Gender Reveal Cake Pops

It is a Boy, A Girl, or are we going to be progressive parents and let our baby decide what gender they want to be.  Or Baby was not cooperating and the Ultrasound technician could not determine the gender at this appointment and we will have to re-schedule.  I am not a spontaneous person and I do not like surprises, so I decided that I really wanted to know our baby's gender before they were born.  I do not have a gender preference.  I just want a healthy baby.  But I do want to know what color I should decorate the room, what list of names I should choose from, and what gender themed outfits and accessories I should get before baby is born.  In anticipation of our big Gender Reveal Day, at 10am on Tuesday October 6th, 2015,  I decided to make Cake Pops. 

I had the left over vanilla frosting from a previous cake and have a ready supply of every color of candy melt available.  All I need is the cake.  I decided to go with a simple vanilla tea cake.

Tea Cake

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup superfine sugar
1 egg
1 cup self rising flour
1/3 cup milk

Cream together butter, sugar, vanilla, and the egg.

Add flour and milk.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 min.  Allow the cake to cool for 5 - 20 min before turning it out of the pan.

Crumble the cake with about 1 cup of vanilla frosting and mush it all together until it has the consistency of playdough.

Take about a Tbs full of dough and roll it into balls.

Dip the end of a lollipop stick into melted Candy melt chocolate and stick it into the center of the ball.  Freeze or refrigerate the balls until the chocolate sets and the stick is stable.  Cover the cake pop in more candy melt chocolate and refrigerate again to set.

Our big day had finally arrived.  My husband and I went to the Women's Health Center and after an hour of searching, because baby was being in breech position facing my back and did not feel like moving, our Ultrasound Tech informed us that we are having a girl.

That means I need to go with pink cake pops.

Our baby's Ultrasound profile picture.

Pink Cake Pops for a Girl.

We are so excited to be having a little girl.
Now we need to pick a name for her.

Week 20: Banana

Week 20.  Baby is the size of a banana.  I decided to make Banana cream pie.  The recipe I found surprised me.  Instead of making banana pudding, which I anticipated, my recipe called for vanilla pudding and just added sliced bananas to the bottom and top of the pie.  It was pretty tasty though.  My husband said he liked the vanilla pudding better than banana pudding anyways so I might be making this one again sometime soon.

 Banana Cream Pie

2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups milk
4 egg yolks
2 Tbs butter
1 Tbs vanilla
Pie Crust
Whipped Cream

Bake pie shell at 475 degrees for 8-10 min.  Mix sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a saucepan.  Stir in milk gradually and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and comes to a boil.  Boil for 1 min.  Gradually stir in some of the hot mixture in with 4 egg yolks in another saucepan.  Slowly add to the egg yolks so the yolks do not bake, but are incorporated.  Blend in the rest of the hot mixture and bring to boil over medium heat.  Boil for 1 min and remove from heat.  Add butter and vanilla last.  Add sliced bananas to the bottom of the pie crust.  Pour hot vanilla pudding over the banana slices.   Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, but no longer than 48 hours.  Add another layer of bananas on top.  Top with whipped cream.

 Baked the pie crust.  Add the sugar, cornstarch, and salt together in a pan.

 Add 3 cups of milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  I always use whole milk when baking.  It just tastes better.  Remember:  Fat is Flavor.

 4 egg yolks in a separate pan.

 Slowly add hot pudding to the egg yolks and whisk together.

 Add the rest of the hot pudding to the egg yolks and bring to a boil.  Boil for 1 min.

 Remove pudding from heat and add butter and vanilla last.

 Slice bananas at the bottom of the pie crust.

 Pour hot pudding over the bananas and refrigerate for 2 hours.

 Add another layer of bananas on top of the pudding and top with whipped cream.

Whipped Cream

1 pint of heavy whipping cream
2 heaping Tbs powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Whip it, whip it good for about 6 min until it thickens.

 My beautiful banana cream pie.

 It was so delicious.

