Apple Pies and Pastry Tricks

September 23, 2016 By Korena in the Kitchen 3 Comments

Now that it’s officially fall, part of me is like, “where the heck did summer go so fast?” and the other part of me (the part that prefers slippers to shorts and likes putting on a jacket to go outside) is all, “FALL! I’VE BEEN WAITING SO LONG!” Other than the wardrobe options, I love this season because pretty much every year, someone or other gives me a bunch of baking apples from their tree or their parent’s tree or their cousin’s neighbour’s son’s teacher’s tree. Everyone has apples to give away and I will happily take them all, because it means I can make apple pie, and that is about my favourite thing to make.

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{Naked} Carrot Wedding Cake

September 10, 2016 By Korena in the Kitchen 1 Comment

In July, I made a wedding cake for my friend Clare and her now-husband Tony. I’ve known Clare for most of my life – we first met in grade 1, and we shared the unique experience of having parents who were teachers and/or principals in a small town, thereby ensuring that most of our friends had been either taught social studies, ukulele, French and/or given detention by our mum or dad. We were in French immersion together from grade 7 onward, and I have a vivid memory of dressing as the Spice Girls with a group of friends for one of her epic birthday parties (I, slightly unconvincingly, was Scary Spice). We sort of lost touch after high school when we both moved away to university and started Adult Life, but I was totally thrilled when Clare told me she was getting married and asked if I would make her cake. Obviously, I said yes!

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Poached Plum Pavlova with Spun Caramel

September 4, 2016 By Korena in the Kitchen 4 Comments

I have majorly fallen off the Daring Kitchen challenge bandwagon (the last challenge I did was in May!), and even now, my attempt to jump back on is a week late. But better late than never, right? August’s challenge, set by Marcellina, was the pavlova: a crisp meringue base filled with whipped cream and fruit. While both New Zealand and Australia claim to be the originator of this dessert, it is named after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, because the billows of meringue and cream are supposed to resemble her tutu. That might be a bit of a stretch, but I completely understand why Australia and New Zealand are fighting over it, because DANG, pavlova is delicious! I’ve made several in the past, and for a while the header image on my blog was a pavlova, but somehow I’ve never actually posted a recipe. So finally, here it is….

Martha Stewart’s Carrot Cake

July 28, 2016 By Korena in the Kitchen 10 Comments

When it comes to carrot cake, there are a few non-negotiables: there must be carrots, nuts, spices, and cream cheese frosting. From here, carrot cake fans seem to be divided into two camps: those who prefer their cake “without stuff”, ie: no additions to the list above, and those who like their cake “with stuff”: raisins, pineapple, coconut, dates, etc. I discovered this divide when doing carrot cake research (it’s totally a thing) after a friend asked me to make her a carrot wedding cake. I already knew of a fantastic carrot cake “with stuff” (courtesy of the rebar cookbook), so I needed one “without stuff” to compare. It just so happened that Nate needed a birthday cake, and carrot cake is his favourite. Recipe testing win!

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Twinkie Bundt

June 30, 2016 By Korena in the Kitchen 3 Comments

Never having eaten a Twinkie, and – perhaps more importantly – never having wanted to eat a Twinkie, I wasn’t all that tempted to make the Twinkie Bundt Cake when it started making the rounds on food blogs… until my cousin Cecilia posted Smitten Kitchen’s version on my Facebook wall, along with three little words: “I dare you!” It was a long weekend, I had no plans, and well, she dared me – so Operation Twinkie Bundt was born.

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Homemade Wedding Cake, Part III: Assembly and Decoration

June 7, 2016 By Korena in the Kitchen 9 Comments

At last, we are at the end of the Homemade Wedding Cake saga! To recap thus far, we’ve made vanilla butter cake, and we’ve also made vanilla buttercream, blackberry compote, chocolate ganache, and vanilla-bourbon syrup. Now it’s time to put them all together and make that wedding cake!

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Olive, Rosemary & Parmesan Twist Bread

May 27, 2016 By Korena in the Kitchen 1 Comment

The May Daring Kitchen challenge was brought to us by Tandy of Lavender and Lime, who provided us with a beautiful bread recipe and a fun twisting technique to shape it. I used to bake bread almost weekly, and this was a nice reminder of how much I like doing it. Homemade bread really is magical, especially when it looks this pretty.

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Homemade Wedding Cake, Part II: Fillings and Frosting

May 19, 2016 By Korena in the Kitchen 11 Comments

Previously, we talked vanilla butter cake… and now we’re talking fillings, frosting, and et cetera (and assembly and decoration talk can be found here). The fillings here are blackberry compote and chocolate ganache, the frosting is vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream, and the et cetera is a vanilla bean-bourbon simple syrup for brushing on the cake layers.

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Homemade Wedding Cake, Part I: Vanilla Butter Cake Recipe

May 6, 2016 By Korena in the Kitchen 43 Comments

If you’ve been reading for a while, you may remember when this happened:

Well, in September, this happened:

We had a completely fantastic day with close friends and family, a gorgeous setting, and delicious food – including a homemade wedding cake by yours truly.

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Kouign Amann

April 30, 2016 By Korena in the Kitchen 6 Comments

Kouign amann. Pronounced “queen ahmahn”, also known as “delicious”. Layers of yeasted dough, butter, and sugar, baked until puffed, holey, and caramelized, like an amazing caramel croissant/danish hybrid. It’s been on my “to make” list for a few years, and the Daring Kitchen challenge this month finally gave me a reason to try it.

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