Drawing - Week of July 8, 2012

Didn't draw much this week. I will claim the food related post from earlier today makes up for that. I have some new silk flowers to draw. They are sunflowers and daisies. Flowers with many petals are very difficult to draw. I don't like most of my attempts so far. Here is the only picture I feel like sharing this week. It even includes a Kat!

One of Kat's favorite sleeping places is behind my drawing board, which is usually leaning against the wall.

Ice Cream Sandwich Cake

I saw a cake similar to this several years ago. Instead of looking up instructions on how to properly make the cake, I just made it. This is definitely one of the messier cakes that I've made, but it was a lot of fun to make!

The cake consists of two layers of chocolate cake, a layer of vanilla ice cream, and chocolate frosting in the expected locations. The version of the cake that influenced this messy cake was decorated like an Oreo cookie, so I kept that as a decorating guideline. Instead of "Oreo" I wrote "Happy Birthday" since it was for a birthday.

If you plan to make this, here are some tips: Make the cake at the location where the cake will be served; it will melt during a 20 minute car ride in the summer. Try to freeze the ice cream layer in a circle cake pan lined with wax paper so it has the proper shape. Be sure to rearrange the contents of your freezer before assembling any of the cake pieces. You can use any combination of flavors to make this cake; I'm guessing cookies and cream ice cream would be amazing!

Ice Cream Sandwich Cake
Two round cakes
1/2 gallon ice cream
One batch of frosting

Make your frosting.

Soften your ice cream. I'm assuming it isn't necessary to mix up the ice cream in a mixer, but it sure was fun. Such a lovely texture!

Place the bottom layer of the cake on whatever you plan to serve the cake on. Spread a layer of frosting around the sides of the cake. Either cover the entire top of the cake or just enough so the cake doesn't show under the ice cream.

Spread a layer of ice cream on the cake. (Or, if you followed the tip, place the layer of ice cream on the cake.) Place the incomplete cake in the freezer.

Place the top layer of cake on some paper towels. Spread a nice layer of frosting on top. Decorate however you want to decorate it.

Remove the bottom of the cake from the freezer and carefully place the top layer of the cake on top. Spread a layer of frosting around the sides of the top layer of cake.

Keep frozen until you are ready to serve!

Enjoy!

Note: The frosting that I used was the new Wilton Decorator's Frosting with 3 Tablespoons of cocoa powder added.


Used to create this cake: Food Network 9-In. Round Cake Pan. I love the Food Network pans from Kohls!

Drawing - Week of July 1, 2012

I plan on drawing regularly now. I'm not horrible at it and the only way I can improve is with practice. Unfortunately, I don't have much motivation to draw anymore. When I was taking the drawing course, I had homework assignments and people to critique my drawings. Now I have no pressure to get a drawing finished and no one to show it to. My current idea is to post what I draw every week on Friday or Saturday. That will provide me with some sort of motivation and also (maybe) someone to show it to.

I like to draw flowers, so I drew a lily and a rose this week using charcoal on drawing paper. I still don't like to draw roses. I will probably torture myself with roses until I think they look good. I also want more silk flowers to draw...

The photo quality isn't too good, sorry about that. I will eventually get a decent camera. Until then, I only have my cell phone. I also should have cleaned up the drawing a bit more. Charcoal smudges a lot.

Sugar Cookies

The ladies in the one office where I work like that I bake. I stopped by a few weeks ago and was introduced to someone as the "one who bakes the cookies". I haven't made them anything for a while, so I asked for requests. Sugar cookies was the request. So, I made them.

This is another old recipe which turned out very lovely. The cookies are amazingly soft and moist with the added bonus of holding their shape and not crumbling all over. This recipe is definitely at the top of my "favorite cookies" list! It is easy to make and doesn't require refrigeration. If you want to roll the dough out and cut out cookies, then you may want to chill the dough for a bit since it is a very soft dough.

Sugar Cookies
3 1/4 C flour
2 t cream of tartar
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 C butter, softened
3 eggs
1 C sugar
1 t vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease your baking sheets. You'll need to wipe off and re-grease the baking sheets between each set of cookies.

Sift together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.

Cut the butter into the flour mixture until well blended. Use either a pastry cutter or a fork. Don't use your hands or the butter will melt into the flour!

It should look nice a crumbly when you are finished.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until light and fluffy. This pretty much means to beat the eggs until the top layer starts to foam up. Add the sugar and vanilla. Mix well.

Slowly mix the flour mixture into the egg mixture. Mix until combined.

Roll the dough into 2 inch balls. Place them on the baking sheet and lightly press down. Sprinkle sugar on top. (Or you can skip the sugaring step and frost them after they cool.)

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. The bottom edges of the cookies should be very lightly browned. Don't over bake!

Immediately remove the cookies from the baking sheet and cool them on a cooling rack.

This recipe made nearly 4 dozen cookies.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Eclair Dessert

It's been a while since I posted a new recipe. I have a few sets of photos related to different recipes that are ready to be written about, but I haven't had the motivation to do so. This blogging thing is apparently something that is slightly difficult to get back into after a long gap.

Fortunately, I made something wonderful this past week. It's a recipe that my grandma used all the time when I was little. It is possibly one of the best desserts ever. It is also incredibly simple to make.

I've had the page marked in the cookbook to make this, but I haven't had a good reason to make it until this past weekend. This dessert is just as delicious as a remember and much easier to make than I expected. I made the chocolate frosting slightly thicker than it should have been and I used cinnamon graham crackers instead of honey. If you can, I recommend using a 9x13 cake pan that doesn't have sloped sides. My pan had sloped sides and that make placing the layers of graham crackers weird (gaps around the edges and such).

Chocolate Eclair Dessert
2 packages French vanilla instant pudding (3ish ounce size)
3 C milk
1 8 oz carton Cool Whip
1 lb box of graham crackers (honey or cinnamon)
2 envelopes pre-melted baking chocolate
1 t vanilla
3 T salted butter, softened
1 1/2 C powdered sugar
3 T milk

First, coat the 9x13 inch pan with a layer of butter.

Make the French vanilla pudding according to directions but only use the 3 cups of milk.

Add the entire carton of Cool Whip.

Fold the Cool Whip into the pudding. You have to fold it or the Cool Whip will lose its nice fluffy consistency.

Place a layer of graham crackers in the pan.

Carefully spread half of the pudding mixture over the layer of graham crackers.

Lay down another layer of graham crackers.

Spread the remaining pudding mixture over the new layer of graham crackers.

Add another layer of graham crackers!

Now make the chocolate frosting. Do this by placing the chocolate, vanilla, milk, and softened butter into a mixing bowl.

Stir it all together. It will seem kind of awful and thick.

Stir in the powdered sugar. This somehow gives it a very nice and smooth consistency. If the frosting seems too thick to spread on the graham crackers, add a little bit more milk. Don't add too much. You don't want it to be runny!

Spread the frosting on top of the layer of graham crackers.

Now for the hard part... You have to let this lovely dessert sit for 12 hours (in the refrigerator!). This allows the moisture of the pudding to soak into the graham crackers and soften them.

Here's a side view of the delicious layers:

Enjoy!