Tonight, Ben Franklin and Betsy Ross are getting married. If that last sentence made you sit up a little straighter and blink with confusion at your computer screen, you're not the only one. You see, the actors who play Ben and Betsy all around Philadelphia are actually the ones getting married and it has become something of a public relations spectacle here in the City of Brotherly Love. So much so that their wedding has become a public event, at which the mayor is officiating and for which a gorgeous, 4th of July-themed cake has been baked.
The cake, conceived and baked by local sugar/flour/butter artist Zoe Lukas, is what interests us most around the Slashfood office. Lukas has created a three-tiered confection that is perfectly draped in white fondant and decorated with ribbon and handmade paper fireworks (what else could one want for a 4th of July wedding). There's an interview up on uwishunu, a local Philly blog, in which Lukas delves into the creation of the cake and how she designed its unique, yet traditional look. Check out the Whipped BakeshopFlickr page for the rest of the cake pictures.
Grilled fruit is a healthy alternative dessert, and easy in the summer when the grill is already going. Almost any fruit can be grilled as long as it holds its shape through the process. smaller fruits can be skewered along with chunks of larger fruits. A side of sauce or cream for dipping is a good addition to your caramelized treats, as well as a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Trying this out couldn't be easier. Get some ripe pears and peaches but not too ripe. Quarter, core, and peel each one into four wedges. Grill until caramelized and smoky, and serve with a small mound of whipped cream on the side. I grilled the ones pictured here earlier in the day and then hid them in the fridge for later. No one complained about not having cookies or cake that night!
I shamelessly stole this idea from the Betty Crocker website but I did manage to change it up to make it a bit more interesting. It turned out very well but it had me cussing more than I imagined it would.
I started with two leveled cakes that were made in loaf pans. I did one in chocolate and one in french vanilla for a little variety. The vanilla one was cut in half to make the two smaller blocks. For the chocolate block, I managed to find chocolate marshmallows to cut in half and use for the top of the block but let me assure you that these sound a lot yummier than they actually are. The smaller blocks got strawberry marshmallows which I highly recommend for sm'ores or just nibbling. The large block was covered in blue buttercream icing and smoothed for a flat surface. Then I covered each marshmallow half, set in it's spot and attempted to even them out as well. Those little buggers can be quite uncooperative.
Next, I covered the green block and set it at a small angle against the first one. The final block was the one that presented a couple of small challenges in order to sit on its side. I iced the bottom edge of the block while holding it then placed it next to the other pieces. The top portion of the block was resting on the points of the other two and I must say that marshmallows make for a squishy support system at best. They also tend to slide off when at an angle so, for the yellow block, they were secured with toothpicks as they went on.
The cake turned out cute although I never managed to get it as smooth as I wanted. Looking back, maybe the reason I found the cake, which was actually pretty simple, a chore is that it wasn't my original idea. Normally, all the little challenges I encounter when making a cake are fun and interesting but apparently that is only true when the concept is mine in the first place.
Brambles are in season! What are brambles? Raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, swampberries, boysenberries, cloudberries, black caps, and any other wonderful members of the rose family that produce an aggregate berry. A recent trip to Kingston Point Park in Kingston, NY, had us eating almost everything we could pick.
The berries that grew at the point were what the locals here commonly call black caps. These are wild black raspberries. They are usually found on upright, thorny, raspberry canes, and look like a slightly smaller version of the commercial variety. The taste is excellent.
Amy and Alec found a nice stand of wild red raspberries, looking much like commercial ones, and a few bushes of the odd, maple-leafed, purple-flowering-raspberry near Esopus, NY. These are also upright plants and easy to locate. You can spot them well in advance in the Spring with their small, white, flowers. The purple flowering raspberry has a very showy rose-like purple flower.
Blackberries, dewberries, and swampberries, grow along runners tangled in the weeds. These berries have larger aggregrate parts than the raspberry-like fruits, just like store-bought blackberries.
Independence Day, or the Fourth of July, is coming up. It's time to get out the picnic-safe salad recipes and clean the grill. While you're at it, don't forget the patriotic desserts! Here are some ideas on what you can do to end your Fourth of July meal with a bang!
