The Phantom Moon

Pig Invasion

On Sunday, we had a Pig Invasion Party for my BB's 6th birthday party.  My daughter is obsessed with these little Green Piggies (a la Angry Birds) and now has a total of 14 green stuffed pigs.  She's given them all special names, each has a special place in her room and they are her "brothers and sisters" (she's a crack up). 

For her Pig Invasion cake, I made a yellow cake with creamy buttercream icing that was covered in fondant and pigs galore.  Everything (with the exception of the cake boards) was completely edible, from the giant moon rock craters to the wood, ice / glass and stone planks.  All of the figurines were painstakingly made in fondant and had to meet my boss's (aka the birthday girl) approval.

The cake design is loosely based on some of the levels from Angry Birds Space which was both fun and a challenge to bring to life in cake.  I incorporated her 11 Green Pigs, 1 BB Pig (to her specifications since it's her of course) and 4 random pigs.

This is BB Pig (above) with "King Pickles", her favorite of the bunch.  And what kind of party would it be without a birthday cake, presents and desserts galore?  In total she had 5 presents, birthday cake with 6 candles, donuts, ice cream, cookies, eclairs, lollipops and soft pretzels.

I have to say, this set up was my hubby's idea and I wish I had gotten a better shot of it.  He placed the pigs on a riser of sorts made out of the mini wooden planks I'd made out of fondant.  And of course, more yummy desserts were sprinkled around them!  I'm surprised those pigs didn't eat any of the sweets before the party started but I'm sure it had to do with the fact that everyone was eyeballin' them during the party. 

The TNT boxes were some of my favorites!  Unlike the planks, these aren't solid and were built piece by piece which I think gives them a bit more charm.  Boom baby!  And since I couldn't find any mini letter cutters that would work I had to individually cut each out with my trusty exacto blade and I'm so thankfully none of the letters were curved or I would have been toast.

If you look closely, you'll see some of the mini edible glitter stars that I found online and stuck to the cake.  I had to add each one by one and I swear, by the time I was adding the stars it was at least 3am (the night before the party) and I was going cross eye'd, but at least they came out well!

And look, mint chocolate chip ice cream in a waffle cone!  Not my baby's favorite flavor but since I was doing the work I figured I had earned the right to add something I liked, ya know?

Here she is in all her cakey spacey piggy glory.  I absolutely loved how it came out and BB was so happy as well which makes all of those late nights working on mini fondant pigs, planks and sweeties worth it.  Happy 6th Birthday, love!

Casatiello Napoletano Recipe

Have you ever heard of Casatiello Napoletano?  It's a peppery and savory bread filled with delicious salami and pecorino cheese that many Italians (including my husband's family) enjoy during Easter.  My Mother In Law made this for me when my hubby and I were dating and I absolutely loved it.  She's been making this bread for ages and only stopped until recently since she hasn't been feeling her best.  I thought since I've been baking like a madwoman anyway that I would surprise her, my hubby and the rest of the family by trying my hand at making my own.

So here's my version of Casatiello Napoletano.  I've taken a few recipes that I found online and tweaked them to work for me since there are so many different variations.  Most of the recipes were in Italian and when I translated one on Google here's what I got "Place the flour, put yourselves in the middle lard, salt, pepper, and helping with other warm water, mix everything until dough is soft that you will work hard for ten minutes tapping on the table" ... umm, maybe it got a little messed up in translation?  Lol.  If you'd rather not go through that headache yourself you are welcome to try my recipe below.

So here it is, the tried and true recipe that has worked like a charm and was given multiple thumbs up from my err, picky, family ...

Here are two baked versions of the Casatiello ...
Casatiello on the left was made in a bundt pan and inverted,
the one on the right was made in an Angel Food pan and is more traditional

Casatiello Napoletano Recipe

Ingredients
400 g flour
250 ml water
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp yeast
2 1/2 tsp of pepper
100 g lard
150 g baby genoa salame (cut into small squares, about a 1/4 inch)
200 g pecorino romano (cut into small squares, about a 1/4 inch)

Directions
Combine flour, water, salt, sugar, yeast and pepper.  Mix ingredients for 10 minutes or until well combined.  Lightly grease bowl and place dough, covered in plastic wrap, in a warm place for 1 hour to rise.

Mix rested dough with lard and let rest for another hour.  When mixed, lightly spread lard onto dough and incorporate well so that you do not leave lumps of lard in the dough (this will make is greasy).

Carefully mix in by hand the cubed meat and cheese.  Place in greased (sprayed or spread with lard) angel food or bundt pan and let rest for at least another hour or until doubled.  20 minutes before the bread is ready, preheat oven to  400°.

Cook at 400° for 45 minutes.  Raise the temperature to 450° and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes until the bread achieves a nice caramel color.

Since it's a pretty rich and savory bread, they are usually made just once a year around Christmas time.  That being said, I've made this 4 times already in the last 2 months.  Now that my hubby knows that he can pretty much have this yummy bread on demand (instead of having to wait for it once a year from his momma) he's in heaven.  I think I've created a monster, lol.

Enjoy and have fun making your own Casatiello!

White Bread, Baby

As it turns out we are a big bread family.  And since I've been baking bread like crazy around here, it was only natural that I'd eventually tackle making a loaf or two of white bread.  Or maybe that should have been the first thing I made versus Artisan Bread?  No difference at this point I guess, but today was the day for White Bread.  And let me tell you, I don't know that we'll be able to go back to a regular Stroehmann loaf again ...

It was an extremely easy bread to make and less than 2 hours later I had two steaming loaves of delicious bread taunting me as they cooled on my counter.

I've had two slices so far (each with butter, thank you) and BB and my Mom have enjoyed a slice or two as well.  Here's the recipe if you'd like to take a stab at making some delicious bread of your own this week:

Traditional White Bread
adapted from AllRecipes.com

Ingredients
4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 tablespoons white sugar
2 1/2 cups warm water (100-110 degrees F)
3 tablespoons lard, softened (or vegetable oil)
1 tablespoon coarse salt
6 1/2  to 7 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Directions
* In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let bloom for 10 minutes until the yeast develops a nice foam.  Stir in the lard (or oil) and mix.  Slowly mix in flour, a cup at a time until the dough is not too sticky.  Knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes.
* Lightly oil or spray a large bowl, then place the dough in the bowl making sure to turn and coat it lightly with oil. Cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
* After it's had time to rise, turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into two equal pieces and form into loaves. Place the loaves into two lightly greased 9x5 inch loaf pans. Cover the loaves with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let rise again until doubled in volume, about 40-60 minutes.
* Bake risen loaves in a 375 degrees F for about 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown.  Allow to cool on racks before slicing. 

I plan on trying other recipes as well but this baby is totally a keeper.  Maybe I should cut up a piece, slather on a little honey and warm up a small glass of milk to fill my belly before bedtime ...