Matthew.Taylor

Coffe cake for my parents Bible Study. Doesn’t look as good as the magazine shot, but I bet it tastes great! does ANYTHING smell as good as baked cinnamon?

Made these over the last few days. You guys might remember Chocolate Shard Shortbread? Real big on, I think, Instagram a few years ago.

EPIPHANY CAKE First, a story. There are many stories about the creation of the yeasted cake called Kugelhopf. My favorite is this one: It says that after giving the three gifts to Jesus Christ, the three Magi returned to their homelands (some say Persia) by a different route in order to avoid King Herod. In this story, they eventually found themselves in what is now Alsace, France. Overjoyed to meet them, the locals baked for them a cake that was made to look like their turbans. This would eventually be called the Kugelhopf. Whether or not this is accurate (there are many stories as to how this cake came to be), it’s one of the inspirations for this recipe. While sitting in church one Epiphany Sunday, the Pastor (my mother) was talking about the Magi, and while this was going on, I was struck with inspiration. I genuinely believe it came from God. A cake made to celebrate Epiphany, using the Kugelhopf and its legend as a base. I decided right then and there to make. I saw it in my head, a round Kugelhopf with four cherries on top, three red cherries to represent the Magi, and one Gold Cherry to represent Christ. I decided that the mix-ins would all symbolize the three gifts the Magi brought to Jesus. For the Gift of Gold, I used Gold Raisins (raisins being a common Kugelhopf mix-in). For the Gift of Frankincense, I used some leftover Gingerbread seasoning I had. The Gift of Myrrh was the difficult one. It was used for burial in ancent Israel, so I needed something that symbolized death. I later chose apple, as it often symbolized life and death (and Christ both died and rose from the grave). With everything set. I had my recipe. INGREDIENTS. GINGERBREAD SPICE MIX 1. 5 TBSPs Ground Cinnamon 2. 1 Tsp Ground Ginger. 3. 2 Tsp Ground Cloves. 4. 1 Tsp Ground Cardamon 5. 1 Tsp Ground Coriander 6. 1 Tsp Ground Anise. 7. ½ Tsp Ground Mace. STEPS. 1. Mix all together and store in an airtight container. Will last up to a year. EPIPHANY CAKE. INGREDIENTS. (Sponge) 1. ½ a cup of Whole, or Lowfat milk. 2. 3 TBSPs of Sugar 3. 2 ¼ teaspoons of Active Dry Yeast. 4. 2/3s of a cup Flour. INGREDIENTS (Dough) 1. ½ of a cup Golden Raisins 2. 1/3 of a cup Diced Apple. 3. 1 and ½ Teaspoons Gingerbread spice (heaping, do not level off). 4. 10 Tbsp of Unsalted Butter at room temperature, and cut into cubes. 5. ½ teaspoon Salt. 6. Zest of one Navel Orange. 7. 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract. 8. 1 Large Egg at room temp. 9. 1 largeEgg Yolk. 10. 1 and 1/3 cup Flour. INGREDIENTS (TOP) 1. 1 cup of Heavy Whipping Cream. 2. 2 Heaping Tbsps of Sugar. 3. Juice of one orange. 4. I/2 cup of water. 5. ½ cup of sugar 6. 3 Red Cherries. 7. 1 Gold Cherry. STEPS. 1. Make the sponge by heating the milk over a low heat in a small saucepan until it is tepid. 2. Pour into the bowl of a stand mixer (or the bowl you intend to mix everything in.) 3. Add the Sugar, and sprinkle in the yeast. 4. Stir in the 2/3 of a cup of flour, scraping down the sides to make sure it is all mixed in. 5. Cover with a kitchen towel, or plastic wrap, and let sit until it becomes bubbly, about 20 minutes. 6. Lube your intended pan, whether it be a Kugelhopt pan, or a bundt pan. Use non-stick spray or butter and flour. Make sure it is lubed well, as the dough will be sticky. 7. Add the cubed butter, zest, Gingerbread Spice and Vanilla to the sponge. Use a paddle attachment (or an egg beater) to mix them well. 8. Beat in the Egg and Egg Yolk until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. 9. On Low speed, mix in the Flour until fully combined, scraping down the sides as needed. 10. Once flour is fully incorporated, turn mixer to high and beat until elastic and smooth, around 3 minutes. 11. Beat in raisins, and apples. 12. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel, or plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until the dough starts to puff. About 30 minutes. 13. Wet down your hands and transfer dough to the intended pan, making sure that it is equally spread around the pan. 14. Cover with a kitchen towel, and let sit in a warm place until it is double in size. 1 to 1 and ½ hours. (using a larger pan will probably require the full time.) 15. 15 minutes before baking, turn oven to 375 degrees F. 16. Bake until it is a deep golden brown across the top. (base recipe called for 40-45 minutes. I checked and found it done at 35 minutes. 17. While the cake is baking, start on the toppings. Take the sugar and water, heat them in a small saucepan until the sugar is completely dissolved, add orange juice and mix well. Take off the heat. 18. When cake is done, let cool for ten minutes. Pierce the top with a fork in a few places, and brush some of the orange syrup over it. Make a few rounds of brushing. 19. Remove the cake onto a cooling dish, and let cool completely. 20. Once cool, mix Tbsps of sugar with whipping cream, until stiff peaks form. Place dollops of cream on each of the four “points of the cake” and stick one cherry to each one. Serve as you desire.

