Barefoot Blogging: Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread

This was my second time cooking something up with the Barefoot Bloggers, and it was another huge success!!

This cornbread is sooooooooo good! It is fluffy and moist, without being too crumbly. No butter on top was needed. The peppers add the perfect amount of heat. The cheese on top is delicious. Everything about it was great. I am also happy to be able to cross cornbread off my list of 100 things to make from scratch. And I'm even more happy to say that using my new stand mixer was a success this time! :)

I am happy with the consistently great results I get with Ina Garten's recipes. I'm looking forward to the next one!


Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread
Barefoot Contessa at Home

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 cups milk
3 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted, plus extra to grease the pan
8 ounces aged extra-sharp Cheddar, grated, divided
1/3 cup chopped scallions, white and green parts, plus extra for garnish, 3 scallions (I used chives and they were great)
3 tablespoons seeded and minced fresh jalapeno peppers

Combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the milk, eggs, and butter. With a wooden spoon, stir the wet ingredients into the dry until most of the lumps are dissolved. Don't overmix! Mix in 2 cups of the grated Cheddar, the scallions and jalapenos, and allow the mixture to sit at room temperature for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 by 13 by 2-inch baking pan.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and sprinkle with the remaining grated Cheddar and extra chopped scallions. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool and cut into large squares. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Margaritas

Margaritas are one of the items on my list of 1oo things that I would like to make from scratch. I thought that the 4th of July would be the perfect time to try them. So we did, and I was right! These drinks were AMAZING, very refreshing, but with a definite kick! This recipe makes two small margaritas, but I would never be able to drink more than one in a night, they're very strong. I'm telling you though, once you try these, you will never go back to bottled margarita mix again.

Margaritas
Adapted from Bobby Flay's Smokey Margarita

4 ounces white/silver tequila
2 ounces triple-sec
2 ounces fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons simple syrup
ice

Pour the tequila, triple-sec, lime juice, and simple syrup in a pitcher. Stir. Pour into glasses with ice cubes.

To make simple syrup: Bring 2/3 cup water and 2/3 cup sugar to boil in a saucepan, stirring often. When sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and let cool completely. Store in the fridge in an airtight container.

Enjoy :)

Guacamole

Is guacamole substantial enough to qualify as a favorite food? I could fill tortillas with nothing but guacamole and eat that for dinner every day, I can never get enough fresh, bright guacamole.

Over the past year or so, I've gradually tweaked my recipe, but I think I've finally come up with the perfect formula for awesome guacamole. Here are my tips for making the perfect sized batch for two people.

1. Purée one large avacodo in a food processor with the juice of one lime and a good amount of cilantro, probably at least 1/2 of a cup (no need to chop the cilantro beforehand if using a food processor). I find that my mini processor is the perfect size for this. I used to just mash my avacodo with two forks and it worked fine, but after trying out the food processor method, I find that I like the smooth consistency better. I also used to add lemon juice to my guacamole as well. There's nothing wrong with this, it gives the guacamole more citrus flavor, which I'm in the mood for sometimes. It all depends on your taste.

2. Finely (and I mean finely) dice a red onion. For this recipe, I would use 1/2 of a small onion. I like to dice mine very small because then I don't end up with crunchy, raw onion-y guacamole, I end up with onion flavored guacamole.

3. Add the avacado puree to the onions. Season with salt.

4. Add one diced tomato to the guacamole. Make sure to cut the tomato in half and squeeze the excess liquid out over the sink or garbage can first. This was you won't end up with watery guacamole.

5. Add one finely, finely chopped jalapeno to the guacamole. It's up to you whether you want to leave the seeds in or not, the more seeds you have, the hotter the guacamole.

6. Mix everything together.

There it is! My favorite way to eat guacamole. How does everyone else like theirs?

Daring Bakers: Peach-Raspberry Danish Braid

Oops!! I'm a day late!!

