Birthday Cake Favorite- A Princess Cake from Glaus Bakery

In high school, my friend, Missy, had a birthday just 1 day before mine. Our Junior year, she kindly invited me to have a joint party at her house. It was then I was introduced to her favorite birthday cake.. a white cake with raspberry filling, a cream frosting, covered with a layer of marzipan. Only a few bakeries in town even bother making this type of cake, sometimes called a "Princess Cake". The almond flavor of the marzipan and the raspberry filling combine to make magic in my mouth.

Schmidt's Bakery and Glaus Bakery

Since then, if I'm feeling extra special, I request this cake for my celebration. Hope you all enjoy the virtual piece I'm sharing with you. I'm picking one up this afternoon, so maybe you'll get a picture by tomorrow!

Happy Birthday!

Finding the right Brownie recipe

I've been testing out brownie recipes to help a couple of cute friends who are getting married in the next few weeks. One wanted a cake-like brownie that would go well with a scoop of ice cream. The other thought a rich, elegant brownie that could stand on its own would be the best. The winners? Stick with a box mix for the first kind and here's the recipe for the second- from A Pinch of Salt Lake, with a slight modification on the glaze, making a ganache instead. I also cook them in a jelly roll pan as they tend to be very rich and smaller bites are better.


Mint Brownies
Brownies
2 cups sugar
2 ½ cups sifted flour
1 cup butter, softened
¼ tsp salt
4 eggs
¼ tsp baking powder
4-1 oz. squares unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
2 teaspoons vanilla

Filling
4 Tbs butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbs evaporated milk (half and half or cream work too)
½ tsp peppermint extract
Few drops of pink or green food coloring, if desired

Glaze
3 Tbs butter
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter and beat until fluffy. Beat in eggs until well blended; then add melted chocolate. Sift flour, measure out 2 1/2 cups and sift again with dry ingredients then add to creamed mixture along with vanilla. Spread in greased and floured jelly roll pan and bake for about 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few crumbs attached. Do not over bake. Set aside and let cool.

Mix all frosting ingredients until creamy and spread on brownies. Refrigerate 1 hour.
Combine butter and chocolate chips in top of double boiler; add cream, vanilla and blend thoroughly. Pour gently over frosting and spread by tipping pan until all of the brownie mixture is covered with glaze. Refrigerate until set.