Whimsical Kitchen Therapy with Rachel Leigh

So tonight I tried making buttercream frosting for the first time because it’s my husband‘s birthday in a few hours. What I learned is not to use only shortening I think it would’ve been much better. Had I used half shortening and half butter. I ended up needing to add, some cream of tartar and powdered sugar to make it not taste like oil.

I will add photos of the finished product tomorrow morning. It’s been a long, but wonderful few days attending the psychotherapy worker symposium virtually. This baking experience definitely kept me in ventral vagal. I forgot to mention that it is also my sweet potato’s 13th birthday, and he got to lick the peanut butter buttercream. 

Cranberry Cream Cheese Conundrum


One of my New Year's resolutions (more like aspirations) is to be more consistent with my "Whimsical Kitchen Therapy" blog. This is where I share my passion for baking and cooking; linking lessons learned to life's ups and downs. A common theme that comes up with clients in my day job is the Dialectical Behavioral Therapy concept of Radical Acceptance. By accepting that sometimes things just are what they are, regardless of our desire for them to be so. And then sometimes ...

Change is possible. The hard part? Figuring out what to change and how. Such was my dilemma when preparing cranberry cream cheese bars yesterday. I found a good recipe on Valya's Taste Of Home but I wanted to make it healthier (as healthy-ish eating is another New Year's intention). I used coconut milk instead of heavy whipping cream for the filling and swapped out half the butter for coconut oil chunks in the dough portion. The consistency of the dough was silky instead of dry but I was okay with this. But then I hit a snag.

The recipe suggests using a pan that's 12 x 9. Most of my bakeware lacks clearly indicated measurements and I assumed that I'd be fine using my rectangular, Pyrex lasagna thingy (I don't know if it's called a tray or a pan or what). Wrong! My container was too long, the dough too thin and I did exactly what it said not to do---essentially, not to color outside of the lines. My cranberry topping initiated a mind meld with the creamy, white filling. I was going to let it be but I didn't want my shortbread base to be too thin. There's no thinness in baking!

I'm Amelia Bedelia in everything but especially when it comes to baking. I scooped and flung the topping into a bowl, scraped the blemished middle into a bowl and wadded up and tossed the too smooth dough into another one. Radical Acceptance time? Nah! I made a second batch and somehow the dough came out more crumbly. Magical bonus! I combined the doughs and pressed them into the glass bakeware, then layered the unintentionally dyed filling on top and topped it with the cranberry compote. Somehow, I totally missed the last step which is adding the pre-separated disc of dough that gets shredded onto the top ala streusel.

The important thing here is that I made something yummy out of a potentially binnable dessert. I was happy with the results. The messy, purple bars were healthy-ish and delicious. Had I allowed my disappointment in the initial results overshadow the opportunity to try something new, I would've felt defeated. Change is possible when we pause and allow ourselves to change.

Cranberry Cream Cheese Conundrum One of my New Year’s resolutions (more like aspirations) is to be more consistent with my “Whimsical Kitchen Therapy” blog. This is where I share my passion for baking and cooking…

https://bit.ly/3p32WBd

Frosting Fiasco: Lessons Learned The night before last, I decided to bake my husband a Russian-style honey cake. We split a generous slice of such cake a few weeks ago at a Dolan, a Uyghur restaurant in Cleveland Park, and it was …

Well I thought I’d try my hand at a beautiful cake for my mom’s birthday. It’s our first round of birthdays without my stepdad. So I needed it to be special.

Because ADHD, everything takes me double the time I think it will. It was only after 6 hours in the kitchen (1 was chilling), that my husband realized the directions never said 40 minutes from start to finish. That was just the baking time. Zoiks!

I added a box mix to cake flour and a handful of other ingredients. I finally figured out how to use parchment paper in a cake pan. Hint: not by cutting out circles that are too small for MLK the pan bottoms. No - you use a big sheet that goes up the sides then trim. I did this to 3 circular pans, 2 springform pans and 2 tart tins. I slathered something called cake goop (an equal mixture of vegetable or vanilla oil, vegetable shortening, and flour).

I mixed up the batter and filled the pans with batter and added food coloring and baked. They came out perfectly! OMG I finally made a truly beautiful cake! My Italian meringue was perfect. Not one layer cracked. The rings weren’t perfectly symmetrical but I knew they wouldn’t be. It’s part of what makes me a whimsical baker. And then…

The frosting part. My beautiful cake was as stubborn as I was. The frosting didn’t adhere to a couple parts no matter what I did. I did the crumb coat. I chilled it. I whispered sweet nothings to it. I cursed at it. I added more frosting. No worries. I had more trick up my sleeve. I tried this thing I saw on Facebook where a young woman situated an open-ended cylinder on top then poured melted frosting into it. Lifting it created a marbling effect. It worked! It was beautiful, purple, and swirly! And then…

The frosting wouldn’t stick to the sides and the pink frosting under it turned the cake into Pepto bismol. Grody to the max! So the moral of the story is never underestimate the wonders of sprinkles and decorating sugar. It’s the most whimsical and delicious cake I’ve ever made.

Instead of a Rainbow Cake, I created a “Throw Everything at the MFing Cake” cake. It reminds me of Van Goh’s Starry Night. I love it because it’s so - - me. I know it will garner some laughs which we all desperately need.

Keep it whimsical!

Omg is delicious and it was so easy! And my Pampered Chef stoneware photo bombed

I’m making this as we speak and I’m watching hockey on the couch with my hubby. It’s literally as easy as she says.

https://youtu.be/ZEuhE118n7M

Caramel Sauce in the Pampered Chef Deluxe Cooking Blender and How To Clean Your Blender [2020] You can make fresh homemade Caramel Sauce in your Pampered Chef Deluxe Cooking Blender and it's very easy to do. Just add your ingredients and press sauce a...

Cake a little lopsided? It's easy! Add another coat of frosting (I made my own with cream cheese, powdered sugar, and raspberries pureed in my PC Deluxe Blender and then used my PC Easy Accent Decorator. One of my favorites!

I view kitchen buying quality kitchen appliances and tools the same way I do buying good shoes. I invest the money because of a products quality, support, and longevity. This is my favorite Pampered Chef product so far! It's self cleaning! I've used it for blending smoothies, pulsing pie dough, cooking and reheating soup. My Launch Party weekend goal is to use it to make a caramel sauce. I'll post the recipe for that later. Please visit me here to order your next quality PC product: https://www.pamperedchef.com/pws/rachelleigh

Whimsical Kitchen Therapy with Rachel Leigh updated their business hours.