Wow, the last week has arrived. It feels like I only just started this journey yesterday. Obviously, this project was interrupted by some rather trying times, but nonetheless it is complete. Thanks to everyone who has kept up with my baking process, hopefully my experiences and changes were of some help to you all!
For the last week of Genius Hour I made the red velvet cake for the last time. As you know, this cake was amazing as is, and I truly didn't need to change anything about it. I 100% recommend this recipe, and will personally be continuing to use it. There isn't much to write about, seeing that this cake gave me next to no issues. I went for appearance again, making sure my layers were even, the frosting was evenly spread, and the cake wasn't tilted. The only thing I did differently, is that I let all the ingredients sit out and lower to room temperature before baking. My aunt gave me this tip, telling me that this is a good way to keep the cake moist and not crumbly. Overall, I have really enjoyed this experience, and had a really good time using this website!!
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Hey everyone welcome back to Genius Hour! As we near the end I have taken time to reflect on my products throughout the process of this project. While I regret not being able to keep up with my baking as much as I would have liked to, I am happy that throughout this trying time I was able to achieve my original goal. Seeing that my baking skills have improved, the desserts themselves improved, and their overall appearance did as well.
Now onto the baking part, this week I gave the cheesecake one last try. If you'll remember the first time I made this dish, it did not go to plan. The second time went a little better, but still not the best. I mentioned in my last blog about the cheesecake that I might use a different recipe. I decided not to, as my original plan was to try and better the recipes I had chosen. I applied the same changes to this one, as I did to the second time I made the cheesecake. The only difference in this one and the previous one is that I used a water bath. My biggest issue with this recipe is the baking portion of it. The filling and crust themselves are delicious, just when it came to baking, things didn't add up. I changed everything about how I baked this cake, and really liked the outcome. Between using a water bath, setting the temperature to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and baking it for 1 hour and 15 minutes, I was much happy with the final product! Welcome back for week 10! This week I gave the pound cake one last go. It went super well, per usual with this recipe.
I used all the changes that I made in week 2 this time, and got the same, awesome results! My only complaint from last time was that the inside of the cake was a little less cooked than the outside. This time instead of giving it 1 hour and 15 minutes, overall it cooked for 1 hour and 23 minutes exactly!! This helped ensure it was cooked all the way without burning the outside. I would 100% recommend this recipe to anyone. It is super fool proof, and super simple. There isn't any crazy ingredients, or instructions, making it super user friendly. Welcome back to week 9 everyone!! This week I gave the chocolate cupcakes one last go! I followed the same recipe as last time including my changes, and really liked the finish product again!!
If you'll remember from the last time I baked the cupcakes I used buttermilk instead of sour cream, and Nestle's cocoa powder instead of unsweetened cocoa powder. I made these changes because I didn't like the taste of sour cream, and I didn't like how bitter the cakes and frosting was. I thought these changes helped both of those problems. Overall, this is not my favorite recipe, as it does range on the more bitter side, which I'm not of huge fan of, but it does work. If I did it all over again, I would not pick this recipe to make. I'm just not the biggest fan of it, but that is totally personal!! As far as this baking experience went, the cakes turned out great again! They didn't crack or fall apart when I removed them, and they weren't dry! The frosting also turned out great. If you remember the first time I made the cakes the frosting was too thin, but I fixed it the second time by using more sugar than heavy cream. I did this again and really liked it!! Hey and welcome back to another week of Genius Hour!! This week I gave the red velvet cake another go!
This really won't be too long of blog post, seeing that the last time I did made this cake it was a huge success. The same goes for this time!! This time I went for a better appearance of the cake. If you remember last time I ran out of frosting, so I couldn't frost the sides. This time I made sure to save enough frosting for the sides and it really helped the look. I am so mad at myself because I recently had to get a new computer, and the pictures from weeks 7-10 were on that computer, and they didn't transfer to the new one. I keep finding folders and hoping they are in there, but so far no luck! Hopefully, I can find them and upload them at a later time! As far as this cake goes I really have no complaints! This is an amazing recipe and I 100% recommend it! Hey and welcome back to week 7 of Genius Hour! It's been awhile since my last blog post, seeing that it has been extremely difficult for me to get ingredients while dealing with our current situation. Nonetheless, I am back and was able to secure ingredients to make up for the weeks missed!