I had honest intentions to post yesterday, my braid was ready and everything, however....... Craig decided (somewhat impulsively) to buy a playstation 3 yesterday afternoon, so needless to say, we were preoccupied with our new toy all night!! This is a horrible excuse for not posting on time, I know, but I hope the Daring Bakers won't kick me out because of it! :)

About my previous post - Ben, you were correct, the oven in my apartment when I moved in had no temperatures written on the oven knob! It was completey unusable!! I was really upset because everything else about this place is amazing, but if I couldn't use my kitchen, what was the point! Not only that, but my parents gave me a KitchenAid stand mixer for a graduation present!!!! I left it in the box and everything for TWO WHOLE WEEKS because I didn't want to re-package it for the big move, so I came to the new place, all ready to bake up some treats, and the oven doesn't even work!

Luckily, maintenance came out a few days later and fixed the problem for us, just in time to make my braid for this month's daring bakers challenge. WHEW!

I really wish I could say that this challenge was more of a success, but the truth is I didn't even end up eating most of it :( I hate saying that, but it really just wasn't a winner. Craig didn't even try it. I thought that my new mixer with the fancy dough hook would magically produce an amazingly perfect puff pastry dough, but I must have went wrong somewhere. My dough was really, really tough to roll out. I couldn't even get it to the size listed in the recipe. It must have been too dry, or I let it knead for too long. Either way, it produced a very dense danish braid.

The peach-raspberry filling that I made ended up being very tasty. All I did was peel and chop 4 peaches, place them in a collander with 1 cup of frozen raspberries and let them drain for 30 minutes. I then topped them with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a few tablespoons of powdered sugar, then mixed everything together. I'm not gonna lie, I pretty much ended up eating the filling and barely any of the pastry :(

I can't say that this challenge was a total failure. I learned how to make puff pastry which was a task I never thought I would ever tackle in my lifetime. And I learned that it's not as hard as you might think. I am definitely going to give this recipe a try in the future, or another puff pastry recipe. I can't expect perfection on my first try, right?

Make sure to check out the Daring Bakers website for more information on the group, and to check out the lovely braids that other bakers made this month!

For the recipe, check out Ben's website, What's Cooking, the co-host of this month's challenge.

Chicken, take two. And a quick question......

Ina Garten's parmesan chicken recipe was so fantastic, I had to use my leftover ingredients to make it for Craig when he got home last night. He loved it! This time, I sprinkled a little bit of finely chopped parsely and basil over the chicken and greens. I had some around that I wanted to use up, plus, the flavors went well with the chicken and lemon and it made for an extra-pretty presentation.

I also used my leftover red potatoes, bacon, and chives to make some awesome smashed potatoes. It was a super simple recipe, just smashing everything together, skin on the potatoes, with some warm milk, melted butter, salt, and pepper.


And now for my question:

When I moved into my new apartment on Sunday, this was the oven that greeted me.
Who can tell me what's wrong with this picture!?!?!?

Barefoot Blogging: Parmesan Chicken

I recently joined the Barefoot Bloggers, a group of bloggers dedicated to trying two new Ina Garten recipes each month. This was my first time participating! I made Ina's recipe for parmesan chicken last night and it was terrific. It is a very simple and light recipe that is perfect for summertime. I have never made chicken at home that turned out so juicy. The recipe is rated "intermediate" on the Food Network website, but I think it's pretty foolproof. I stuck to the recipe almost exactly, however I did scale it down quite a bit since I was only cooking for one. I used frozen chicken tenderloins that I defrosted in the fridge overnight. And to add a little more flavor to the chicken, I rubbed some grated lemon zest through the breadcrumbs that coated the chicken pieces.
I'm looking forward to next month's recipes!

Parmesan Chicken
Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa Family Style

4 to 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 extra-large eggs
1 tablespoon water
1 1/4 cups seasoned dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving
Unsalted butter
Good olive oil
Salad greens for 6, washed and spun dry
1 recipe Lemon Vinaigrette, recipe follows

Pound the chicken breasts until they are 1/4-inch thick. You can use either a meat mallet or a rolling pin.

