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Use Those In-Season Cherries – Make a Simple and Delicious Clafoutis!

Each year, around this time, I start to make sure I use in-season cherries to make this simple and delicious Clafoutis.  It’s not too sweet, the flavor of the cherries and the truly simple process ensure that this a recipe you’ll want to make over and over again!

Seriously – go to the grocery store, buy some cherries and make it now.  Now!  Most of the ingredients are things you probably already have in your cupboards, and cherries are in season for such a short time that a cherry clafoutis is a treat that’s only available a short time each year.   Of course, you can try it with other fruit, and I’ll definitely be doing that in my house – perhaps blackberries or raspberries – yum yum!

Simple Delicious Clafoutis

Simple and Delicious Clafoutis, made with in-season cherries.

I bought the ingredients on Sunday and had an impromptu live on my Facebook page yesterday during my lunch hour.  It’s that fast and simple!

The plate I used is Polish Stoneware – I have quite a collection and they actually have it available on Amazon.com!  If you’re interested, click the image to the left and you’ll be directed right to this very plate!  It truly is one of my favorites and always makes whatever is inside look awesome.

Without further ado, here’s the video of the live session!  Enjoy and make this – I mean it – go and make it now!

 

Print Recipe
 Clafoutis
Simple Delicious Clafoutis
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Servings
slices
Ingredients
  • 20 oz Cherries Fresh, Stemmed and Pitted
  • 2 tbsp Butter Melted
  • 4 ea Eggs Room Temp
  • 1 cup Milk Whole Milk, Room Temp
  • 1/4 tsp Salt
  • 1/2 cup Granulated Sugar You'll need an additional 2 tbsp for dusting
  • 1/2 tsp Almond Extract
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla
  • Powdered Sugar Just enough for dusting!
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Servings
slices
Ingredients
  • 20 oz Cherries Fresh, Stemmed and Pitted
  • 2 tbsp Butter Melted
  • 4 ea Eggs Room Temp
  • 1 cup Milk Whole Milk, Room Temp
  • 1/4 tsp Salt
  • 1/2 cup Granulated Sugar You'll need an additional 2 tbsp for dusting
  • 1/2 tsp Almond Extract
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla
  • Powdered Sugar Just enough for dusting!
Simple Delicious Clafoutis
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees
  2. Grease a round baking dish with butter and dust with about 2 tbsp of sugar (the dish should be as close to 10" round as possible)
  3. Pit the cherries and add them to the baking dish - they should cover the bottom.
  4. Mix the eggs with the sugar and salt, whisk well.
  5. Whisk in the flour, 1/3 at a time until thoroughly incorporated.
  6. Add the milk, vanilla, and almond extract. Mix well until thoroughly incorporated.
  7. Add the melted butter and mix thoroughly.
  8. Pour the mixture over the cherries and back 40-45 minutes until it has puffed up and turned golden brown.
  9. Dust lightly with powdered sugar and serve.
Recipe Notes
  1. I let my Clafoutis cool enough before dusting so that the powdered sugar doesn't melt.
  2. This can be served warm or chilled.  Typically, we have our first pieces warm and place the leftovers wrapped loosely in plastic wrap in the fridge to enjoy later!
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Tangy Lemon Curd – So Easy to Fall in Love!

Lemon Curd!  So intimidating for some, but so very easy to make at home!  I know – you’ve all heard the stories about people trying to make homemade lemon curd and ending up with scrambled eggs.  It’s so tempting to just pick up a jar from the shelf at the market and call it done, but what’s the fun in that?!  Making lemon curd at home is so easy!  It’s also pretty quick!

Imagine your life with this recipe under your belt…  Imagine the oohs and ahhs of those who taste it when they ask where you bought it and you reply (modestly, of course and with a little exaggeration) “Oh, I made it myself!  It wasn’t easy, but you’re worth the extra trouble!”  We can’t give away all of our secrets, friends!

Imagine, if you will, a delicious cake, with the thinest coating of fragrant and tangy lemon curd between the layers!  Or, perhaps filled inside a cupcake (which is what we’re doing in the video below).  If you like lemons, and I know you do, you won’t want to miss out on this one!

I’ll show you a super easy technique to make fresh, homemade, lemon curd in first video below.  Then, we’ll use that curd to fill some Pink Lemonade cupcakes and frost them with a tri-color rosette to finished them off in a lovely way.  I love the way that these turned out!  Be warned, this curd is tangy, so if you are looking for a softer taste, you may prefer a different filling – perhaps the white chocolate lemon ganache that we’re making next week!