1. Here's a neat idea from Imperial Sugar, with a recipe and everything. 2.I know I said cakes, but these patriotic Jello creations are worth a mention! 3. A beautiful flag from Cakeism. 4. Dish'n'That has a fun example for you. 5.How about flag cupcakes? 6. This one from a Chick Chat contest is awesome. You have to scroll down a bit, but it's the topsy turvy, multi-tiered one from RockStarMommy. 7. No instructions on this rice crispy treat flag, but I'm sure you could figure it out! 8. How about something a little different? An Uncle Sam Ice cream cone, perhaps?
When I was a kid, we had a set of popsicle molds that I loved. They produced round popsicles and the handle part had little circus animals on them. My sister and I would always fight over who got the elephant or the lion. In later years we got one of those sets with the build-in straw, that allowed you to slurp up the melting juice so that it didn't spill out all over your hands. In those days, there was just nothing better than a homemade popsicle made from orange or applejuice.
With summer undeniably here, what better time pull out those molds and make some of your own homemade frozen treats.
After typing a post about a wasabi popsicle, I started to think about other spice and and ice combinations. Naturally, I thought of cardamom, one of my favorite spices. A friend of mine recently suggested that we make cardamom ice cream. Unlike wasabi, cardamom is widely used in both savory and sweet dishes, such as rice and pastries. Its deeply aromatic qualities have always attracted me. And now, I'm dying with curiosity to find out its potential with ice cream.
Tuxedo and matching wedding dress strawberries are always an elegant touch at a wedding. They are also pricey. I never really considered what it would take to make them at home until I came across a post on the subject at My Sweet and Saucy.
It turns out that they are fairly easy to make. My Sweet and Saucy has a step-by-step guide with pictures to walk you through the process. If you are hosting a wedding, you may want to check it out. Better yet, get a friend to check it out and make them for you!
She puts them in little bags and gives them away as favors. I've also seen them on a dessert table and served at the reception.
Ice cream is the great equalizer. Every person from every walk of life loves ice cream. (Except for lactose intolerant people, but they're obviously being punished by God.)
While it's perfectly acceptable to march into Baskin-Robbins and demand a triple cone of Jamoca Almond Fudge (you weirdos), or dive head-first into the Haagen-Dazs freezer for a pint of Sticky Toffee Pudding (you English people), wouldn't it feel exponentially more gratifying to make your own?
If you've been a part of the online community during the last year or so then you know what it means to be Rick Rolled. Someone sends you a link, but when you click on it, instead of being directed to the site you thought you'd see, you are treated to Rick Astley singing his hit, Never Gonna Give You Up. It's a trend that has touched every corner of the internet, including our foodie world. Case in point, the "Rick Rolls" we brought you a few months ago.
Now the infamous Rick Roll has arrived in the form of a birthday cake. Papersatan over at Instructables made one for her boyfriend's birthday recently, and she has given us all step-by-step instructions on how to make one at home.
The cake is pretty simple, but you will need some icing colors and piping tubes to make it happen. For the most part, all the necessary ingredients are simple and inexpensive. Happy Birthday!
My personal favorite is sweet corn ice cream. It sounds odd, but once you taste it you think "oh, that makes sense." The pale yellow ice cream has a subtle, summery corn flavor, studded with fresh kernels, like buttered corn on the cob distilled into a perfect, chilled essence.
I just had some today, at a place called Tara's in Santa Fe that specializes in non-standard flavors - they also make terrific sage, strawberry balsamic, chile-pistachio and black sesame ice creams. But there's something about cold sweet corn that's perfect for a hot June evening. My parents, recently returned from Singapore, described a local street food that I just may hop on a plane to try: corn ice cream, drizzled with syrup, and slapped between two pieces of pink-dyed white sandwich bread.
Until then, I'll have to make do with this recipe for sweet corn ice cream on Epicurious and am planning to try it this weekend. I bet it would be good with a cayenne caramel sauce.
