My Marshmallow Curiosity

My curiosity got the better of me yesterday. For weeks I had been wondering , "Are home-made marshmallows really THAT good?" An old friend passed along a recipe, a version of the Thomas Keller original, that was tempting but in a back burner kind of way. A few things were against the seemingly inevitable trial: 1. I don't really even like marshmallows. 2. Hot sugar and butter fingers just don't mix. 3. What will I do with 1 ½ lbs of marshmallows once made? Well, if curiosity had killed a cat before, it could definitely wreak my kitchen.

Last night, I spent the better part of 2 hours making, of all things, marshmallows. I'm talking powdered sugar everywhere. Earlier when I had mentioned my plan to my husband he goes, without missing a beat, "You know they sell those for cheap at the store, right?" Yes...but...I don't know; just humor me.

I guess I expected the heavens to open and bliss to rain from the sky. Turns out they were...eh. They tasted exactly like any other marshmallow that I had ever eaten, only ever so slightly softer. It's not the recipe. It was a good recipe and worked beautifully. In my opinion, it was just not worth the trouble. I heeded my friend's advice and cut back the original amount of 1 tbsp vanilla to 2 tsp but it still seemed strong to me. Perhaps go with 1 tsp if you make them and if you really like marshmallows go for it. Come on, you know you're curious.

Makes ~1 ½ lbs, 2-3 dozen depending on size

3 envelopes of unflavored gelatin
½ c. + ¼ c. cold water
2 c. granulated sugar
2/3 c. corn syrup
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract or other flavoring
Powdered sugar for dredging

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle gelatin over ½ c. cold water. Let stand 10 min.
2. Line a 13x9" baking or sheet pan with plastic wrap or foil. Grease thoroughly with vegetable oil. Set aside.
3. In a small saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, and remaining ¼ c. water. Bring to a boil and boil hard for 1 min. Do not stir at all once the sugar dissolves.
4. Pour boiling syrup onto gelatin and mix at Low speed for a few seconds then gradually speed up to High. If your mixer is flinging syrup, stay just below that speed until it stops and then turn it up. Do not let mixture cool too much before speeding up to High.
5. Once at High speed, add the salt and beat for 5-12 minutes. It's done when it looks like marshmallow cream and stops increasing in volume.
6. Add vanilla and incorporate into mixture.
7. Scrape into prepared 13x9" pan.
8. Take another piece of greased plastic wrap and press mixture into the pan, smoothing top and spreading evenly. Remove plastic wrap.
9. Let cool in pan for a few hours.
10. Carefully lift out marshmallow slab to work surface.
11. Sift powdered sugar evenly over slab to cover.
12. Cut into equal pieces with scissors, greased pizza cutter, knife, or simple cookie cutters.
13. Dredge each piece of marshmallow in powdered sugar.
14. Store in air tight container.

Buttery Birthday Cake

I make a lot of cakes. As my friends and I have gotten older and moved away from our parents, store bought cakes have become the norm. I feel guilty somehow to let my loved ones cut into a cake made without love on a special occasion. I, therefore, volunteer to make birthday, graduation, anniversary, and baby shower cakes, not to mention selling a cake here and there. I'm explaining all this so that you can share my annoyance and dismay when, last night, it took me 6 hours and 2 attempts to finish one two-layer birthday cake. Yes, you read it right, six hours. To put this into perspective, it took me 12 hours to make my three-tiered wedding cake, including decoration.

The main reason that my first attempt cake failed were the crappy baking pans. These happen to be my "new" pans, replacements for my old trusty ones. For some reason, I felt that my no-name, consistently good pans were sub par to Wilton brand ones. Wilton is THE name in baking, right? I purchased 2 round cake pans and 1 baking sheet. All of these are crap. They burn food, cook unevenly and tout themselves to be extremely non-stick, although food always sticks, even with greasing. I unsuccessfully pulled out all the tricks trying to make these pans work, including lowering temperatures and cooking times. The pans have been relegated to expensive garlic toast makers.















All of that aside, this butter cake was a birthday gift for one of my friends. (I love you man or I would have totally bought one of those grocery store cakes.) My second attempt, using my trusty, scratched-up, no-name pans was successful. I used a recipe from the Cake Bible for the actual cake and frosted it with my own Speedy Vanilla Bean Frosting. The cake itself is dense, buttery and melt-in-your-mouth if ever so slightly dry, although my friends were polite enough to disagree. The vanilla bean lends a perfumey, heady quality to the frosting that makes such a simple combination come alive and seem exotic.

We are children of the 80s and need our bursts of color. Our mothers injected enough food coloring into our little bodies so that if our birthday cake isn't some shade of cartoon character then we feel deprived. This cake was actually much more elegant before I chose to make it Smurf colored. But, hey, what are you going to do? At least we weren't born a decade earlier; the whole cake would have been a psychedelic, liquor-infused jello concoction and probably topped with coconut.

Makes one 9", 2 or 3 layer cake

6 egg yolks
1 c. milk
2¼ tsp vanilla
3 c. sifted cake flour
1½ c. sugar
1 tbsp + 1 tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
12 tbsp (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1. Preheat oven 350°F.
2. Grease and flour cake pans.
3. In a medium bowl, lightly combine egg yolks, ¼ c. milk, and vanilla.
4. In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix on low for 30 sec to blend.
5. Add butter and ¾ c. milk to the dry ingredients.
6. Mix on low until moistened. Increase speed to medium (high if using hand mixer) and beat for 1½ min.
7. Scrape down sides and add egg mixture in thirds, beating after each addition.
8. Pour batter into prepared pans, smoothing the surface.
9. Bake 25-35 min or until a toothpick comes out clean.
10. Cool in pans for 10 min, then cool completely on wire rack.
11. Frost as desired.

Speedy Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting

After my cake catastrophe, I didn't have time to make my planned Italian Buttercream Frosting. Last night, I just could not fathom making a syrup, streaming it into egg yolks and slowly adding butter to emulsify the whole thing. I wanted something quick, easy and preferably requiring only one bowl because after 2 cakes, most of my mixing bowls were in the dishwasher.

This modified method served my purpose well, providing me with a smooth, creamy frosting, if not exactly traditional. Matter of fact, most cooks usually use this method because true buttercreams are so time consuming. This method does leave you with a very light and very sweet frosting. I find that warming the half and half helps dissolve the sugar, making the frosting creamier. This frosting will keep about a week at room temperature and even longer in the fridge. If it is as hot and humid there as it is here, chilling it will make the frosting easier to work with. If you do decide to chill it, remember that the frosting will become stiffer because the butter will solidify some. You can either beat it lightly before using or add additional liquid to make it spreadable if you intend on keeping it cold. However you store it, cover the frosting tightly to prevent it from becoming crusty and dry.

Makes ~2 c., enough to frost one 9", 2 layer cake

1 c. butter, softened
4 c. powdered sugar
3 tbsp half & half
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, scraped

1. Using a mixer, cream butter until light and fluffy.
2. Slowly add powdered sugar.
3. Continue beating until smooth.
4. Place half & half in a very small bowl or teacup.
5. Add vanilla bean caviar to half & half, then warm in microwave 15 sec on HIGH.
6. Add vanilla extract and half & half mixture to the creamed mixtured.
7. Beat to incorporate.