This is a very yummy meringue It took a few tries to get it right, but well worth the effort. The recipe for the meringue is as follows:

Meringue Berry Bowl

• 4 egg whites, at room temperature

• ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

• ¾ cup sugar

• Heat oven to 250 degree F. Cover 2 baking sheets with nonstick foil.

• Combine egg whites and cream of tartar in large bowl. With electric mixer on medium speed, beat whites to soft peaks. Gradually add sugar a few tablespoons at a time, beating constantly, until fully incorporated, 5 to 7 minutes; meringue should form glossy, stiff peaks, without sugar granules.

• Transfer meringue to large resealable plastic bag. Snip off a corner and pipe eight 3-½-inch round outlines onto prepared baking sheets. Fill in outlines with a small amount of meringue, spreading with spatula. Build walls on top of base at edges using a continuous stream of meringue. Do not pipe higher than 1-¼ inches, as walls may fall over. There should be a total of 8 bowls.

• Bake at 250 degree F for 50 minutes; the meringues should be firm but not yet brown. Remove baking sheets to wire racks to cool. Once meringues have cooled, gently peel them from the foil. If meringues are sticking, cut around them and remove from the baking sheet, with the foil attached to the meringue, then slowly and carefully peel the foil from the bottom of the meringue. To prepare ahead, bake, cool and store meringues in airtight container at room temperature for a day or two. If meringues are soft or moist, return to a 250 degree F oven for 10 minutes.

The sauce I got from Cheeky Kitchen Blog - http://www.cheekykitchen.com

Bonnet Berry Sauce

2 c. frozen mixed berried

1/2 c. apricot-mango jam, or orange marmalade

2 T. brown sugar

Heat all in a saucepan until boiling. Set aside until ready to serve.

Then Top With Fresh Whipped Cream!!

Quick Year Review

If I am going to keep this blog for journal purposes I guess I should do a really quick update of the past year.





The infamous Hungarian tort. Very Yummy! But the making of was not worth trying again. I burned my hand really bad so I asked Karl to come hurry and take over before the toffee on top set up. He got there a minute too late. The toffee was setting up, he tried to cut it. Put the knife in one side of his hand and it came out the other. Me with ice on my hand and him with a bloody towel we headed out to go to the E.R. only to find out his truck was parked behind my car with a flat tire. The neighbors door was open so I ran across the street and asked Chad to take Karl to the E.R. I think the funniest part though was while they were at the hospital the Dr. came in and talked to Karl saying, "You know there are safe houses around here. Don't go back to any bad situations". He obviously didn't believe the whole "Torte" story. Or Chad must have looked pretty gang banger. :) ( and I can't figure out how to get rid of this underline. Aagghh).

Karl went to a hand specialist and his receptionist didn't believe the "Torte" story either. Anyways the Dr. Said it was truly amazing. There are hundreds of nerves in your hand and Karl didn't hit one of them. We are very blessed.




Ethan's first day of sixth grade with Mrs. Enright as his teacher. Kaden's first day of kindergarten with Mrs. Bittner as his teacher.
Waiting for our first ride on the frontrunner from Farmington to Salt Lake City.

Porter and Ethan top car of the Frontrunner Train. (Yes that is Porter's smile.)



Kaden As we were coming into SLC.






Karl took me on a tour of his City Creek Project.
Here we are looking down on all the city.





Kaden took straws, paper and tape and made this creation all by himself for "Reflections" at school. The title of his piece is "The Kite". We are all very impressed by his creativity.


Ethan's piece went onto district. His artwork was titled, "Defining You" Battling what's right.

Recipes

So I have been into baking yummy cakes and cupcakes this year. I think I should post some of my favorites and their recipes so I have them all in one place. Plus others might want to try them. This is my all time favorite cake ever, and I mean ever!!! I got the recipe off of this blog, http://www.cheekykitchen.com

Here is a picture of the Mud Cake I made. I'm telling you so worth trying. Yum.....


This is a picture of the Conversations with a Cupcake Bloggers cake. And the Recipe. NieNie's Mud Cake Magnifique

with Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse & Ganache Bittercream

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8 oz. unsweetened chocolate (8 squares)
¾ c. olive oil
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 c. powdered sugar
½ tsp. salt
½ c. cocoa powder
1 c. flour
1 c. buttermilk
1 tsp. baking powder*
½ tsp. baking soda
In a microwave, melt squares of chocolate with olive oil. Once melted, beat until smooth then add sugars and egg. Beat again until well creamed. Add remaining ingredients. Beat just until all ingredients are incorporated. (If you are baking BELOW 5000 feet altitude, double baking powder and add an additional 1/2 cup of flour). Pour batter into two 9-inch cake pans that have been generously greased & dusted with cocoa powder. Bake in an oven preheated to 375 degrees for 26-28 minutes, or just until center of cake springs back to the touch. Remove from oven. Allow to cool before inverting on a cooling rack and removing from pan. Before layering cake, use a knife to gently cut away any uneven parts at the top or sides of the cake. You'll want a nice, even surface to begin with in order to have your finished product look amazing.
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Mascarpone Mousse
1 c. whipping cream
¼ c. sugar
1 c. 60% Bittersweet cacao chips
8 oz. mascarpone

In a large bowl, whip whipping cream until fluffly. Add sugar & mascarpone and whip until smooth. In a small bowl, melt chocolate chips in microwave, stirring every thirty seconds until smooth. Chocolate should not be warm to the touch, if it is, allow it to cool just slightly before spooning the melted chocolate into the whipping cream mixture & beating until light and fluffy. Spoon carefully atop one layer of cake. Spread evenly, then top with the second layer of cake. Refrigerate until ready to frost.