Enjoy

Here I am at 20 weeks pregnant.  I made it to the half-way point.  I am feeling very scared and very big.  I find myself eating all the time.  My pregnancy craving is chips.  I normally do not like chips that much and hardly ever eat them, but I find myself craving salty chips with sour cream.  I still have bouts of morning sickness and have started a "Days without Incident" board for my own amusement to keep track of how long I can go without an... incident.  Since I found out I was pregnant my record has been 11 days.  This week I had to re-set to 0 days again because I twisted my ankle.  The added weight is throwing me off balance and the ligaments in my joints are loosening which makes me more clumsy that usual.  Oh the joys of making a person.

Chocolate Roulade, Chocolate Jelly Roll

My brother's birthday was yesterday.  He requested a chocolate cake for dessert.  I told him, "No problem, a Chocolate cake is easy".  Then I went and made is harder and turned it into a Chocolate roulade.  It was really not that hard.  I just had never successfully made a jelly roll that held together before.  I am quite proud of myself that this one turned out well rolled, not falling apart, and delicious.

Chocolate Roulade, Chocolate jelly roll

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup cake flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
powdered sugar

Chocolate Ganache
4 oz semi sweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Line jelly roll pan with parchment paper.  Beat eggs, water, and vanilla together for about 5 min until fluffy.  Beat in sugar gradually.  Mix together dry ingredients and slowly add to egg-sugar mixture.  Beat until smooth.  Pour the batter into the parchment paper lined jelly roll pan.  Bake at 375 degrees for 12 - 15 min or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Flip the cake over onto a powdered sugar or cocoa powdered covered parchment paper.  Remove the top layer of parchment paper.  While the cake is still warm, roll it.  Refrigerate, seam side down, for 15 min.  Unroll the cake and fill with chocolate ganache or jelly.  Roll it up again and cut off the ends.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar and refrigerate until ready to eat.

Beat together 3 eggs, water, and vanilla for about 5 min.  Slowly incorporate sugar.

Mix together the dry ingredients and beat until smooth.

Pour batter into a parchment paper lined jelly roll pan.

Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 min.

Dust another parchment paper with cocoa powder or powdered sugar.

Carefully flip the cake over on top of the cocoa powdered dusted parchment paper and remove the baking layer of parchment paper.

While the cake is still warm, roll it up and refrigerate for 15 min with the seam side down.

Meanwhile, make chocolate ganache.  I used 4 oz semi-sweet chocolate to 1/2 heavy cream.  Bring the cream to a boil, remove from heat and add chopped chocolate.  Stir together until smooth.

Remove cake from the refrigerator and unroll.

Spread out the filling.

I also added whipped cream.

Roll the cake up again and cut off the ends.

Dust with powdered sugar.  I used Hershey chocolate syrup to give it a pretty design on top.

Enjoy.

Gingercake

I hear that ginger is a good natural remedy for morning sickness.  I have had pretty bad morning sickness during this pregnancy.  I also have pretty bad cake cravings.  A Gingercake would take care of both of my problems.  Right?  I should add that this tastes better than any gingerbread I have had and it made my kitchen smell like Christmas for two days.  It was amazing.  I also got to finally use my Treacle.  I went on a Treacle quest two years ago after reading "Alice in Wonderland."  I was surprised how hard it was to find here in Utah.  Thank goodness for the "London Market".  

Gingercake

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup Treacle
4-5 inche piece of fresh ginger root, finely grated
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup flour
1 cup self rising flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream together butter and brown sugar.  Add treacle, grated ginger, and beaten eggs.  Mix together dry ingredients and slowly add to the the mixture.  Add heavy cream last and mix until smooth.  Pour cake batter into a well greased pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 50 min or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool cake for 10 min before turning it out to cool.

 Finely grate about a 4" piece of ginger root.  This part smells wonderful.  I will never use ginger powder again.  That's a lie, but using real ginger made a huge difference.

 Cream together butter, brown sugar, ginger, and treacle.  I finally got to use my Treacle.  Best day of my cooking life.  Add beaten eggs.

 Add the flour mixture.

 Add the heavy cream last and mix until well incorporated.

 Pour cake batter into a well greased pan and bake for 50 min at 350 degrees.

 Allow the cake to cool for about 10 min before turning it out.

 Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with heavy cream.  I have been craving heavy cream poured over a hot dessert lately and this satisfies that craving.

 Or whipped cream.

Enjoy.