mini vanilla loaf cakes, all trashed up

as someone who relished in epic birthday parties growing up, including an oscar mayer wiener party, a carnival party, and a green party (thanks, parents!), i'd just like to say that i am 100% grateful to now be knee-deep in the bridal and baby shower phase of my life. i love planning them, i love attending them, i love filling the registry for my own bridal shower with cake stands and more cake stands... i think i was made for showers because, see, there was a time period in my early adult years when celebrations meant going up to the dinosaur barbecue on 125th street, getting real real drunk, eating a ton of peanut butter pie, going to three different parties, and then ending back up at 125th street for mcdonald's before going to sleep with all of my makeup on. and ok, that was fun, but there were no decorations or fun invites involved, no themes to be aware of, no homemade cake. now that i'm a true grandma on the inside (as proven by my new 9:30 bedtime, kidding, but kind of not really) i am fully ready to party by way of playing cute bingo and visiting with all the ladies at 2 o'clock in the afternoon.

i even made egg salad about it.

i made egg salad and biscuits and all of these little loaf cakes in girlie pastel colors in honor of two showers this week. one was a few days ago, an eggcousin's classy bridal shower, and it came complete with wedding-themed catch phrase and chocolate covered potato chips. the other is jessica's baby shower today, thus the whole trashed up thing! in trying-to-be jessica fashion, i trashed some of these babies up with gummy bears, chocolate chips, and more sprinkles.

seriously, just shower me with sprinkles now. 

obviously you don't need a cute loaf pan to make these, you can make them as cupcakes. but if you do find yourself in the loaf pan aisle, i highly recommend one. they're the cutest.

---

mini vanilla loaf cakes with buttercream frosting

makes 16-18

ingredients

for the cakes:

2 1/2 c cake flour

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp kosher salt

1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 c sugar

2 large eggs

2 tb vanilla

6 tb vegetable oil

1 c whole milk

for the frosting:

2 c (or 4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

3 c powdered sugar, or to taste

2 tsp vanilla

1 pinch kosher salt

for decorating:

coloring for frosting (i used natural food dyes, matcha powder, and pomegranate juice)

sprinkles

sanding sugar

gummy bears

chocolate chips

any thing else.........

clues

preheat oven to 350. grease your mini loaf pan and set it aside.

in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

in a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each. add vanilla and oil. 

beat the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and then beat in the milk. scoop into your pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. begin checking for doneness at 18 minutes.

let cool.

to make the frosting, beat together the butter and sugar. add vanilla and salt. taste and add more sugar if desired.

frost your cakes, decorate the crap out of them, and enjoy!

---

happy baby shower, jessica!!!!! (and biggg thank you to ashley and bev for organizing this shower! check out their blogs for lists of all of the other trashed up goodies :)

-yeh!

grape + ricotta focaccia

it's becoming easier and easier to wake up before the sun and i love it so very much. especially now that i have a fluffy robe because waking up before the sun and then being cold is the worst. but waking up before the sun, wrapping myself up in my robe, and then shuffling out to the kitchen to latch my arms around eggboy while he pours berries into an overflowing pot of steel-cut oats is my favorite way to wake up these days*.

*(these freakishly crazy days that begin with frost on the ground and end with piles of leftovers and more dishes than will fit in our dishwasher.) 

so it's good freakishly crazy.

good freakishly crazy.

i cooked venison for my new friend sam last night. well, correction: i coated venison loin with grey salt and smoked cinnamon, seared it a bit, took a shot of whiskey, and then had him help me with the rest, because the rest is what scares me. we finished it in the oven, drizzled it with its juices, hit it with more cinnamon, and then ate it with lefse and egg mama's tater tot hot dish. a table full of eggs and a wonderful crew from the times, eating supper in our little farm house (!!!!), i wanted to capture the moment and put it in a snow globe.

so this weekend, after last week in new york and this week working with sam and his crew, life goes back to wedding planning and cake making and treadmilling in front of cupcake wars. soon there will be snow on the ground and one night i'll catch up on homeland, but i guess today is halloween so tonight is not that night.

here's some focaccia that's inspired by emiko's schiacciata all'uva, anne's perfect basic focaccia, and a gorgeous ricotta squash loaf from izy's book. i've been loving using grapes in places where i'd otherwise put tomatoes-- pizza, savory crepes, and anything with ricotta. the grapes make this focaccia a perfect morning time bread. it's soft, sweet, and cozy, just like my fluffy robe.