Tools

Making the Lemon Curd

 

Filling and Frosting the Cupcakes


Print Recipe
 Tangy Lemon Curd - So Easy!
Easy Lemon Curd Recipe and Tutorial - Bake with Rho
Servings
Ingredients
  • 3/4 Cup Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice
  • 3 ea. Egg Yolks
  • 3 tbsp Cold Butter
  • 2/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
  • 1 pinch Kosher Salt
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Servings
Ingredients
  • 3/4 Cup Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice
  • 3 ea. Egg Yolks
  • 3 tbsp Cold Butter
  • 2/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
  • 1 pinch Kosher Salt
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Easy Lemon Curd Recipe and Tutorial - Bake with Rho
Instructions
  1. Get Water Simmering for the double boiler while you collect your ingredients.
  2. In a heavy saucepan, combine the lemon juice, sugar and egg yolks.
  3. Whisk to thoroughly combine and place over the double boiler.
  4. Whisk constantly while heating to a simmer. The curd should start to thicken.
  5. Once the curd has started to simmer and has thickened, remove from the heat.
  6. Whisk in each of the tablespoons of butter until completely incorporated.
  7. Whisk in the salt and vanilla.
  8. Strain into a container and place plastic wrap directly on top of the curd so that a skin doesn't form.
  9. Cool to room temperature and then place in the refrigerator until cold.
Recipe Notes
  1. This is very tangy and works absolutely best as a thin coating in between cake layers.
  2. If using for cupcake filling, I recommend a sweeter recipe to offset the tartness of the curd.
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Beautiful and Refreshing Pink Lemonade Cake

Join Ana and me as we walk you through making this beautiful and refreshing Pink Lemonade cake!  In May, our month of lemony goodness, I knew that I wanted to attempt a pink lemonade cake.  I’d seen recipes for them before, but they all required frozen pink lemonade concentrate.  If you’ve been following us the last couple of months, you know how I feel about that!  Not good.  That’s how I feel about that, not good!  I just knew that there had to be a way to get that tart lemony flavor that is perfect offset by another, as yet unidentified, fresh fruit.  I also knew that that I would have to figure it out.  Challenge Accepted!

I began my research into pink lemonade with my dear friend Google Search.  Perhaps you’ve heard of her.  She’s actually kind of my best friend, but we don’t talk about that out loud.  Anyway, I simply started looking for homemade pink lemonade recipes and my pal returned more results than you could shake a stick at!  Seriously, I tried shaking a stick – not a dent.

There are two schools of thought on pink lemonade, and these are either the addition of fresh strawberry or the addition of fresh raspberry.  I read a little further, browsed a few more articles and recipes and decided that the raspberry seemed to be the most authentic.

A plan was born!  A plan was tested, and a plan failed.  Brainstorming continued…  more tests were run, and a winner emerged!  To describe how proud of myself I was would be impossible.  This was one of my first attempts ever at making modifications to a recipe and delivering something completely different.

Pink Lemonade Cake Recipe and Tutorial - Bake with Rho

Isn’t she gorgeous?

This definitely won’t be the last!  I’m in love with this cake and am eager to keep pushing my own boundaries and if the experiments work out, you can bet I’ll be sharing them here – If you want to see experiments that don’t work out, well, those are on our Facebook LIVE broadcasts!  You could try the nut butter episode as a great example of me modifying a recipe to a spectacular failure!  But I digress – you’re here for a Beautiful and Refreshing Pink Lemonade Cake, and a pink lemonade cake you shall have!

As a bonus, we’re also posting the video on how to make the oh-so-pretty tri-color rosettes that cover the cake.

To get started, there are a few things you’ll need:

Making the Pink Lemonade Cake

Frosting the Cake

 

 

