VDay Din: Crab Cakes + Dill Scalloped Potatoes + Asparagus a la Dre <3

Posted by Erin L. in Quickie, Weekend Update and tagged with asparagus, au gratin, crab, crab cake, dinner, potato, potatoes, romantic, scalloped potatoes, Valentine, Valentines, Valentines Day April 15, 2011

Last Valentine’s Day, Dre outdid himself with delicious fried chicken cordon bleu and asparagus-champagne risotto. This year was even better, as Dre spent the afternoon crafting another impressive dinner. I may let him take the reigns in the kitchen more often!

Crab Cakes + Dill Scalloped Potatoes + Asparagus

VDay Bfast: Pecan Bananas Foster French Toast a la Dre <3

Posted by Erin L. in Quickie, Weekend Update and tagged with breakfast, brunch, croissant, french toast, in bed, maple, maple syrup, pecan, pecans, Valentine, Valentines, Valentines Day April 15, 2011

Each Valentine’s Day, Dre takes over the kitchen and cooks up his own food love for me. This year was no different as I waited anxiously for breakfast in bed. Mmmm…

Pecan Bananas Foster French Toast in bed

VDay Sweet: Lemon Buttermilk Cake – Cream Cheese Icing & Lemon Curd Filling

Posted by Erin L. in Weekend Update and tagged with baking, baking powder, blog, butter, buttermilk, cake, cream cheese, cream cheese frosting, cream cheese icing, curd, eggs, filling, flour, frosting, grater, icing, layer cake, lemon, lemon cake, lemon curd, lemon zest, lemons, recipe, salt, sugar, Valentines, Valentines Day, vanilla, VDay, zest February 28, 2010

I ❤ U Lemon Buttermilk Cake

I have a hard time following recipes. I prefer to peruse a few different versions and just go for it. That, obviously, is why I rarely bake. Since Dre made me a delicious breakfast in bed & an impressive dinner, I decided I’d whip up whatever flavor of cake the he wanted. I looked up a recipe for Lemon Cake & came across Martha Stewart’s Fluffy Lemon Buttermilk Cake. I carefully measured each ingredient & set up a mise en place to take a pic of them all…

Lemon Cake Ingredients

… and then I realized I had already ignored the first two instructions. I had mixed ALL the dry ingredient together, including the sugar. Thus, there would be no creaming of the butter & sugar and then no folding in the flour, baking powder, & salt. I couldn’t give up so I figured I’d see how things would turn out if I just went for it. I creamed just the butter in my stand mixer and added in the eggs, vanilla, & lemon zest. I then folded in the dry mix & buttermilk for a smooth, lemony batter. After about 25 min in the oven, I had successfully baked one 9″ layer of my lemon cake (recipe or not!).

Lemon Cake Layer

While the second layer was baking, I made my first attempt at lemon curd from the Joy of Baking’s recipe. It was really easy and the perfect filling for my cake!

Lemon Curd Filling

While the lemon curd set in the fridge, I worked on a simple Cream Cheese Frosting. I whipped together (1) pkg of cream cheese & (1) stick of butter, both room temp. Once smooth, I added in powdered sugar, scraping the bowl & whipping to a smooth finish in my Cuisinart stand mixer.

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

So in the end, persevering after a little mistake turned into a delicious lemon cake. It was moist with a dense crumb cake consistency. The tart lemon curd filling & sweet & creamy frosting blended for a perfect end to our Valentine’s Day!

I ❤ U