A Day In Baked Goods

 

French Buttercream Cake

Peppermint Mousse Cupcake

Peanut Butter Mini Cakes

Oatmeal Stout Cake

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Farmers’ Market Inspired Weekend

I decided to play hookey from work on Saturday so Em & I could make a trip to the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market.

 

 

My weekends have been slammed this season so this was probably my first and last stop for the year.

After running into some friends and grabbing a cup of hot Kuva coffee we made our way through the booths. The selection of produce was great for late season. We grabbed some salad greens, spaghetti squash, & green beans.  There were also a number of local farmers selling meat so we picked out a brisket & some bones for Muggs.

After the trip to the Market we decided to keep the EAT LOCAL theme going so we headed to Local Harvest for lunch on the patio. On an obvious overdose of indigenous organic nourishment we made plans for a pumpkin carving party.

 

On Sunday I rolled out the Weber for a Sunday-fun-day (Sunday-fun-day = smoking meat + relaxing + drinking some wine).   I slathered the brisket with spicy grain mustard, brown sugar, crushed chili, cinnamon, cumin, kosher salt, pepper, and tossed it over an indirect fire.  A few handfuls of soaked cherry wood chips provided the smoke and my brisket was on its way to delicious.

 

 

About 3 ½ hours later the brisket was tender with a nice dark brown bark from the mustard & brown sugar mix.  Our farmers market friends came over and we channeled the inner fat kid at heart for an evening of pumpkin carving and BBQ.

I sliced the brisket very thin and served it with caramelized onions, grain mustard, on toasted ciabatta.  The open faced sandwiches were topped with the farmers market greens and a red wine vinaigrette… I am putting this sandwich in my notes for the café.

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Beer & Cake

Beer & Cake, ok

I put this cake in the case at the café a month or two ago on a whim. With some extra time in the new kitchen we have gotten to have some mad scientist experiment sessions. I’m not one for extraordinarily crazy flavor combos but its beer and cake, worst case scenario we scrap the cake and drink the rest of the beer. Luckily this makes a tasty cake… and there’s always more beer in the fridge.

I can’t give up all of my top-secret recipes but here’s the general idea. The main idea is that the rich dark beer plays nicely with buttery pound cake & dark chocolate.  Here’s the roadmap to Oatmeal Stout Cake.

1. Empty two bottles of oatmeal stout beer into a saucepan and place over medium heat. Bring the beer to a boil and reduce until it becomes syrupy. Turn off the heat and let the reduction cool
2. Whip the beer reduction into your favorite buttercream recipe
3. Slice 2 – 9” round vanilla cakes (I use # cake) into 3 layers each
4. Poor Oatmeal stout cake over sliced cake and allow to soak in for about 10 minutes
5. Make a batch of dark chocolate ganache
6. Stack the cake: cake, stout Buttercream, ganache, cake etc.
7. Crumb coat the cake in stout buttercream (Watch me crumb coat a cake)
8. Finish Icing the cake & top with ganache
9. Eat

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We did it!

We did it! Someday I will write a book about the last year and what it has taken to move our little business into its larger home. We have all been working around the clock, but  are all really happy with our new digs. One of the best things about the restaurant world is to see how much a great team can get accomplished. My mom described our first week as moving into a new house & throwing a dinner party for 500 people your first night in. We were all a bit slap happy by the time we got out of here Saturday afternoon.

We have officially been open for a week and it has been great to see the new space fill up every day.

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French Buttercream

Whipping up a new French Buttercream. Rich & smooth with egg yolk and vanilla. Recipe is on the way.

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