Print Recipe
 Beautiful and Refreshing Pink Lemonade Cake
Pink Lemonade Cake Recipe and Tutorial - Bake with Rho
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Servings
ounces
Ingredients
  • 375 grams Cake Flour
  • 375 grams Granulated Sugar
  • 1 tbsp Baking Powder
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 6 large Egg Whites Room Temp
  • 1/2 cup Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice
  • 1/2 cup Raspberry Simple Syrup
  • 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 1 cup Butter Room Temp
  • 2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
  • 3 drops Pink Food Color Use Gel Color
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Servings
ounces
Ingredients
  • 375 grams Cake Flour
  • 375 grams Granulated Sugar
  • 1 tbsp Baking Powder
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 6 large Egg Whites Room Temp
  • 1/2 cup Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice
  • 1/2 cup Raspberry Simple Syrup
  • 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 1 cup Butter Room Temp
  • 2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
  • 3 drops Pink Food Color Use Gel Color
Pink Lemonade Cake Recipe and Tutorial - Bake with Rho
Instructions
  1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F and prepare your 8" cake pans.
  2. Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl of your stand mixer (flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt).
  3. Add the softened butter.
  4. Turn the mixer (with the paddle attachment) on to stir speed.
  5. In a medium bowl, whisk together all the wet ingredients (egg whites, lemon juice, raspberry simple syrup, vanilla extract, vegetable oil, and pink food color.
  6. Add 1/3 of the mixture to the dry ingredients.
  7. Turn the mixer on stir, easing up to 4 (on a KitchenAid) and beat for about 30 seconds on 4. (scrape the bowl when finished)
  8. Add half of the remaining liquid ingredients and whip on 4 for another 30 seconds. (scrape the bowl when finished)
  9. Add the remaining liquid ingredients and beat on 4 for another 30 seconds. Once the mixture has come together and is starting to look like you'd expect cake batter to look, stop and scrape the sides of the bowl and the paddle attachment.
  10. Mix at speed 8 for about 15-20 seconds.
  11. Divide batter evenly between your prepared pans.
  12. Turn the temperature of the oven down to 325 degrees F and quickly put the batter filled pans in.
  13. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Make sure you test this cake with a toothpick to make sure it's done in the middle! If the cake needs more than 45 minutes to cook completely, check it every 2 minutes until it's done.
Recipe Notes
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Candied Lemon Peels – Quick and Easy!

Have you ever tried homemade candied lemon peels?  If not, you honestly just don’t know what you’re missing!  They’re so tasty!  Not only are they great to eat by themselves, they make a great garnish for your baked goods and drinks.  In our month of lemon love, this is one recipe I threw in as a bonus – they’re relatively quick and easy to make, they store well, and you can keep some on hand for whenever you like!

Lemons aren’t the only citrus you can candy, of course – Limes, oranges and grapefruit all candy nicely with just a few tweaks to the recipe.  I don’t recommend using the peels after a piece of fruit has been juiced, because they’re no where near as pretty!  Juicing the citrus can mangle the peels, and for this, you want pretty, pretty peels.

Buy the prettiest pieces of citrus you can find for this – bright colors and no discoloration to the peel makes a big difference in how these turn out, and you can use the “uglier” pieces for juicing and zesting.

Helpful hint – when you need fresh squeezed citrus juice, always zest the fruit first!  You can store the zest in an air tight container in the freezer and use whenever you want to add a little zing to a sweet or savory dish!

I used the peels I made in this video to garnish my adult version Pink Lemonade – fancy!

See the short video below for tips on both the candied lemon peels and the raspberry simple syrup used in the Pink Lemonade recipe.


Print Recipe
 Candied Lemon Peels - Quick and Easy!
Candied Lemon Peels Recipe and Tutorial - Bake with Rho
Servings
Ingredients
  • 4 ea. Lemons
  • 2 cups Granulated Sugar Plus some extra for coating the peels
  • Cold Water About 8 cups total
Servings
Ingredients
  • 4 ea. Lemons
  • 2 cups Granulated Sugar Plus some extra for coating the peels
  • Cold Water About 8 cups total
Candied Lemon Peels Recipe and Tutorial - Bake with Rho
Instructions
  1. Cut the lemons into slices about 1/4 inch thick, then cut those slices in half
  2. Remove the pulp from the slices
  3. Place the peels in saucepan, add cold water, and bring to a boil.
  4. Drain the peels, add more cold water and bring to a boil. Repeat this step one more time, for a total of 3 boils.
  5. Remove the drained peels from the saucepan and set them aside.
  6. Add the Sugar and two cups of fresh water to the sauce pan and bring to a boil until the sugar is dissolved, stirring occasionally.
  7. Add the lemon peels and simmer until the pith (the white part) is translucent. (about 15 minutes, typically)
  8. Prepare a cookie sheet by placing a cooling rack inside.
  9. Remove the peels from the saucepan with tongs or something similar, placing them on the cooling rack in a single layer.
  10. Put in a 170 degree oven for 30 to 45 minutes.
  11. Remove from the oven and cool.
  12. Place a small amount of granulated sugar in a Ziplock bag, add the peels and shake to coat.
Recipe Notes

When I'm not using the peels right away, I just leave them in their ziplock bag with the sugar and store them in a cool, dry place.  Your refrigerator is not dry!  Don't put them in the fridge -

If using different citrus, you may need to add to the initial "boils" to remove the bitterness or to reduce the number of boils if fruit is sweeter, like an orange.  Rule of thumb is 2 boils for oranges, 4 boils for grapefruit or limes.

