Lovin' From the Oven

A cake… sort of.

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My boyfriend’s sister’s baby shower is this weekend and I was so overwhelmed with what to get her. There are just so many adorable baby clothes/shoes/toys that I could buy! I also had to keep in mind that I was going to be going to two different baby showers for her, so I needed two gifts. Being the poor student that I am, I went all out on one gift and homemade the other (this is the homemade one).

I wanted to bake her a cake, but I found out that there was already going to be one.. so what do I do? Make a diaper cake! I came up with a 5 layer tiered cake, made out of about 90 pampers diapers (completely usable!). Instead of using dowels to hold the cake together, I used baby bottles, instead. Clever, right? I made my own “cake board” by cutting a piece of cardboard and wrapping it with tissue paper. Decorate the cake and voila! It’s all ready to “eat.” :]

The first two pictures are of it all wrapped up, the last one is the cake by itself.

Crumb Cake

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I should totally be studying for a midterm right now, but all I want to do is bake… hence the reason I’m updating during 5th week. Crumb cake is such a simple cake to make, and I’m sure everyone has the ingredients to make this in their cupboard at home. I have a weakness for any crumb topping, and this one surely didn’t disappoint me. The cake was nice and moist, while the crumb topping was plentiful.. just the way crumb cake should be. This reminded me of Starbucks’ coffee cake, just lacking a bit of flavor. Next time, I’ll kick up the amount of vanilla in the recipe to make up for it.

Side note: I actually used my silicone pan to bake this (*GASP!* I know, right?) because I halved the recipe and needed a smaller pan. The only pan that I had small enough was a silicone one (I usually HATE baking with silicone pans), but it surprisingly worked out okay in the end! Maybe I don’t hate silicone bakeware as much as I thought I did…

Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Good ol’ plain chocolate chip cookies. You know how everyone has their own “perfect” chocolate chip recipe? I think I may have finally found mine. Took me long enough, too… I’ve probably baked at least 20 different recipes of this classic cookie. My boyfriend said they tasted like cookie dough (probably because I always OD a bit on the vanilla). I made these cookies HUGE.. about 1/4 cup cookie dough per cookie. Crazy, right? I’m still intrigued by the NY Times Cookie Recipe, though. Maybe I’ll give those a shot next.

I just had to share the recipe because I know how hard it is to find the recipe for “the perfect cookie”, and hopefully I’ll be able to put an end to someone else’s ongoing search!

Molly’s Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted)
Yield: about 15 large cookies

1 stick (113g) butter, room temperature
1 cup (220g) brown sugar
1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1-1/4 cups (156g) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
12oz (340g) bittersweet chocolate (at least 62%), chopped
Sea salt, optional

Preheat oven to 300°F (150°C).

Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well. Mix in vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to creamed mixture and stir just until combined. Stir in most of the chocolate, reserving a handful of small chunks. Refrigerate dough for 1 hour, or freeze for 30 minutes.

Drop 1/4-cup portions of dough onto baking sheets. Top with additional chocolate chunks. Bake 12-15 minutes, until puffed and light golden. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt if desired. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

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