---

grape + ricotta focaccia

makes one large loaf

ingredients

1 3/4 c warm water

1 packet (2 1/4 tsp) yeast

3 tb sugar

5 c flour

1 tb kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling

1 c olive oil

1 1/2 c california grapes

3/4 c ricotta

clues

combine water, yeast, and 1 tablespoon of sugar in a small bowl and let it proof. 

in a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, combine flour and salt. add 1/2 cup of olive oil and the yeast mixer to form a dough. knead for 7-10 minutes until it is no longer sticky, adding more flour as needed.

transfer to an oiled bowl, cover with a damp towel, and let it rise until doubled in size, 1-2 hours.

pour most of the remaining oil into a 9-inch by 13-inch casserole dish, reserving a few tablespoons for drizzling on top of the dough. divide the dough in half and press one half into the dish to cover the bottom. sprinkle the top with 1 cup of grapes and the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. flatten out the remaining half of the dough and place it on top, sealing in the grapes. scatter the remaining 1/2 cup of grapes on top of the dough, and dollop spoonfuls of ricotta on top as well. sprinkle with salt and remaining olive oil.

let rest for another hour. preheat oven to 425. bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown. slice into squares, spread with more ricotta if desired, and enjoy!

---

-yeh!

p.s. no friday links this week :( but major internet hugs to freya for having me be part of her "one day" series, and lynn and ashley for putting together this epic halloween post in which i am a drunk cartoon. also steph and lindsay did a tortoro week this week that is so beyond.

this post is sponsored by grapes from california. all opinions are my own!

mini chicken pot pies

i would first eat the crust, inspecting all surfaces to make sure there weren't any mushrooms or peas. i would then filter through the innards, making sure not to ingest any mushrooms or peas. eventually i would give up and go searching for a handi-snack.

to say that i'm impressed with those second graders who made it through daniel is an understatement.

at heart i'm still the pickiest of all the eaters. so even now when i eat something as comforting as chicken pot pie, i consider it a triumph because you never know what could be hiding in that thick creamy goop. it could be a mushroom.

of course my version doesn't have mushrooms. when will i enjoy mushrooms???? and this version is v heavy on the crust, a perk of its miniature size. i've grown into tolerating peas, so those are there, along with the remaining usual suspects of a chicken pot pie, and nothing else. 

this is a no frills pot pie. a simple pie, a humble pie.

these little pies are cute, fun to make, and functional, especially for a small household like mine that can't eat an entire pie for supper. i just wrap the leftovers up individually and freeze them and wam bam, easy as... (wait for it) pie.

i made these in my new favorite pan, the lodge mini cake pan, feel free to use a muffin tin though!

---

mini chicken pot pies

makes 10-12

ingredients

2 tb unsalted butter

1 small onion, finely chopped

1/4 c all-purpose flour

2 c whole milk

enough chicken soup concentrate for 2 c liquid*

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 lb boneless skinless chicken thigh, chopped into bite-sized pieces

1/2 c frozen peas

1/4 t dried thyme

black pepper

2 lb pie dough

*i like orrington farms brand, which requires 2 tsp mix per cup, but other brands, like better than bouillon i believe only require 1 tsp. best to check the instructions.  

clues

in a large skillet over medium high heat, melt the butter and add the onion, stirring until soft, 5-7 minutes. stir in the flour so that it gets evenly distributed. whisk together the milk and chicken soup concentrate and pour it into the skillet. whisk the mixture constantly until it begins to thicken.

add the carrots, chicken, peas, thyme, and pepper, and simmer, stirring often, for 10-15 minutes, until the chicken is fully cooked. taste the mixture and adjust seasonings, if desired.

at this point, i find it easiest to let the mixture cool and then form my pies, however you can definitely form your pies immediately if you'd like.

preheat oven to 400. lightly grease your molds. line them with pie dough so that there is some overhang on the edges (for my pan, i used a 5 1/2-inch circle). spoon in a heaping 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture, place a smaller (3-4-inch) circle on top, and then crimp the edges from the bottom circle over. poke a few holes in the top. bake until golden brown, 30-40 minutes.

let cool slightly and enjoy!