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Pink Lemonade – A Refreshing Summertime Drink

Pink Lemonade…  So refreshing and perfect for summertime.  This month, my focus was on all of the wonderful things we can do with lemons – and we’re starting off with this delicious recipe for pink lemonade.  First, because it’s awesome – I love to mix up a pitcher, add just a touch of vodka, and have a “grown-up” afternoon by the pool.  Second, I use the ingredients from this pink lemonade recipe to create a pink lemonade cake next week!

I’ve made a pink lemonade cake in the past, and I wasn’t in love with it – first of all, one of the ingredients was frozen pink lemonade concentrate – Now, I just don’t understand the point of a scratch cake when you’re adding something like frozen concentrate or (and I know it makes me a baking snob) Jello.  This sent me on a quest to find out exactly what makes pink lemonade pink, anyway?

There are two schools of thought here – either strawberries or raspberries.  After doing a little research, the addition of raspberries seemed like the most authentic, and I knew they’d pair wonderfully with the lemon juice to make a pitcher full of pink lemony goodness!

This recipe makes a ton of raspberry simple syrup, which keeps quite nicely in an air tight container in the fridge.  This is a good thing, since we’ll need about 1/2 cup next week!

As a bonus this week, we’re also making candied lemon peels – you can make candied peels of nearly any citrus fruit and they’re great for garnishes and also for eating by themselves – I’ve made them for the Christmas holidays in the past, and they were a big hit!

This video contains the tutorial for the Raspberry Simple Syrup and also the Candied Lemon Peels – They were easy to make in the same tutorial so the same video will be posted on both recipes!


Print Recipe
 Pink Lemonade
Pink Lemonade Recipe and Tutorial - Bake with Rho
Servings
Ingredients
Raspberry Simple Syrup
  • 6 oz Raspberries One little container
  • 2 cup Granulated Sugar
  • 2/3 cup Water
Lemonade
  • 6 cups Cold Water
  • 1 cup Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice About 7 medium lemons
  • 1 cup Raspberry Simple Syrup
  • Ice
Servings
Ingredients
Raspberry Simple Syrup
  • 6 oz Raspberries One little container
  • 2 cup Granulated Sugar
  • 2/3 cup Water
Lemonade
  • 6 cups Cold Water
  • 1 cup Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice About 7 medium lemons
  • 1 cup Raspberry Simple Syrup
  • Ice
Pink Lemonade Recipe and Tutorial - Bake with Rho
Instructions
Raspberry Simple Syrup
  1. Put the Raspberries, Sugar and Water in a saucepan and heat on medium-high.
  2. Heat to a boil, stirring occasionally.
  3. Simmer 10-12 minutes - the raspberries should just be falling apart.
  4. Pour the raspberry mixture through a fine strainer into a heat-proof bowl. Set aside to cool a bit.
  5. Once cool, place in an air tight container in the fridge to cool completely before making Lemonade (about 30 minutes to an hour)
Pink Lemonade
  1. Put one cup of raspberry simple syrup in a pitcher.
  2. Add the lemon juice.
  3. Add the water and fill with ice.
  4. Stir gently and serve.
Recipe Notes

I usually add about 3 jiggers of vodka to this recipe to make the adult version - Also, you can garnish with fresh raspberries or the candied lemon peels mentioned earlier!

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Simple Watercolor Effect – So Pretty!

by Posted in Tutorials Tagged , , , Leave a comment

As promised, in this video, I demonstrate a simple watercolor effect for your cake.  This is one of my favorite finishes on a buttercream cake, because it adds some really pretty effects and it’s super simple to do!

I’ve used a watercolor effect several times and always receive compliments on the finished product – it’s simple to achieve and can be done with multiple colors or for a more elegant look, you can use different shades of the same color.  Remember, it’s difficult to know exactly how the finished product will look, but as you use the technique more and more, you’ll get a better idea of how the colors will blend.

Most of the tools in this video are ones we’ve seen before, and I’m linking them here for your convenience: