Wordless Wednesday - Movie Location

Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Icing

Apparently there is a story behind the "Red Velvet Cake.....According to legend red velvet cake was invented in the 1950s at Oscar's in New York's Waldorf-Astoria. However, Raven Dennis of Cake Man Raven Confectionery (whose recipe we adapted) claims red velvet cake originated during the Civil War, and that southern ladies made it "to keep their husbands home."

I found a recipe for this delightful dessert in my recipe file box from High School. I even wrote the recipe in red ink! We had so much fun putting it together. The frosting is worth every one of the calories......I don't even want to know how many there are!

I'm posting the recipe mostly for my own benefit. My blog is a quick recipe book for me. Here we go:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9 inch round cake pans and line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper.

CAKE: 2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 T cocoa unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup butter (at room temperature)

1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup butter milk

2 T liquid red food coloring

1 t white distilled vinegar

1 t baking soda

In a mixing bowl sift together the flour, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside.

In bowl beat the butter until soft, add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, making sure everything is well blended. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

Add red food coloring to the cup of buttermilk and whisk until blended.

With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.

In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.

Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and level the tops. Bake in preheated oven for approximately 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.

Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and allow cakes to completely cool. Once their are completely cool, wrap in plastic and place the cake layers in the freezer for at least 30 minutes. This is done to make frosting the cakes easier.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 - 8 ounce cream cheese, room temperature

1 - 8 ounce tub of Mascarpone cheese, room temperature

3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted

Beat together the cream cheese and mascarpone cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla and confectioner's sugar and blend until smooth. Transfer this mixture to a large mixing bowl.

Whip the heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Add powdered sugar enough to sweeten to your taste. With a large spatula, gently but quickly fold a little of the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture to lighten it. Then fold in the remaining whipped cream, in two stages.

Place one of the cake layers on your platter and cover with frosting. Place the top cake layer and continue frosting the top and sides of the cake.

Makes one - 9 inch double layer cake

Sunday Grounds Crew

Ogden Raptors Jerry Sands and Brian Cavazos-Galvez take a few minutes to clean-up the outfield after Jerry took a huge divet of turf with him as he dove for a ball.

If you have never been to a minor league baseball game, I think you are missing something great. We are in our 13th season as a host family for the Ogden Raptors. Anyone who really follows baseball knows it is a very long way to the top and at the 'Rookie' level finding affordable housing can be a challenge itself. Being a host family gives us an opportunity to make life a bit easier for players who are working so hard every day to someday make the big league roster.

Brian is living with us this season and what a delight it has been. We may be a little biased, but we think he is by far the MVP of the team. Of course other host families will have an argument with that, but Brian is "Tops" with us!

If there is a minor league team anywhere close to your home ---- get to the ball park it may change your life.

Cajun Black Bean Burger

Why oh why can't I simply blog.....? I think about it, I even read other blogs....but I haven't been able to put my thoughts together to post like I really would like to. Food is easy enough for me to blog about. I'm in the kitchen for hours at a time and today we (me...being we) put together a new vegetarian burger. Ali tried it, and said it passed ...but she hates corn, unless of course it is fresh from the farmer and still on the cob!

We had plenty of new cucumbers and tomatoes in the garden today. DIL's mom had zucchini so we had a nice garden fresh dinner tonight!

Joke of the day in Utah: "If you see someone buying zucchini in the store....they don't have any relatives or friends!" Thank goodness I have both.

Here's the new recipe:

Ingredients:

2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, drained

1 orange, red, or yellow pepper finely chopped. Today I had an orange one

1 small onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup frozen corn

1 carrot, finely chopped

1 1/2 cups Italian Bread Crumbs

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp Cajun spice blend

1/2 teaspoon cumin

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Saute onion, pepper, carrot, and corn in olive oil until done. About 5 -7 mins.

Combine sauteed vegetables with black beans and mash. I used my small food processor hoping the corn would be disguised but no luck with that! Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Use your hands to blend it all together. It needs to hold it's shape when you put it on the grill.

Shape into patties (I got 8 out of this batch). Refrigerate for several hours.

Place on a greased foil lined hot grill until browned on outside, both top and bottom. By cooking them on foil you can get a seared crust so they don't fall through the grill. Cook for about 3 mins. on each side. Then put them straight on the grill, brushing the patties with a little olive oil so they don't stick to the grill. Top with your favorite condiments. I think this is a keeper!

Have a Happy and Safe 4th of July