Simple Red Velvet

I recently had a friend frantically call me because she needed to make red velvet cake and she refuses to try things from scratch and she wanted to know how to convert a box mix into red velvet....if you must commit the cardinal baking sin of using a box mix to make red velvet here is how you can:

1 white/yellow cake mix

the ingredients listed on the mix box

4T cocoa powder (the darker the better)

1 oz. red food coloring (it sounds intense but if you don't use enough you will have pink velvet)

mix the cake as instructed, mix the cocoa powder with the food coloring and add the paste to the cake mix and bake as instructed. Fait attention (be careful), the red will find away to ruin your favorite outfit so wear an apron, and yes I am speaking from experiences. If you are making cupcakes, a simple way to cut down on mess and contribute to consistency is to use an ice cream scoop with an ejection lever to scoop out the batter into the cups like so: (the photos you are now seeing are not a cake mix)

Summer's Simplicities #2: Peaches and Cream

Installment 2 for quick variation on a familiar recipe making it more summer appropriate is peaches and cream cake. Take your favorite white cake recipe and 3 peaches. Slice the peaches and toss them in 2T of sugar and allow them to sit while you whip up the cake.

Take the peaches out of the syrup and mix the syrup in with the cake. Pour the cake into the pans and top with the peach slices and bake according to your recipe.

Frost the cake with:

1 pint whip cream

3T confectioners sugar

or

1/2 package instant vanilla pudding (if you want a thicker frosting)

Be careful not to over mix cream. Top with more peaches or berries of your choice. Keep in the fridge until just before you eat it.

Summer Treats

Vanilla cake with farmer's market fresh raspberries:

Fresh strawberry cupcakes:

Creme brulee with blackberries, blueberries, and toasted hazelnuts.

Summer's Simplicities: Strawberry Sugar Cookies

The thing I love most about summer is food. Shocker I know. I love corn on the cob, deep redtomatoes that give you goose bumps as their perfectly ripe fullness of flavor dances across your palette, I love plump berries that burst and soft fuzzy peaches. Recently I wished I could take as long as it does for fruit to ripen to make every dessert, but I cannot and this week I had limited time and needed a treat quick so I whipped up this "Summer Simplicity". You simply take your favorite sugar cookie recipe (mine is below) and add 1c. fresh strawberries finely diced. For this recipe the cookies puff a bit more and they are best if eaten day-of. Instead of a thick frosting I glazed them with a mixture of: confectionary sugar, milk, and almond extract (for a tarter cookie use fresh lime juice or lemon juice place of the milk and extract and top with a little zest)

3/4 c. butter

1t vanilla

1 c. sugar

2 eggs

2 1/2 c. flour

1t salt

1 c. fresh diced strawberries

cream butter, vanilla, and sugar for 3 min. add eggs one by one, then add flour salt, add the berries last giving them a quick pulse on high in the mixer to break them up just a bit more. bake at 400 for about 8 min. allow to cool and glaze.