Combine the flour, salt, and pepper on a dinner plate. On a second plate, beat the eggs with 1 tablespoon of water. On a third plate, combine the bread crumbs and 1/2 cup grated Parmesan. Coat the chicken breasts on both sides with the flour mixture, then dip both sides into the egg mixture and dredge both sides in the bread-crumb mixture, pressing lightly.

Heat 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute pan and cook 2 or 3 chicken breasts on medium-low heat for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until cooked through. Add more butter and oil and cook the rest of the chicken breasts. Toss the salad greens with lemon vinaigrette. Place a mound of salad on each hot chicken breast. Serve with extra grated Parmesan.

Lemon Vinaigrette:

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/2 cup good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Yield: 6 servings

Enjoy :)

New Blog! And a Simple, Summer Supper.

I'm back! And this time, I mean it :)
For those of you who were familiar with my blog before it flatlined, you know that I have been very busy with graduate school. Well, as of two weeks ago, graduate school is FINISHED and my lovely M.A. degree is being displayed proudly on a bookshelf in my new apartment! :)

YAY!!!

And on Sunday, Craig and I moved into our new, spacious apartment. We have an amazing patio in the new place, with great sunlight in the evening, so I'm sure you will notice a change in the quality of my pictures. And if life couldn't get any better, we both have JOBS!!! A huge plus!!

So...... all that said, I'm ready to get cooking again! And rather than cook to get by on a student budget and schedule, I'll be cooking to try new things and bring some creativity to our eating. So I hope people still come back to read!

Tonight, it was just me here for dinner, so I had to come up with a meal for one. I decided on a simple salad with fresh tomatoes, fresh corn, and a tasty potato salad. I chose these ingredients at Whole Foods becase I could smell the fresh tomatoes and corn before I even saw them! I had to find a way to use these delicious ingredients in an easy meal for one.


The potato salad was definitely the best and easiest potato salad I've ever made (but does anything with bacon in it ever really taste bad?) The portion I made would probably feed about two or three, but it was so good, I'm happy to have leftovers!


Bacon and Blue Cheese Potato Salad

1. Cook 5 strips of thick-cut bacon in a skillet or oven. Drain or pat off grease. Set aside.
2. Clean 4 medium red-skinned potatoes. Cut each in half. Boil until fork tender and ready to eat. Drain and then dump back into hot pan to remove excess moisture on potatoes.
3. When cool enough to handle, cut potatoes into bite-sized pieces. Put pieces in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Crumble a good quality blue cheese over the potatoes. Use as much as you like, but I love mine cheesy!
5. Crumble the bacon over the potatoes and cheese.
6. Add a few tablespoons of chives to the potatoes. I used garlic chives from Whole Foods and they were perfect.
7. Drizzle a few tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil over the potatoes.
8. Mix everything together. Eat!


Yummy Corn for One

1. Using a sharp knife, cut the kernels off of one fresh ear of corn.
2. Finely dice some red onion.
3. Saute the onions in a little bit of vegetable oil on medium-high heat for a few minutes.
4. Add the corn to the onions. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Saute corn and onions until tender. Be careful not to overcook the corn. Add butter before serving if you like (I do!!)

Enjoy :)

I'm it!

Carla of Chocolate Moosey, a fellow college blogger, has tagged me! The rules are you must answer the questions and then tag five more people. Happy reading!

What were you doing 10 years ago?
Spring, 1998: I guess this would have been right about the time I finished 8th grade. I spent 8th grade at the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati, Ohio. I majored in drama and creative writing. Towards the end of the year, I began to realize that many of the students at this school were incredibly talented individuals who would have careers in the arts, while I was more interested in it as a hobby. I chose to go back to my home high school with all of my close friends, a decision that I'm happy with! But I will always value that year at SCPA.