Bittercream Frosting
1 pint heavy cream
11.5 oz. 60% Bittersweet cacao chips
½ c. butter
4-5 c. powdered sugar

In a medium saucepan, melt chocolate chips and heavy cream until a thick, smooth ganache forms, to keep the mixture from burning, stir constantly. Put in fridge until chilled. Remove from fridgidaire and beat in butter & powdered sugar until frosting is a spreadable consistency. Frost. Chill cake. To serve, remove from fridge 10-15 minutes before serving.

Second Favorite Recipe

Ghirardelli Chocolate Winning recipe

Melt 2 sticks of butter
add 2 bars of 100% Ghirardelli chocolate bars till melted
Set aside to cool a bit.

Cream together:
5 eggs
3 Cups Sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Then add Chocolate Mixture
Finally add:
1 1/2 cups Flour
1 tsp salt

Consistency will be thick.
Put in angel food cake pan or cupcakes.
Add half of the batter then spread in the middle:
Toasted Pecans and Ghirardelli caramel or raspberry squares.
Last Put the remainder cake mix in pan or in cupcakes and bake at 350.
Top with powder sugar, favorite frosting or raspberry sauce.

Here are pictures of a couple of different ways I have topped them.

Raspberry sauce and
Vanilla cream filling

Vanilla Cream Filling
3 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 cup milk (low fat is fine)
1/2 cup butter (or trans fat-free shortening)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 scraped vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk together the flour and milk and cook in a small saucepan over medium heat until thick. This will only take a few minutes. Sir continuously to prevent the mixture from clumping and do not bring all the way to a boil. When thickened (consistency will be that of a thin pudding or custard), strain with a mesh strainer into a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let cool completely to room temperature.
When the milk mixture is cool, cream the butter (or shortening) and sugar together in a medium bowl until light. Add in the milk/flour mixture and the scraped vanilla bean seeds (or vanilla extract) and beat at high speed with an electric mixer for 7 minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape into a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip, or a large zip lock bag with the corner cut off, and set aside until ready to fill your cupcakes.

Cream Cheese and Chocolate leavesCream Cheese chocolate shavings and Belgian Truffles

I will post more of my favorites later. Enjoy!

One Year

OK, So I blog as well as I keep a journal. So I haven't been able to blog because something was up with my computer and it wouldn't let me sign in. I finally took my computer into the Apple Store and the nice guy John fixed it in like 30 sec. I guess I should have done that a year ago. ;0 Well as we all know May 29th at 11:20am I gave birth to our beautiful little girl Ava Marie. She was 6lbs 8oz and was 18 1/2 inches long.Ava and Dr. Neil Spencer. He got there just in time.
A very tired but happy momma.
Grandma Gardner flew out from Az. to help out with the kids and house. I don't know if she's smiling so big because Ava was named after her, or because she knows something I don't.
Grandma Idon couldn't wait to get to the hospital to meet her new little angel.
The proudest daddy and brothers there ever was. Actually that day at the hospital, Porter was the only one that would hold her. Kaden said she was too small. And I believe Ethan's exact words were "Sorry mom she's just creepy". But now they can't get enough of her. They are all great babysitters. She is going to be well watched over.
This daddy sure adores his little princess.
Ava with her Construction hat and ballet tutu on. A little bit of dad and a little bit of mom. Ava is now one month old and weighs 8lbs and is 19 1/2 inches long. The name Ava derives from several origins, but it has a Czech origin that her daddy loves and her name means "life". She sure has brought special life to our little family.

It's been awhile

So I haven't posted in awhile, just the same ol' same ol' around here. 

Ethan just celebrated his eleventh birthday.  We had a knights of the round table mystery party, it was fun.

Porter turned four a week after Ethan's Birthday! Our cheesy little one!

Here he is showing off his muscles! Kaden is the fine photographer!

Lot's of fun treats that Karl made for Easter!

I dyed these eggs using old silk ties, I't hard to see, but they turned out so cool!

Easter Bunny found us!

Porter was excited that the Easter Bunny brought him a picture of Jesus.  It was cute!

Ethan was just plain excited!

Kaden and Porter painting their castle for the bugs outside.  Kaden is big into recycling EVERYTHING! so this is an old box we had that is now a castle!

We had a fun Birthday week!!!

Do you see the size of those donuts? They are from Bowman's bakery and oh soo yummy.  And the cupcakes are a like a divinity topping dipped in chocolate and a 7 min. frosting with fresh coconut.  Yeah sooo good. 

Creating

Ethan and Kaden Creating a clean kitchen.  Their favorite thing to do together - dishes! :)
Karl gave Porter some old blue-prints to color on, Porter took his ruler and pencil and laughed, ""Mom, I'm making my evil plan."  He makes us laugh.
Porter and Kaden, making play-dough shapes.
Here is the cake Kaden made.  I told him to put the "m" on the 'm & m' face down.  So I was checking on his progress and I noticed a lot of wet M & M's, he informed me he had to lick the frosting off and turn the candy around, because he had put it on wrong.  He got to eat that part of the cake! :)
Kaden creating his own snow angel. 
This is our sad looking snowman, that we made on Valentines day!  Poor thing is about to be eaten by a crocodile. 

Karl Creating a Snow Angel.  Don't let it fool you this is a delicate operation to make it turn out just right.

Karl and Ethan building a Star Wars battleship together.  Ethan won an art contest at Karl's work and they gave him a gift certificate to toys-R-Us for $50, this is what he got.

So some of my friends came over and we made cupcake for new beginnings.  One of the ladies used to teach cake decorating classes.  She taught us all kind of fun tricks.  These were a lot of work, but a ton of fun and ohh so yummy.

We've had a lot of fun creating the last few weeks.