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Could I possibly get a recipe for that? Or is it just a “throw together” thing?

Thank you! They’re food colored white chocolate.

This doesn’t look as professional as I’d like, but my nephew liked it. Made for his 8th birthday! Vanilla buttermilk cake, with cocoa cream cheese frosting, and homemade marshmallow fondant.

And it went pretty well! I used Meathead’s instructions, and it took around 9-10 hours!

Here’s today’s bake. Peach Strusel bars from the latest issue of Bake From Scratch.

Hah! Sorry. I completely forgot about this. My bad. Anyway, I’m in southern Ohio, and never see it anywhere.

Here’s our 4th of July desert. Chocolate Mayo cake with Divinity icing from “Southern Cakes” by Nancie Mcdermot!

Where can I find cheesecake flavored pudding?

I used the instructions from Meathead Goldwyn’s book. Cook on indirect heat until around 110 degrees F. Then put it on direct heat until around 130 F. I left it on longer than that (145 F) because I was uncertain, and Mom takes her steaks Medium.

My first attempt at Tri-tip turned out really well!

Yeah, Weber. Three burners, front to back. Yeah, you can turn on just one if you want.

Ok, still planning on making this, but everything I’ve read calls for a 2-zone set-up. I know what that is, but my grill has 3 burners. I thought of turning the two on the outside on, while keeping the middle one off, would this work?

Probably gonna use Meathead’s recipe in his book. But I was thinking of a good seasoning or rub. What would be good in you guys eyes? Also is there a particularly good sauce to try with this?

Ok, I have a leftover pork shoulder in our deep freeze, and I want to do something with it this summer. I was thinking slice it flat, put in a filling, roll it up, tie it up, and slow grill it. It’s just that I need a good filling for it. Anyone have any ideas?

It took practically the whole day. But the cake for my niece’s 10th birthday is done!

My most successful attempt yet at yeast raised dinner rolls!

Here’s what I made (and have been getting ready for a week at least. Baltimore Pit Beef!

Yeah, we’ve never used the vanilla pudding layer, but that looks identical to how we always served it. I just noticed that the recipe I linked also used the name “Better than Robert Redford cake.” I’ll need to come up with a better name for my recipe.

Well, this particular recipe is my own work (and I really don’t think it’s done yet.) but for just better than Robert Redford, we usually use something like this. https://www.cooks.com/recipe/f280j2b8/better-than-robert-redford-cake.html

Ok, I recently spent a week at home while the family was in Florida. I had said I was going to do a baking project, but until the last few days, I had no idea what. Then I recalled an episode from season 5 of the Great British Baking show. The technical challenge was Mary’s Tiramisu cake. Duly inspired, I said out to adapt the idea. I thought then if the various desserts we usually made, and I settled on a dish known as “Better than Robert Redford” (also called better than sex, but…kids in the house, and all). We also called it Better than Jim Taylor (my dad). I present to you, my Better than Robert Redford Cake. we have two layers of vanilla buttermilk cake, two layers of chocolate pastry cream, two layers of cream cheese filling, and one layer of shortbread. The frosting is stabilized whip cream, and chocolate shavings.

I haven’t done anything else yet (and with my schedule, it may be awhile before my next big baking project). Using less sugar may work, but I would stick to the recipe for the first time at least. Only then would I go around messing with it.