Poinsettia Red Velvet Cake

 

I asked my friend Gracie what kind of cake she wanted me to make as XMAS gift and she immediately said red velvet, which I wasn't surprised by at all.  It’s her and her son's favorite!  Since this was for the holidays I made this Poinsettia Red Velvet Cake.  

For the cake layers I used my favorite recipe from Cook's Country that produces the most tender crumb.  For the frosting I chose Stella Park's cream cheese buttercream, which is super fluffy, delicious and a lot less sweet than the traditional frosting made with cups and cups of powdered sugar.    

To give the cake a festive feel I featured a large poinsettia as the main design.  I went online and watched a few videos on YouTube on how to pipe the flower using icing.  I know my poinsettia isn't the most botanically correct, but I think it will more than suffice, and I can live with that!

Strawberries & Cream Chiffon Cake

This is the second time I've made this Strawberries & Cream Chiffon Cake.  Yes, it's that good. The first time was on the occasion of my friend A's birthday at the end of January.  When I asked him what treat he wanted I was expecting his usual favorite, tiramisu, but not this time!  Last year his wife had gotten him a cake similar to this one from a local bakery so I took that as a challenge to make it myself.  I was so happy with how it turned out that I had to make another one for this blog. 

The chiffon cake is the real star of this dessert and one of the best that I've ever tasted.  One bite and the first thing that came to mind were the cakes you find in Chinese bakeries here in San Francisco, i.e., not too sweet, but soft, light and fluffy.  I got the recipe from my baking guru Stella Parks on Serious Eats.  If you haven't already tried one of Stella's recipes I highly encourage you to.  They are as close to baking perfection as you can get.

I couldn't think of a better companion to the chiffon cake than whipped cream.  Now this isn't your typical whipped cream; this one is mixed with cream cheese which provides stability to the frosting as well as a beautiful tang.   Perfection!

Levain Style Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

In all the times that I've traveled to New York City I never managed to make it to Levain Bakery.  If you ask my why I couldn't tell you, I guess it just never crossed my mind.  There was always someplace else that took priority.  But recently I'd been seeing their famous chocolate chip walnut cookies featured countless times on social media.  The clincher was when Stella Parks posted on her Instagram Stories that she was working on a Levain style cookie recipe for Serious Eats.  That was it, I had to try these cookies for myself.  Immediately I emailed Stella asking if she might perhaps share her recipe with me and she was kind enough to send a preview.  [Look for the actual recipe to be posted soon on SeriousEats.com]

The one thing I noticed immediately about her recipe was the high ratio of chocolate chips and walnuts compared to other chocolate chip cookies.   These ones are not for the faint of heart...they are stuffed to the max!   Another thing is that they are H-U-G-E, each one weighing about six ounces.  The recipe yields eight gigantic cookies, each one could easily be split with two or three people if you're so inclined to share.

Now I must admit that chocolate chips are not my favorite kind of cookie but these were pretty damn good, if I do say so myself.  I broke in to one while it was still warm and the bittersweet chocolate was just slightly melted and oozing with the crunchy walnuts serving as a really lovely complement.  On my next trip to NYC I'll be sure to stop by the bakery that started it all!