Campfire Cake

 To celebrate local Running club BURN's 8th anniversary, I made this cake with a striking camp fire on top. I used fondant to make BURN logo on top layer, the list of top 6 world marathon series on second layer, and runners around the bottom layer. I used Pretzel rod for the campfire logs, and the melted hard candy for the flame.

To make the flame

1. Preheat oven to 350F

2. Break yellow and red hard candy into pieces. I used the Butterscotch disc for yellow, and Jolly Rancher for red. Place the pieces on parchment paper lined bake tray, shape like hot flame (yellow inside, red outside).

3. Bake for 10 minutes or until the candy fully melt. Use a toothpick or chopstick to shape the melted candy into random flame shape. You can break out the flame pieces once the candy is cool to room temperature. 

Maison du Cake

 My daughter requested a Cookie Run Kingdom cake. So I made a cake based on the Maison du Cake from the game element. It was Lemon Raspberry cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese frosting, decorated with fondant.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Here is how to create pink strawberry frosting without artificial flavor or food coloring. The key is the freeze-dried strawberry.

Ingredients

Freeze-dried strawberries - 1 cup (about 25g)
Cream cheese - 8-ounce block, softened to room temperature
Unsalted butter - 1/2 cup, softened to room temperature
Confectioners’ sugar - 3 cups
Milk - 1–2 TBSP
Pure vanilla extract - 1 tsp
salt, to taste
Yields about 3 cups of frosting.

Steps

1 Using a blender or food processor, process the freeze-dried strawberries into a powdery crumb. You should have around 1/2 cup crumbs. Set aside. 

2. In a large bowl using a hand-held or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese for 1 minute on high speed until completely smooth and creamy. Beat in the butter until combined.

3. Add the confectioners’ sugar, strawberry powder, 1 Tablespoon milk, and vanilla and beat on medium-high speed until combined and creamy. Add 1 more Tablespoon of milk to slightly thin out, if desired. Taste, then add a pinch of salt if needed. 

Dungeness Crab Cake

Maryland-Style Crab Cakes uses jumbo lump crab meat, breadcrumbs, seasonings, mayonnaise and mustard, mixed and then seared in a skillet, baked in the oven, or cooked in an air fryer. I tried this recipe with 6 crabs, and yielded about 18 crab cakes. 

Ingredients

Jumbo lump crabmeat - 1 lb

Panko bread crumbs (or grounded saltine crackers) - 3/4 cup

Vegan Mayonnaise - 1/3 cup

Egg - 1 large (used egg replacer)
Dijon mustard - 2 TBSP
Worcestershire sauce - 2 tsp
Hot sauce - 1/2 tsp
Freshly Chopped Parsley - 2 TBSP (I used green onion)
Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper
Canola oil, for frying
Lemon wedges, for serving
Tartar sauce, for serving

Steps

1. Steam the crabs on high heat until the shell turn bright orange. Immerse in cold water to cool before shelling the crabmeat. Jumbo lumps works the best. 

2. In a small bowl, whisk together mayo, egg/egg replacer, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire, and hot sauce, and season with salt and pepper.

3. In a medium bowl, stir together crabmeat, panko, and parsley/green onion. Fold in mayo mixture, then form into 8 patties. Put them in refrigerator for 1 hour before cooking.

4. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, coat pan with oil and heat until shimmering. Add crab cakes and cook, in batches, until golden and crispy, 3 to 5 minutes per side.

5. Serve with lemon and tartar sauce.

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

Like the double Chocolate crinkle cookies, this is another holiday cookie  from Sally's holiday cookie collection. 

Ingredients

All-purpose flour - 2 and 1/2 cups
Cornstarch - 1 tsp
Baking soda - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Unsalted butter - 3/4 cup, softened to room temperature
Granulated sugar - 1 cup + 2 TBSP
Egg - 1 large, at room temperature (used egg replacer)
Fresh lemon juice - 1/4 cup (60ml)
Lemon zest - 2 tsp
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, for rolling

Yield: about 30 cookies

Steps

1. Whisk the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
2. In a stand mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until creamed, about 1 minute. Add the egg, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Mixture will appear curdled and that’s ok. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl. Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Dough is thick, creamy, and sticky.

3. Cover dough tightly and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours and up to 3 days. Chilling is mandatory for this sticky cookie dough.

4. Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator. If the cookie dough chilled longer than 3 hours, let it sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes. This makes the chilled cookie dough easier to scoop and roll.
5. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
6. Scoop and roll balls of dough, about 1 Tablespoon of dough each, into balls. (Each dough ball should weigh about 20g.) Roll each ball in a bowl of granulated sugar, and then very generously in the confectioners’ sugar. Place 3 inches apart on the baking sheets.

7. Bake the cookies for 12–13 minutes or until the edges appear set and the centers still look soft. Tip: If they aren’t really spreading by minute 9, remove them from the oven and lightly bang the baking sheet on the counter 2–3x. This helps initiate that spread. Return to the oven to continue baking.

8. Cool cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. The cookies will slightly deflate as they cool. Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: The dough can chill for up to 3 days, so this is a great make-ahead recipe. Baked cookies freeze well up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls (that are not coated in confectioners’ sugar) freeze well up to 3 months. When it’s time to bake the cookies, remove them from the freezer and thaw on the counter for at least 30 minutes. Roll into confectioners’ sugar as instructed and bake.

Pumpkin Dinner Roll

I followed this recipe to make it for Thanksgiving. It was soft and fluffy, well received.  

Ingredients

Cake flour - 1/2 cup
Bread flour - 2 and 1/2 cups 
Salt - 1 and 1/2 tsp
Pumpkin puree - 1/2 cup
Heavy cream - 2/3 cup, at room temperature
Milk - 1/3 cup , at room temperature
Active dry yeast - 1 TBSP
Egg - 1, substitute with 1/4 cup apple sauce
Sugar - 1/3 cup 
Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 teaspoon water) (skipped for egg-free)
Pumpkin seeds - optional garnish
For optional glazing, the recipe uses simple syrup (2 teaspoons of sugar dissolved in 2 teaspoons hot water), I used some butter

Steps

1. In a mixing bowl, mix the cake flour, bread flour and salt. Set aside

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, add pumpkin puree, heavy cream, milk, egg (or substitute), sugar, yeast. Mix well, and then add the flour mixture. Turn the mixer on to the lowest setting, and let it go for 15 minutes until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. 

3. Cover the bowl with a damp towel, and place in a warm spot for 1 hour. The dough will grow to 1.5x its original size.

4. In the meantime, grease a 9x13” pan on all sides.
5. After first proofing, punch the dough to rid of air bubbles and divide the dough into equal pieces on a lightly floured surface, with the help of your kitchen scale. I divided into 18 of about 60g each. Shape each piece of dough into a smooth ball and arrange them on the pan with about half an inch of space between them on all sides. Once shaped, cover and proof for another hour until the buns grow to 1.5X their original size. Brush the risen dough with egg wash (skipped), and sprinkle with the raw pumpkin seeds.

6. Preheat the oven to 350F. Place in the middle of the oven and bake for 20 minutes until the tops are golden brown. Take the buns out of the oven and immediately brush them with the sugar water to give them a really great shine, sweetness, and rich color. Serve warm! 

Apple Spice Cupcake

The cupcake recipe is from a friend, and the frosting is the cream cheese frosting. The cupcake is very moist with chunks of apple with every bite. 

Ingredients

Unsalted butter - 1 cup, at room temperature

Apple - about 2 lbs, peeled, coed, and cut into 1 inch chunks

Granulated sugar - 4 TBSP + 1 and 1/2 cup 

All purpose flour - 2 cups

Baking powder - 1 and 1/2 tsp

Salt - 1 tsp

Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

Ground cinnamon - 1 tsp

Ground allspice - 1/2 tsp

Ground nutmeg - 1/4 tsp

Egg - 4 large, at room temperature ( I used egg replacer)

Pure vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Sour cream - 1/2 cup

Cream cheese frosting 

Yield 24 cupcakes

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners. 
2. In a sauce pan over medium high heat, melt 4 TBSP butter. Add the apple chunks and 4 TBSP of sugar. Cooke until the apple is translucent and soft, about 7 minutes. Set aside to cool.

3. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg. Set aside. 

4. In the stand mixing bowl, add remaining butter and sugar, beat at medium high speed until light and fluffy. Add egg (or egg replacer mixture), vanilla extract and beat until combined. Slowly add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Add sour cream and apple mixture, beat until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. 

5. Divide the batter among the muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, about 20 minutes. 

6. Let the cupcake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes and then transfer the cupcakes to the wire rack to cool completely.

7. Frost the cupcake with frosting and serve.