What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today:
*Grocery shopping.
*Start making orzo salad for tomorrow.
*Watch So You Think You Can Dance?
*Relax.
*Go to bed early.

Five snacks you enjoy?
1. Ice cream, gelato, popsicles, frozen treats in general.
2. Fancy cheese and crackers, like Jarlsberg and Boursin.
3. Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate. Especially paired with peanut butter.
4. Sour cream and onion potato chips.
5. Wild berry skittles.

Five things you would do if you were a billionaire
1. Travel to Italy, France, Greece, Australia, Hawaii, California wine country, Portland, Fiji........
2. Buy my dream house.
3. Buy a nice, environmentally friendly car.
4. Pay off family debt and student loans.
5. Take cooking classes.

Places you have lived:
*Cincinnati, Ohio
*Athens, Ohio
*Columbus, Ohio
* Do 5 weeks in Italy count?

Jobs you have had:
*Movie theater
*RA
*Dining hall
*Freshmen orientation advisor in college
*Computer lab monitor

**Future jobs.....

*Child care center worker - this summer.
* School counselor!!!! :) I got this job yesterday, I start in August, yay!!!!!!!! My graduate school has been well worth the work and effort!!!

Now I'm tagging 5 more people......

Love and Olive Oil
Pleasure Cooker
Playing With My Food
Besides Pizza
Cookie Madness

Chipotle Chicken Pizza

Of all the things I've EVER cooked in my life, this has to be the best.

Seriously. I'm not sure the pictures do this pizza justice, but trust me, it was soooooo good.

The crust is dough that we bought at Trader Joe's. I topped the dough with fontina cheese, tomato slices, red onion slices, grilled chicken pieces, and bacon. When it came out of the oven, I topped the pizza with avacado chunks and cilantro, and drizzled each slice with a chipotle sauce, made simply by combining sour cream and chipotles in the food processor.

I think the thing that made this pizza so delicious was the quality of the ingredients. Ever since I discovered the cheese section at Whole Foods, I haven't been able to go back to the blocks of stuff I used to buy at the supermarket. The fontina cheese was really wonderful, ALL the cheeses I've bought there have been wonderful.

So today's lesson - Use the best ingredients you can find! They really shine through!

Also - You should make this pizza! So easy and so good!!!

Enjoy :)

Daring Baker Time Again :)

Just not for me, unfortunately :( I desperately wanted to make the cheesecake pop recipe this month, but there just wasn't time. I was even thinking about trying to do it this week, but then I saw all of the posts pop up today and forgot that today was the deadline!

I'll be back next month for sure, I'm going home to Cincinnati for Memorial Day so I'll definitely have some free time to bake.

Be sure to click on the icon above to check out all of the beautiful cheesecake pops from this month!

80th Post

I swear I've been eating lately, I just haven't had the time to blog. And my food hasn't exactly been blog-worthy, just a bunch of good stand-by dishes and a lot of stuff from the prepared section of Whole Foods......

Like these...

...and this cappuccino cheesecake!! :) Perfect size for two and sooooooo creamy and good.

But with the Praxis coming up, (tomorrow!!), and my master's comprehensive exams in two weeks, plus a TON of job applications to work on, cooking, baking, and blogging have pretty much been put on hold for now.

But I really can't wait to get back into cooking and recipe testing!!

So just to prove I've been eating lately, and have had honest intentions of blogging.....



(Comfort food :)
As soon as grad school ends and stops consuming my life, and I've moved into my new apartment, I'll be back into the blogging groove. For now I just have to enjoy the pictures on everyone else's blog and stock up on recipes I can't wait to try!!

Insanely delicious cookies!

Short post today, but I had to share the recipe for these goodies with you all.

I've never been great at making cookies. They always come out very odd looking, paper-thin and crispy with big chocolate chip bumps. But these were different. These are the perfect size and texture, soft but not crumbly. The cookies are made with peanut butter and chocolate chips, plus peanut butter chips. Yum!

