The Chocolateberry Cake & Assorted Cupcakes

Dilemmas call for creativity!  I need to make a cake that is half chocolate and half strawberry and I need German Chocolate cupcakes and Strawberry cupcakes made from the remaining batter not used in the layers. 

After doing constructs in numerous ways in my head I have settled on a couple of things.  First I am going to use  boxed cake mixes for this project because it is way too much trouble otherwise plus my German chocolate cake recipe is ENORMOUS and makes 3 big layers!  Box cakes are much more predictable and precise size wise!

Ingredients:

1 German Chocolate Cake mix
1 Strawberry Cake mix   
1 can of Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting
1 can of Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting
1 can of Strawberry Frosting
1 can of Coconut Pecan Frosting

First follow package directions baking one 9" layer of each flavor and a dozen cupcakes.  After removing the layers from the cans and cooling completely.  Slice each layer in half and frost to make a half chocolate and a half strawberry cake.  Next join them with additional frosting (one chocolate frosted and one strawberry frosted)  into one two layer cake!  One side pink and the other side brown!  I used the Vanilla Butter Cream to affix the 2 halves at the center.

NOTE;  To assure success I picked a plate with a slight concave center and dabbed about 2 tablespoons of the appropriately flavored frosting to adhere each bottom layer.  Placing the ROUNDED side of the cake down. After frosting the top of the bottom layer I placed the FLAT side of the second later atop and finished frosting. 

Here is the partially frosted cake, half chocolate, and half strawberry with the vanilla frosting cementing it at the center.

Next I used the Vanilla frosting on the sliced half of the layers and repeated the process above with the other half layers butting the second half of a cake against the Vanilla to affix into a round layer cake.

Frost half the German Chocolate cupcakes with Coconut Pecan frosting and half with plain chocolate.  Then finish the Strawberry cupcakes with the Strawberry frosting.  There you have it!  Something for everyone!  The Chocolateberry cake.

I am making this almost a week before I will be serving and so I like to place the frosted cake in the freezer and after it has completely frozen wrap it well with plastic wrap.   This will keep it perfectly until I thaw it the day it is needed.  Yield 1, 9" layer cake and 24 cupcakes.

Turkey for Sunday Dinner

We didn't fix a turkey over the holidays and a few weeks ago I bought a 20 pound fresh turkey for 59 cents a pound! Then I stuffed it in the freezer for another day.  The last half of the week I have been thinking of a Sunday dinner composed of things I am not tired of and had not had for a while. 

First I decided on Corny corn bread and then on Asian slaw.  Next cane the whole 20 pound turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy.  Sounds good to me.  Friday I mixed up a batch of my own Brownie mix and baked a double batch so dessert is done.    thehiddenpantry.blogspot.com/2012/10/sweet-italian-sausage-potatoes-kale.html  is the link for the Corney Corn Bread recipe.     thehiddenpantry.blogspot.com/2010/09/grilled-chicken-chinese-slaw-orzo-with.html   is the link for the Asian Slaw recipe.     thehiddenpantry.blogspot.com/2012/10/homemade-brownie-mix-and-walnut-brownies.html   are the recipes for both the mix and the Brownies.

Ingredients for Roast Turkey with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy:

1 whole turkey fresh or completely thawed, 20 pounds
Salt
Pepper
olive oil or butter

The first thing to think about when preparing a frozen turkey is the thawing.  Either place it in the refrigerator for 3-4 days or fill a large sink with cold water and submerge the wrapped turkey for about 12-16 hours.  Take the turkey from the package and remove the neck and giblets.  Dry the turkey and butter or oil him well then season generously both inside and out.

I place the neck in the bottom of the roasting pan to serve as a rack and portion the bird atop.  Then I tent the bird with foil or place the lid on the roaster.  I am not as much interested in a browned bird as I am a moist bird.  PLUS NOBODY I HAVE EVER KNOWN WALKS THE FINISHED BIRD ON A PLATTER TO THE TABLE TO CARVE IT?

What's that all about?  The meal would be cold at our house by the time you carved that much turkey to feed that many people!

So, I roast him ahead, let his sit and cool, carve him and place the slices attractively in a large covered glass low sided casserole to warm up at dinner and serve.  Way, way, way less hassle in my life!

Turkey Gravy:

Not much is better than rich delicious turkey gravy.  Take about a cup of the drippings and stir in about 2 tablespoons of flour over medium heat stirring to get the raw flour taste cooked out and add 1 C. of tap water and stir like heck while it comes to a boil and thickens.  Taste for salt and pepper.

Mashed potatoes:

1 potato per person plus add 1 for the pot is my rule of thumb
1 T. soft butter per potato
2-3 T. milk per potato
Salt
Black pepper


Peel and quarter the potatoes into a kettle with water to cover by 1".  Add a heaping tablespoon  of salt to the water and potatoes before cooking.  Cover the pan with it's lid and bring to a boil.  Next  reduce the heat and cook until fork tender.    Drain well.  Add the potatoes back to the pan with the butter and milk and beat with an electric mixer or mash with a hand masher until you reach the desired consistency.  Add additional milk, butter, and seasoning to taste.  (People have different ideas about how they like their mashed potatoes, probably based on what they grew up on.  So I leave quite a bit of latitude in these instructions.) 

I served 6 adults dinner tonight and would have had enough for 8-10. 

Pizza Dough Bread Sticks

This yielded about a dozen 10-12" bread sticks per half batch of dough.

Hot and Crisp from the Oven.

It flashed in my mind that the other half of the unbaked pizza dough in my refrigerator might make good bread sticks.    thehiddenpantry.blogspot.com/2014/01/easy-and-fast-pizza-dough-to-make-at.html     I had mixed the dough up 4 days ago and used one half of it for a large (half sheet pan sized) pizza.  The remaining dough was intended to be made up and frozen when the bread stick light came on!

To make these delicious (Best I have ever made.) light, and crisp bread sticks mix up the pizza dough as directed.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  The dough is incredibly easy to handle after refrigeration.   Just flour the rolling pin and board you are rolling onto well.  Pat and roll until about 14" thick then slice about 1/4" wide strips.   I used a pastry cutter and the fluted edge.

As you can see I used a perforated bread stick pan that was lightly floured and they did not stick a bit.  A pizza stone or parchment paper would be my next choices.

I twisted the bread sticks and lay them in rows.  Bake 10-15 minutes until golden brown.  Check the bottoms too just to be sure they are not browning too quickly.  Cool on a rack.

Helpful Hint:  For an added treat these are scrumptious dipped into home made ranch dressing.  I like my ranch dressing a little on the tart side and I add the juice of half a lemon to every batch I make up.  Yum, what a game day treat!