Delicious Mashed Red Potatoes

The word delicious would obviously be my opinion of the potatoes I made yesterday. So in an attempt to try to remember how I made them and make sure I can find my jottings again, I've decided to post it here. In turn, sharing it with you too.

Using a bag of red potatoes, I quartered each one and then removed any bad or blemished parts. I would say it was between 4 - 5 lbs in all. I boiled them in a large pot with 5 cloves of garlic, peeled and enough water to cover the potatoes. Boil covered, at a low temperature (otherwise your pot will boil over - I'm really good at this), until the potatoes are tender, about 20 - 25 minutes. As it simmers the potatoes become infused with garlic.

Drain the potatoes and remove the garlic. I placed the potatoes in my standing electric mixer with 1/2 cup of butter (1 stick). The warmth of the potatoes melts the butter nicely and the mixer does a good job of mashing the potatoes while they are still warm. I then added 1/2 cup of milk, and 1/4 cup of sour cream, and 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper and blended it all together.

It was that easy and really delicious. This recipe makes plenty; enough even for leftovers. And of course you could adjust the amount of butter, milk and/or sour cream to change the creaminess or consistency to your liking.

Cake and Cupcakes

It was a birthday for two little princesses and their dad. The only request I had was for red velvet cake and the rest was up to me. I turned to my Martha Stewart's Wedding Cakes book for a recipe and found one. I also decided to use the cream cheese frosting associated with the cake in the book. The cake idea came from Wilton.

I doubled the cake recipe and ended up with so much batter that it made plenty of cupcakes too. The cake and frosting combination tasted really good. Yummy. I'd make it again. I'm yet to be disappointed with the recipes from Martha's book. I must be honest and say that the recipes aren't the easiest - they are more time consuming than the basic cake recipe. And as much as I enjoy baking and decorating, it makes me really appreciate the work that goes into a professional bakery.

The consistency of the frosting was perfect for the cupcakes, but not so much for the princess castle. It was just a little too soft, and I struggled a little with the construction. I'm not really sure how I could avoid this in the future. Although in the end, all turned out well. Maybe more than well. You can only imagine the smile and excitement of a little girl at her very own princess castle cake.

The cupcakes were were really easy and lots of fun. The dots design was done with rolled fondant which I colored and cut into 3 different sizes. I thought it was a fun alternative to the traditional birthday cake.

Creating and Painting

Here's what I did Saturday. We had so much fun creating and painting. Everyone added their own personal style by using different colors or stencils.

I know that this activity was such short notice, but I had to just had to jump at the opportunity. If you would like to join us next time, be sure to mark your calendars for December 13th.

And anyone who would like to share what they did, please post a link in the comments. I would love to see them.