Check out Love and Olive Oil for the recipe.

Enjoy :)

Mac and Cheeeeeeesse

Mmmmmmmmm :) That's all I can say to describe this dish. Mmmmmmmmmm :)

This weekend, I had a ridiculous craving for something warm and cheesy and comforting. I've been dying to make macaroni and cheese or au gratin potatoes all winter, but I never got around to it.

Well, the temperature reached the upper 60's today and I figured it was my last opportunity to make one of these dishes (not that I'm really complaining, BRING ON THE SPRING WEATHER!!) I had a pound of elbow macaroni calling out to me from the pantry, so my decision to make mac and cheese was a simple one. I went to Whole Foods for the cheese because I wanted to use the best stuff that I could find (and afford).

I've been stocking up on recipes for macaroni and cheese all winter, but I knew which one I had to make right away, it was no contest: Grown Up Mac and Cheese by Ina Garten. A very fancy mac and cheese that combines gruyere, extra-sharp cheddar, and blue cheeses. A few ounces of thick cut bacon pieces are also thrown into the mix. The result was a perfectly creamy, hearty, elegant, delicious pan of macaroni and cheese.

The recipe is meant to serve 2, but I would like to see Ina Garten and her husband TRY to finish an entire batch between the two of them! Her recipe was meant for two individual gratin pans, which I don't own, so I made mine in an 8x8 glass pan. Craig and I each ate a serving, plus I froze two individual servings, and there is more than enough left for dinner tomorrow, and probably the next day. So if you ever want to try this recipe, believe me, it serves more than two!!!!

In the food blogging world, I've noticed that mac and cheese isn't really a dish that photographs well. I hope my pictures do it justice! Craig even said it was the best mac and cheese he's ever had!! I would probably have to agree. The combination of cheese was perfect. The blue cheese flavor is definitely in there, but it doesn't overpower the rest of the dish. It's just perfect.

The only change I made to the recipe was in the topping. It called for fresh bread crumbs and fresh basil leaves. I didn't have either on hand, but I did have plain, store-bought bread crumbs and some grated Parmigiano Reggiano, so I mixed those two things together for the topping. I often put butter on top of my bread crumbs when I make casseroles, but trust me, this dish is rich enough. The crumbs soaked up enough of the sauce underneath and definitely didn't need any extra butter on top.

We served the mac and cheese with simple salads and roasted asparagus.

Spring is right around the corner here in Ohio, so if you want to get in any last-minute comfort food cravings, try this one out!!

Oh, and I almost forgot - This was #15 on my list! 3 things down, 97 more to go!

Enjoy :)

Grown Up Mac and Cheese
Barefoot Contessa

4 ounces thick-sliced bacon
Vegetable oil
Kosher salt
2 cups elbow macaroni or cavatappi
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated
3 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, grated
2 ounces blue cheese, such as Roquefort, crumbled
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pinch nutmeg
2 slices white sandwich bread, crusts removed
2 tablespoons freshly chopped basil leaves

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Place a baking rack on a sheet pan and arrange the bacon in 1 layer on the baking rack. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the bacon is crisp. Remove the pan carefully from the oven - there will be hot grease in the pan! Transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels and crumble when it is cool enough to handle.

Drizzle oil into a large pot of boiling salted water. Add the macaroni and cook according to the directions on the package, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain well.

Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan, but don't boil it. Melt the butter in a medium pot and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. While whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or 2 more, until thickened and smooth. Off the heat, add the Gruyere, Cheddar, blue cheese, 1 teaspoon salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add the cooked macaroni and crumbled bacon and stir well. Pour into 2 individual size gratin dishes.

Place the bread slices in a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until you have coarse crumbs. Add the basil and pulse to combine. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture over the top of the pasta. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the macaroni is browned on the top.

