Author: arielleclementine

Super Mario Cake!

arielleclementine11 Comments

I made a silly cake! My dear friend Erin mentioned that she was looking for a Super Mario Bros cake for her son Kaleb’s 9th birthday, and I jumped at the chance.  (I was the happy recipient of some lovely cake-decorating tools this Christmas, and had been looking for an opportunity to try them out).

I’m somewhat bashful to admit that this cake took nine hours from start to finish.  Egads.  I had fun though! I had never made a two-tiered cake like this before, and was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t quite as tricky as I had feared.  This how-to guide helped in the assembly process.

For the cake, I made a double-batch of Martha’s Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes and a single batch of her Swiss Meringue Buttercream, both from the charming Cupcakes book.

The bottom tier is 10″ and the top is 6″, with the requisite support of wooden dowels holding up the top tier. I made all the decorations with gum paste, which is just a powder you mix with water and tint by kneading in food coloring gels.

Pictured below:  I also tried my hand at making cake pops for the first time.  I used the instructions from Bakerella to make one chubby little Mario star for the top of the cake, and several coins, all on lollipop sticks, to be stuck into the cake when it reached the birthday boy.

Hooray for birthday cakes 🙂

Chestnut Bisque with Candied Pancetta

arielleclementine7 Comments

A couple weeks ago, Andy and I went to Boston for our annual trip to participate in the MIT Mystery Hunt.  We had a blast!  One of the highlights of the trip came, for me, on Sunday night after the hunt had ended.  We joined a group of our charming NPL friends for dinner at the incredible Gargoyles on the Square in Somerville, MA.  Now, we had heard that this place had the best martinis in the Boston-area, and so I assumed it was a bar (I mean, it’s called ‘Gargoyles’, after all).  I was surprised and utterly delighted when we were ushered into a private dining room and I was handed a menu that listed some of the most fun and original sounding dishes I’ve seen.

This recipe is my stab at recreating the absolutely extraordinary chestnut bisque I had at Gargoyles.  The bisque was served in a very large bowl with a wide rim.  An amaretto yogurt was smeared thickly on one third of the rim of the bowl, and three little towers of a truffled granola were piled atop the yogurt.  On top of each tower of granola was a quartered slice of candied pancetta.   To top it off, the whole bowl was set on top of a dainty branch of charred pine, so that you smelled the pine smoke while you were eating the bisque. It was so. much. fun. 

For the Bisque

  • 1 lb fresh chestnuts (roasting these will make your house smell incredible!)
  • 2 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed
  • olive oil, to drizzle
  • kosher salt, to sprinkle
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup yellow onion, diced small
  • 1/2 cup celery, diced small
  • 3 cups chicken broth
  • 1/3 cup heavy cream
  • kosher salt and pepper, to taste

For the Garnish

  • 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
  • 1 tablespoon amaretto
  • 4 slices pancetta, cut in quarters
  • 1 tablespoon real maple syrup
  • 1/2 cup granola

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.  
2. Roast the chestnuts.  People are always saying to slash an “X” through the chestnuts, but don’t do this! Instead, go with the Martha method of slicing almost all the way around the chestnut like you’re drawing the equator.  This will make peeling much easier! (You’ll note from the picture below that I learned this the hard way). Place them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.  Add the two shiitake caps to the same baking sheet, drizzle the shiitakes with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with kosher salt. Put the baking sheet in the oven and roast for 20 minutes.
3. When the chestnuts are cool enough to handle, but still warm, remove the husks. Dice the chestnuts and shiitakes and set aside. (Leave the oven on for your candied pancetta!)
4. Melt the butter in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onion and celery and saute until  softened and lightly golden, about 10 minutes. Stir in the roasted chestnuts and shiitakes, then broth. Increase heat to high; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
5. While the soup is cooking, prepare the garnish. 
6. For the Candied Pancetta, remove the parchment from the baking sheet you used to roast the chestnuts, line the baking sheet with foil, and set a wire rack on top.  Place the pancetta on the wire rack on the baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, or until the pancetta begins to brown. Remove the pan from the oven and brush the slices with maple syrup and bake for another 5 minutes, or until the pancetta is golden brown. Set aside.
7. For the Amaretto Yogurt, in a small dish, stir together the greek yogurt and amaretto and set aside.
8. Working in batches, transfer soup to blender and puree until smooth. Transfer back to the pot.
9. Stir cream into soup and bring to a simmer. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
10. To assemble, spread the yogurt on the rim of your bowls (see picture above), and set three piles of granola on the yogurt.  Balance a piece of candied pancetta on top, and enjoy!

Oh, and if you have access to a pine tree, cut off a few tiny branches and set them on fire.  Then snuff out the flame and set the smoking branch on a plate under your bowl of soup.  It’s really fun!

The Snake Bite

arielleclementine9 Comments

I made up this recipe for the chocolate cake contest at Food52, which they’re doing in honor of Valentine’s Day.   Here’s the intro I wrote for my contest entry (see if you can catch my attempt at using Danielle Steel-esque language to make a Snake Bite cake seem more Valentine’s Day-y):

This cake was inspired by the oh-so-tasty concoction of lager and cider known as a ‘snake bite.’ For the cake, I’ve replaced the lager with a stout, and have opted for fermented pear cider in place of the more traditional apple. The ever-so-slightly effervescent pear cider cream cheese frosting swoons contentedly upon a truly dark, rich, and delicious chocolate stout cake. 

Anyway, this cake is fun! And absolutely incredibly easy to throw together.  Mix dry stuff in one bowl, wet stuff in another, then mix together and bake.  And just like that, you’ll have a cake! That you baked from scratch! Also, it’s very boozy, which is nice 🙂

Update: My cake wasn’t selected as one of the two finalists, but it was highlighted as an Editor’s Pick. Yahoo!

The Snake Bite

For the Cake:

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup good cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 large egg, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted and cooled
  • 3/4 cups Guinness Extra Stout, at room temperature

For the Frosting:

  • 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
  • 1/4 cup fermented pear cider (I like Ace’s)
  • 1 dried pear slice, for garnish
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a nine-inch round cake pan.
  2. Mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sour cream. Then whisk in melted butter and Guinness. Add flour mixture to egg mixture and combine with a rubber spatula. Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
  4. While the cake is baking, prepare the frosting. Put the softened butter and cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until creamy and well combined, about 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and add the powdered sugar and mix until combined. Slowly pour in the pear cider and mix until the frosting comes together. Let the frosting set up a bit in the refrigerator until the cake is ready to frost.
  5. When the cake is cool, transfer it to a platter. Spread the icing on top of the cake, taking care to push it all the way to the edges. Garnish with a slice of dried pear and enjoy with a glass of pear cider!