If you have been reading my blog, you probably know that I consider myself a cookie queen. As for baking cakes by scratch, I am kind of a newbie.
A couple of months ago, I decided it was time to start baking cakes. Operation Make a Cake was in full effect. The KitchenAid was in overdrive and the oven was working overtime. Cakes and cupcakes were popping out of the oven on a nightly basis. There were some good ones and some not so good ones; finally I came across an excellent recipe.
After all of my cake trials and errors, I decided to take on a strawberry cake with strawberry filling. As a cake novice, I was a little nervous, but thought, it is now or never. Of course I made some sample strawberry cupcakes and there were delish! After spending a couple of hours, mixing, baking, filling, frosting, and decorating, I had the perfect strawberry cake….or so I thought.
Something went wrong, majorly wrong! I was mortified! What happened? I was told it was hard and mushy. How could it be both? They were very inconsistent messages, and I was not even able to try it! After some tears, swear words, more tears and questions, I decided that maybe cakes were not for me.
My husband came to the rescue with hugs and advice. My confidence was back up (kind of), and I was back in the cake baking business. After more researching, mixing, tasting and a few pounds, I found it. The cake looked great and I had a good feeling about it. It tasted so good, I didn’t even regret not frosting it.
Fast forward a couple of months later, one of my family members asked me to make them…you got it, a strawberry cake with strawberry filling. Of course I said I would make it, although I was nervous. With tender loving care and lot of prayer, I made the
strawberry cake. It looked beautiful from the outside, but how was the inside? Would it be moist, light and most of all…unforgetable? My anxiety rose as the cake was being cut. Did it have the same issues as the last strawberry cake? NO WAY!! It was delicious, moist strawberry cake with homemade strawberry filling, with real strawberries, and butter cream frosting. The cake was a hit.
In case you are wondering what the problem was in the first cake, it was the filling. Apparently I did not let it cook down and thicken enough. LESSON LEARNED!
Am I still nervous about cakes? Sometimes, but I have been learning tons and my confidence is growing.
What makes you nervous about baking?
Immediately I started looking for my favorite food goddess: Ina Garten. Her recipes are to die for! I would give my right arm to be invited to her house in the Hamptons for any meal! (Ok, maybe giving up my arm is a little much, but seriously have you seen her show?!?) I nestled myself in a comfy chair, and was completely hypnotized by her amazing food ideas and pictures. So many recipes to choose from…
While flipping through the pages of Ina’s cookbook, and trying not to drool, one stood out….Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars. This is a very simple and delicious recipe. They turned out much better than I thought they would. Imagine a ribbon of sweet jam sandwiched between moist peanut butter cookies, topped off with crunchy chopped peanuts. If you love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, you will ADORE these bars! The only thing I will change for next time is to add a little more jam, as per my husband’s request.
spread it evenly. Spread the jam evenly over the dough. Drop small globs of the remaining dough evenly over the jam. Don’t worry if all the jam isn’t covered; the dough will spread when it bakes. Sprinkle with the chopped peanuts and bake for 45 minutes, until golden brown. Cool and cut into small squares.