Bill - 26 November 2010 10:15 AM

So this year My contribution was a Black forest cake, Yellow cupcakes with “Bill’s Buttercream” ,Chocolate cupcakes with white chocolate mousseline, and a blueberry pie (that erupted a bit in the oven).  What did everyone else bake?

They are all gorgeous Bill. I think the pie, with it’s slight eruption, makes it look more rustic and even better, IMO.

I baked an upside down apple cake from Food & Wine…It came out very good and was even better the next day, after the maple syrup had a chance to penetrate the cake. I don’t have a 10 inch round cake pan yet so I used a 9x9 square.  The only issue I had was fitting a square cake into a round cake carrier..DUH!

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/maple-apple-upside-down-cake

BakerJD - 27 November 2010 09:46 PM

I made, essentially, the entire dinner.  What can I say?  I like my own cooking.   For dessert, we had pumpkin pie made with fresh pumpkin.  Usually I make Rose’s pumpkin pie, but this recipe was actually the losing recipe from Bobby Flay’s Throwdown on the Food Network.  It’s topped with maple whipped cream.

Oh, that pie looks so good! I absolutely love Bobby Flay

Loopy - 28 November 2010 03:59 AM

Bill, those cupcakes look heavenly.  Can’t quite come up with the right words for it, but the frosting looks so billowy and satiny, just the perfect texture!!  I did the Chestnut Sand cake from TCB and the Lemon Meringue Cake from RHC to appease all the lemon lovers in the family, but I wasn’t hosting.  For Christmas, I’ll be hosting, so I’ll have to do something I can make ahead…maybe the Lemon Canadian Crown again (though it would be a repeat from an event in September), or the Pumpkin Cheesecake…

It sounds delish!!

Anne in NC - 30 November 2010 09:55 AM

So I could slice and freeze something like, say, Bill’s beautiful Black Forest Cake if I gelitan-stabilized the whipped cream layers??

You bet.

  Anne in NC - 30 November 2010 09:55 AM

  So I could slice and freeze something like, say, Bill’s beautiful Black Forest Cake if I gelitan-stabilized the whipped cream layers??

You bet.

Well, all I can say is Ho! Ho! Ho!

This is news for me as well. I had no idea whipped cream can be frozen - and I always gelatin stablized mine .

Julie, you have definitely made the world a better place for baking (and freezing)!!!

Thanks, Anne, but the credit goes to Rose.  I just read and put into practice the storage guidelines from the Cake Bible.

I just read and put into practice the storage guidelines from the Cake Bible.

OMG, I am so slack!!  I read TCB cover to cover.  I have the retention of a collander full of water.  I’ll have to read it again.  Many thanks again!

And thanks, Rose!!!

Oh! How absolutely beautiful and festive! You always amaze me

Julie, just wanted to tell you that I did end up making the Lemon Angel Chiffon pie from PPB as one of my Christmas desserts—everyone loved it!  It’s so light, yet still intensely lemony.  I ended up doing the cookie nut crust because I was a little nervous about freezing a meringue shell.  So thanks again for the suggestion, it was indeed a great make-ahead pie!

Given that I’m back at work full-time now and don’t have much time for baking, I was able to indulge a little for Christmas…in addition to the Lemon Angel Chiffon pie with raspberry sauce, I also made the ice cream cake (with cherry vanilla ice cream) with the chocolate sauce, the pumpkin cheesecake with the caramel glaze, a lime-glazed sour cream pound cake (williams-sonoma recipe), an apple pie, and a batch of chocolate chip cookies for good measure…really fun to bake again!!  Unfortunately with all of the hullaballoo I completely forgot to take pictures, but they all passed the family taste test for sure!!

Wowie wow wow, they all sound so great!  Your family must have been thrilled!

The lemon chiffon pie was a hit when I served it as well

WOW! A lot of baking Loopy! Glad to hear all of them got rave reviews from the family. The Lemon Chiffon pie sounds especially nice .