This week I gave the cheesecake another try. If you remember last time it did not go well at all. The cake was burnt and not done on the inside. I used the same recipe as I liked how the inside and crust turned out last time. This time I set the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and left it in for about an 1 hour and 15 minutes. I decided not use a water bath this time to see how I liked it. The cake definitely did much better cooking it low and slow, but I think a water bath would help. I still used a cup of melted butter to keep the crust together, rather than a half cup, which I really like. Other than that, and the baking instructions I didn't stray far from the original recipe. For my last attempt I will use a water bath, and possibly a new recipe. I just don't know how much I truly like this recipe, so we will see! Stay tuned. Hey guys! Welcome back to week 6 of Genius Hour. I want to start off by apologizing for being a little bit off schedule recently. It's been very difficult to get ingredients for baking with everything going on right now! Nonetheless, I will be baking two times this week to make up for lost time, so stay tuned for that. This week I decided to give the red velvet cake a try, for the first time. I picked a recipe from an online resource, which I will show below, and I absolutely loved it. I first started off by making the batter for the cakes. The measurements for every ingredient were spot on, and it tasted amazing. I had to use square pans, instead of round pans, but I don't think it matters much. It did take a little longer to bake the cakes than the recipe intended. I believe it took my cakes about 45 minutes; whereas, the recipe said 28-32 minutes, but that's no big deal. One thing I did notice, on the recipe it did not say to let the cakes completely cool before frosting, this is very important. So just as a side note, know the recipe doesn't say that, but you should let the cake completely cool first! The frosting was a basic cream cheese frosting, but it was amazing!! I am so thrilled with this week's baking experience. I really don't want to change anything about the recipe, but I do want to work on the cake's final appearance. I didn't frost the sides because I ran out of frosting. I used too much in between the layers and on the top, but that is really my only complaint! Welcome back to my blog page as we take on another week of Genius Hour. This week I decided to give the cupcakes another try! If you remember last time, I didn't like how they tasted at all, and had quite a few changes to make. Well, I put those to the test this time! One of the things I didn't like about the taste was how bitter they were. I assumed this came from using unsweetened cocoa powder, and I was right! This time I used Nestle's cocoa powder and it made them much sweeter. Another thing I didn't like about the taste was the sour cream. I've never liked the taste of sour cream, so I used a substitute for it, buttermilk. I thought that the first time I made them, the sour cream was really strong in the taste. I think using 1/3 cup of buttermilk helped solved that! As far as the frosting goes, last time I made it to thin, so it fell off the cupcakes. This time I made sure to use more sugar than heavy cream, and it made it much thicker. I am really pleased with how my changes worked! I believe it made them taste and look better! Welcome back for week 4 of Genius Hour! This week I decided to tackle making a cheesecake, and it didn't necessarily go to plan. I really liked the original recipe without any modifications. The filling turned out really sweet, light and fluffy, and the crust stuck together really well. When putting the cake together in the pan the crust didn't stick to the filling and the filling spread really easily. The problems occurred when I went to actually bake it. The recipe says to bake it at 450 degrees for 45 minutes, and then let it sit for 3 hours. I followed these directions exactly and it left me with a burnt outside and uncooked inside. It didn't end up tasting good at all and the filling was not the right consistency. The only thing I changed was when I was making the crust. I used a cup of melted butter instead of just a half cup. I felt like the graham crackers weren't sticking together enough. Next time I make this cake I will bake it for longer on a lower temperature and let it sit outside the oven instead of inside it. Welcome back to another week of Genius Hour! This week I decided to make chocolate cupcakes with a chocolate cream cheese frosting from a recipe I found online. As I did with the pound cake, this first time I followed the recipe exactly to see how I felt about the original, so I could make changes from there. The recipe calls for unsweetened cocoa powder to be put in both the cakes themselves and in the frosting. In my opinion, this made them a little more bitter than I would like. Next time I'm going to try a sweetened cocoa powder and see if I like that better. The recipe also calls for sour cream, which personally I don't like the taste of. I feel like I can really taste it through the cakes and I don't like that, but if you like sour cream I would 100% recommend keeping it in. I however, will be substituting buttermilk in for the sour cream next time I try this recipe. Those are the only things I would change about the recipe, and it's not because they compromised the dish, it's just personal preference on how they taste! The cupcakes actually turned out really well! The cakes formed perfect muffin tops and cooked all the way through. They didn't stick to the pan or fall apart when I removed them. When making the frosting I put to much heavy cream and not enough powdered sugar causing it to be more thin than I would like. It also made way more frosting than I needed, so next time I will put in more sugar than heavy cream and use less of each ingredient. Overall I'm really pleased with how this week's baking experience went! I can't wait to give it another try and use all the changes I made to see how it will turn out. |
Welcome!I'm Margo Deal and this is my baking website for my Genius Hour project!! Archives
May 2020
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