ginger. Set aside.

2. To make crumbs, in a large bowl, whisk sugars, spices and salt into melted butter until smooth. Then, add flour with a spatula or wooden spoon. It will look and feel like a solid dough. Leave it pressed together in the bottom of the bowl and set aside.

3. To prepare cake, in a small bowl, stir together the sour cream, egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add butter and a spoonful of sour cream mixture and mix on medium speed until flour is moistened. Increase speed and beat for 30 seconds.

Add remaining sour cream mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition, and scraping down the sides of bowl with a spatula. Scoop out about 1/2 cup batter and set aside.

4. Scrape remaining batter into prepared pan. Spoon rhubarb over batter. Dollop set-aside batter over rhubarb; it does not have to be even.

5. Using your fingers, break topping mixture into big crumbs, about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch in size. They do not have to be uniform, but make sure most are around that size. Sprinkle over cake. Bake cake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean of batter (it might be moist from rhubarb), 45 to 55 minutes. Cool completely before serving. Sprinkle with Icing Sugar.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

From Smitten Kitchen

P.S. The whole time I was making this I kept thinking, why all the fuss? All you need to do is cut up a pan full of fruit, toss with a little cinnamon and sugar, top with a eye-balled mix of brown sugar, flour and oatmeal and knots of butter. Bake until bubbly. No biggie. Then I reminded myself that that is a CRISP not a CAKE - so yeah, I'm unclear on the concept.

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