As much as I abhor the tradition, Slashfood would be remiss to not cover Family Circle's famous would-be-First-Wives Cookie Bake-Off. 'Cause nothing reflects a man's ability to run the United States like his wife's baking skills! But misogyny aside, the winning cookie recipe has, indeed, accurately predicted the White House winner for four elections running. And, interestingly enough, all four of said recipes have riffed on America's love affair with oats'n'chips. Oh Americans, so set in your ways.
Politics aside, I am predisposed to Obama's Shortbread Cookies. Although the pictures on Family Circle make them look a bit like unappetizing li'l fruit cake slices, the dried fruit is optional, so really, it's just shortbread spiked with zest and almondy alcohol. Um, yes please.
Who are you voting for? Keep it to cookies, please, no need for political drama in a foodie forum!
Some types of kids will eat the icing off the birthday cake and leave the moist, denuded slab of cake lying dead on the plate. They'll pull the crispy bits off the fried chicken and leave the meaty carcass behind.
I was the other kind of kid, the one who ate her treats slowly, methodically, from the worst to the best. I could spend half an hour on a Twix bar, nibbling off the greasy, slightly grainy chocolate from the top and sides before separating the cookie from the thick, soft strip of caramel, which I'd roll into a ball and eat last. Give me Lucky Charms and I'd eat every last bit of soggy, Styrofoam puff cereal until I had an entire bowl full of marshmallows. I'd marvel gleefully at my bounty before digging in with a soup spoon, the marshmallows slippery as minnows in my mouth.
This culinary deconstructionism and best-for-last attitude explains my affection for the Drumstick. First comes the nuts, to be picked off one by one with your front teeth. Then the shattery chocolate shell, to be broken and removed piece-by-piece. Next, the globe of sweet, bland vanilla ice cream, to be licked to nothingness in a precise spiral pattern. The chocolate-lined cone would be eaten in a spiral pattern too, with overlapping rows of tiny, neat bites.
And there, hidden at the very bottom, was a solid cone of chocolate. I'd still be savoring the melting lump in my mouth even after I'd washed the stickiness off my hands and settled in to watch the Smurfs.
When I was a young kid, my family lived in Los Angeles. However, every summer, my mom would pack my sister and me up and we'd head for Philadelphia. We'd spend weeks living with my grandparents, five people in a two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment (the same apartment I live in now). My dad would stay in LA to work and take care of the dog.
It was a time towards which everyone looked forward. My mom enjoyed the opportunity to get away from smoggy Southern California (although humid Philly wasn't exactly a good trade), my dad liked having the house to himself for a while, my grandparents loved having us within hugging distance and my sister and I, well, we looked forward to the treats. Particularly the water ice.
There was nothing like Philadelphia water ice back home. You could get Sno-cones or shaved ice, but water ice was smooth and fruity and perfect to cool you down on those muggy days. The only problem was that my grandfather was a cancer researcher who had done a lot of work studying food coloring. When he was around, we weren't allowed to get any red flavors of water ice, which was torture for two girls who only wanted strawberry or cherry-flavored frozen treats.
When I moved to Philly after college, I didn't have anyone monitoring my water ice consumption and for that first summer, I ate mango and passionfruit water ice nearly every day (the flavor assortment has grown considerably over the years), often in place of dinner. These days, I try to hold off and save it as a special treat, one to savor and turn to on those hot summer days. I haven't had any yet this year, but it's going to be another hot day today. It might just be the perfect day for my first cup of smooth, fruity, wonderful water ice.
If you've been a part of the online community during the last year or so then you know what it means to be Rick Rolled. Someone sends you a link, but when you click on it, instead of being directed to the site you thought you'd see, you are treated to Rick Astley singing his hit, Never Gonna Give You Up. It's a trend that has touched every corner of the internet, including our foodie world. Case in point, the 
Lavender: So hot right now. Lavender.
Some types of kids will eat the icing off the birthday cake and leave the moist, denuded slab of cake lying dead on the plate. They'll pull the crispy bits off the fried chicken and leave the meaty carcass behind. 
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