Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Dessert weeks in class continue and Tuesday I made a Pineapple Upside Down Cake!! Of course this was the day that I was going to take my time getting to class because it was so beautiful out and It was just a happy feeling morning. And as I walk into the classroom 75% of the class is baking and I'm just derping around. So smooth. 

So I jumped right in, got my chef coat on, and looked at the sign up sheet for recipes. I'm so happy (and lucky) that no one picked the pineapple. Of course mine was one of two recipes that didn't require me to make a frosting (but now I still don't know how to make frosting so that the consistency comes out right..oops..).

Anyhow, I was super psyched about the cake. I still don't know why no one picked it because it turned out great and was super easy to make! melted 4 tablespoons of butter in the baking pan but putting it in the 350degree oven for a few minutes. Once the butter melted, I took the pan out of the oven, and took a can of those pineapple rings and put the pineapple on the bottom of the8x8  pan (about 5 rings fit). Then I put maraschino cherries in the center of each of the pineapple rings and put little canned mandarin oranges in the spaces between the rings to fill in the square. I packed 2/3 of a cup of (light) brown sugar on top of everything to make an even layer, so far so good!  

Next goes the single layer of yellow cake batter. I took 7/8 of a cup of sifted flour and then sifted in a teaspoon of baking powder and 1/4tsp of salt. Now the recipe said to resift but I was a rebel and didn't.. my cake might have lifted a little more if I had though... Anyways, next in the mixer I threw in 3 tablespoons of shortening and then slowly added in 1/2 cup of sugar so that it was incorporated well and started to cream together. I added one egg to the mixer and beat it for a minute or so, to make it light and fluffy. After that I added about a third of a cup of the flour mixture and I lightly folded it into the egg mixture with a wooden spoon. I was trying to make sure not to over mix it which I tend to do, which makes my cakes dense.. whoop! After the flour mixture I added in about half of my milk (half of a 1/3 of a cup). I folded it in to the mixture in about 8 strokes, then added another 1/3 of a cup of flour. I lightly folded it in again until ti was incorporated, added the rest of the milk, then threw in the last bit of the flour. The key that I was remembering was that my professor told us that lumps are okay. The cake is gonna bake out and smooth over so as long as it's relatively mixed it's going to be alright. Over mixing is a cake killer so don't do it! 

I baked it at 350 for about 40 minutes then took it out. I was a little afraid so I let it cook for 10 or so minutes and then had my teacher flip it over. It was a success! Maybe a little sweet but everyone that tried it said it tasted great so mission accomplished! 

ROC - Bar Pizza

I've been craving pizza like crazy lately but healthy Emily keeps fighting the urge to. Until this week! Monday class was a rough night so a few of my friends and I decided to go to the bar nearby and get a drink and some food. Because two and a half weeks left of undergrad means let's just do work and not eat all day. Classic college.

Well, we all got drinks and when it came time to order food, I recalled that one of my friends mentioned that the buffalo chicken pizza at this bar is really good. Of course this meant that I had to order it because it's a Monday night and we're at a bar drinking because class was just awful and being healthy doesn't matter so pizza. 

This pizza ended up being really good. It was a blue cheese topped pizza with crispy chicken pieces on top and a hint of buffalo sauce that was just the right amount. Solid. It totally hit my craving perfectly and I was super happy by the end of the night. Monday just redeemed itself. 

ROC - Tap and Mallet

For one of my roomie's 22nd birthdays we went to a place here in Rochester called Tap and Mallet. It's a super cute, kinda rustic feeling place. It's the second time I've been there and the first was great. They have amazing fish fry there. 

This time around I ordered the Shrimp Po Boy with a side of fries. I'm addicted to the french fries here. They're perfectly seasoned and a good cut. Yum!  

The po boy was not what I was expecting. It was pretty sizable but the bread was nothing special. Just your average french roll. The popcorn shrimp was also not expected but it was pretty good. 

Overall, the sandwich was alright. There was a sort of chili aioli that was great but I wouldn't order the sandwich again. The fries however, I would go back for. And the fish fry.. I would just order the fish fry again...   

Vermonster Time of the Year

That's right! It was that time of the year again! Annual new e-board/old e-board Vermonster night. Turns out most of new e-board is made up of old e-board minus me and PR because the two of us are leaving. So we obtained 1 new person for now and secretary will be secretary/treasurer for next year. This means theres 6 of us in both e-boards. But old PR got sick the night of the Vermonster so there was 5 of us to eat this thing. Challenge kind of accepted skeptically. 

5 people, 20 scoops of Ice Cream, 4 toppings, chocolate chip cookies, a brownie, hot fudge, and whipped cream like crazy. 

Let's just say.. we tried. And even though there was only 5 of us I think we did pretty well!  

We managed to avoid another chunky monkey fiasco and nixed it this year. We did have some debate over my strawberry cheesecake as well as the coffee and the mint chocolate chip but in the end it was all pretty good. I think if PR wasn't sick we actually might've been able to finish it this time around! 

This is as far as we got after about 45 minutes which I think is pretty good. Also, no pizza this year... but I think it was alright without it.

Cinnamon Twists!

The sweets just keep on coming! Turns out "bread" day also includes cinnamon rolls and donuts and things of the like. So that's what I ended up making, Cinnamon Twists! 

First off I had to make a sweet dough. To start off I had to 'scald 1/2 cup of milk' which I took as simmering on a pot. Then I stirred in 1/2 cup of sugar, 1.5tsp salt, and 1/4 cup of shortening and cooled the mixture. In another bowl with 1/2 cup of warm water I stirred in 2 packs of active dry yeast, until it dissolved. I added two beaten eggs, and 3 cups of sifted flour. I beat this all together until it was smooth then I slowly stirred in another cup of flour. (The recipe calls for 2 cups but I felt the dough was dry enough with just one cup). I kneaded the dough on a floured counter until it was smooth, put it in a greased bowl, and rushed it on top with soft shortening. I covered it with plastic wrap, then but it in the proofing box that we had in class that was set to around 100 degrees. After about an hour took it out.

I split this dough recipe in half with another one of my friends in the class. So with my half i rolled it out flat on my floured counter to make about a 12x12 square of dough. I brushed it with 1/4 cup of melted margarine. I made a cinnamon sugar mixture with 1 cup of sugar and 1 tbsp of cinnamon. I sprinkled about 3 tbsp of this cinnamon sugar on the center third of the of the dough then folded 1/3 of the dough over the center. I sprinkled 3 more tbsp of cinnamon sugar on top. Then i folded the last third over the 2 layers. I cut the dough into about 1in strips and took hold of each end of the strip and twisted tightly in opposite directions. I placed them on a cookie sheet with parchment paper on top and sprinkled the rest of the cinnamon sugar on top and covered the whole tray with plastic. I put it back in the warm proofing box for another 20 or 30mins. Then they bake in an 350 degree oven for 25mins. 

I didn't eat them right away which was my mistake because when I got to one later that night it was a little cold and dense. Not bad though. I'm sure, right out of the oven it would've been great!