Perfect Party Cake

It's Daring Bakers time again! This month's recipe was from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking from My Home to Yours (page 250). We were given a lot of freedom to play around with flavors, fillings, and toppings this month, but I thought the original recipe looked great to me, so I stuck to it.

The cake is a lemon cake, flavored with lemon zest and natural lemon extract. The four layers are filled with seedless raspberry preserves. The buttercream frosting is flavored with lemon juice.

Overall, I thought this baking experience was a success!! I know this sounds kind of silly, but when I took the first bite, I thought it tasted almost exactly like the Entenmann's raspberry danish that we used to eat a lot when I was little!! I love raspberry and lemon flavors together, and the cake was perfect for my family's party on Easter Sunday.

I was a little scared to try and layer my cakes, so my dad helped me do it and the layers came out fine.

The icing was probably my least favorite part of the cake, the lemon flavor wasn't very strong and I tasted a lot of butter. Next time, I would probably add some lemon extract to the icing as well. But the preserves kept the cake nice and moist so I didn't need to eat a lot of the icing with it. And at least I didn't scramble the eggs and it didn't curdle on me!!

Here is the recipe. Enjoy! :)

For the Cake

2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups whole milk or buttermilk (I prefer buttermilk with the lemon)
4 large egg whites
1 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 stick (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ teaspoon pure lemon extract

For the Buttercream
1 cup sugar
4 large egg whites
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 large lemons)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For Finishing
2/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves stirred vigorously or warmed gently until spreadable
About 1 ½ cups sweetened shredded coconut

Getting Ready
Centre a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9 x 2 inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

To Make the Cake
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.
Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant.
Add the butter and working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light.
Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed.
Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated.
Add the rest of the milk and eggs beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients.
Finally, give the batter a good 2- minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated.
Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the touch – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean
Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unfold them and peel off the paper liners.
Invert and cool to room temperature, right side up (the cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to two months).

To Make the Buttercream
Put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or another large heatproof bowl, fit the bowl over a plan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes.
The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream.
Remove the bowl from the heat.
Working with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes.
Switch to the paddle attachment if you have one, and add the butter a stick at a time, beating until smooth.
Once all the butter is in, beat in the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6-10 minutes.
During this time the buttercream may curdle or separate – just keep beating and it will come together again.
On medium speed, gradually beat in the lemon juice, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more, and then the vanilla.
You should have a shiny smooth, velvety, pristine white buttercream. Press a piece of plastic against the surface of the buttercream and set aside briefly.

To Assemble the Cake
Using a sharp serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, slice each layer horizontally in half.
Put one layer cut side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper.
Spread it with one third of the preserves.
Cover the jam evenly with about one quarter of the buttercream.
Top with another layer, spread with preserves and buttercream and then do the same with a third layer (you’ll have used all the jam and have buttercream leftover).
Place the last layer cut side down on top of the cake and use the remaining buttercream to frost the sides and top.
Press the coconut into the frosting, patting it gently all over the sides and top.

Serving
The cake is ready to serve as soon as it is assembled, but I think it’s best to let it sit and set for a couple of hours in a cool room – not the refrigerator. Whether you wait or slice and enjoy it immediately, the cake should be served at room temperature; it loses all its subtlety when it’s cold. Depending on your audience you can serve the cake with just about anything from milk to sweet or bubbly wine.

Storing
The cake is best the day it is made, but you can refrigerate it, well covered, for up to two days. Bring it to room temperature before serving. If you want to freeze the cake, slide it into the freezer to set, then wrap it really well – it will keep for up to 2 months in the freezer; defrost it, still wrapped overnight in the refrigerator.

Playing Around
Since lemon is such a friendly flavour, feel free to make changes in the preserves: other red preserves – cherry or strawberry – look especially nice, but you can even use plum or blueberry jam.

Mocha and Snoop

Sending warm thoughts to Sher.....