-yeh!

this post is part of becky's eat seasonal roundup! check out a bunch of other seasonal goodies here!

frosted red velvet cakies

you want to hear something super crazy town?? sugar beet harvest is almost dunzo, making it one of the best harvests in recent history!! typically, weather will really draw things out, making the beeties too cold or too hot or too wet or too dry, causing the boys to work through the end of october. but aside from a little pause last week when it snowed (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), they've been out there for 24 hours a day to pull them puppies out of the ground, and they are almost all out!

do you know what this means??1?1?!!!!! we finally get to watch the season premiere of homeland! and i can once again split the dishes duties with someone. and we can get caught up on wedding planning. and i can have a real reason to make real dinner since when it's just me, dinner is too often cheese on toast, salami on toast, toast on toast, a corn dog, or cookies. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

i am so excited.

i've started to plan the end-of-harvest party, which somehow has to top last year's, which took place at the one n only. it's gotta be meaty because it's for a bunch of dudes that drive trucks and harvesters and tractors. dessert is the easy part though, because it's got to involve these here red velvet cakies, from izy's magnificent book. (cookie + cake = cakie). when i made them last week, i had one bite and knew that if i didn't give them away immediately, they would become breakfast, lunch, and dinner. they are the most addicting thing i've made in a very long time. so i brought some out to visit eggboy and gave them to all of the truck drivers and they went gaga over them. so soft, so perfectly red-velvety.

i wouldn't expect anything less than izy though. she is a gem and i've been a fan of her blog, top with cinnamon, for a while now, not just for the recipes, but also for a glimpse into the life of a high schooler in london. (whatever "a-levels" are, they sound mega intense.) we met at the saveur awards in may, and she is just as delightful as you'd expect from reading her blog. she even followed all the funny american drinking age rules and didn't drink a sip of booze despite the fact that a whiskey maker sponsored the thing and despite the fact that i offered to sneak her some when no one was looking. classy lady, that izy. who also knows when to use jazz hands. 

so her book, i love it. the dishes are flavorful in new-to-me ways, sophisticated without being stuffy, and earthy with a nice dose of comfort. at first glance, i thought i'd have to google some things (like "is aubergine an eggplant? or is that zucchini?") but then i saw that it's all specified in the fine print and it made me really happy and want to have a british accent. this book is heavy on the sweets and baked goods--which, naturally, i love--and there are also some savory beauties, like the sweet and sticky pork, which i have made multiple times now and each time i've licked that sauce right out of the pan. 

if izy were american, i'm convinced that these cakies would have turned out as whoopie pies. they have a very similar texture, and truth be told, i might have sandwiched a few together to eat, mostly so that i could get more in my mouth at once. i do like the open-facedness of them though because that calls for sprinkles, and as izy points out, a better cake-to-frosting ratio. they're dangerously good, so when you make them, be sure that you have a few friends on call to come over and eat some so you don't eat them all yourself and get a bellyache. 

---

frosted red velvet cakies

from top with cinnamon

[makes 24]

ingredients

1/2 c (110g // 3 3/4 oz) unsalted butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 c (220g // 7 3/4 oz) sugar

2 eggs

1/4 c sour cream or plain yogurt

2 tb cocoa powder

1 tb red food coloring

2 c (250g // 9 oz) all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

cream cheese frosting:

6 tb (75g // 2 1/2 oz) unsalted butter, softened

5 oz (150g) cream cheese

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 c (150g // 5oz) powdered sugar

clues

preheat oven to 350f (180c // gas 4). line a baking tray with parchment. cream together the butter, vanilla extract, and sugar in a medium bowl until fluffy. stir in the eggs, sour cream, cocoa powder, and red food coloring until evenly combined. stir in the flour and baking powder.

drop heaped tablespoons of the mixture onto the lined baking tray, spacing them about 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart. Bake for 8 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

meanwhile, mix together all the frosting ingredients until smooth. use a butter knife or palette knife to swirl the frosting on top of the cakies. they can be stored in an airtight container for 3-4 days.

---

-yeh!