Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake

/ Sarah Collins / Leave a comment

Oh, my house smelled so good after I made this cake. I started with the recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 2 cups white sugar
  • 2 eggs (room temperature)
  • 1 cup sour cream (room temperature)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 3/4 cups cake flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries (room temperature)
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 cups chopped pecans
  • confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Instructions:

  1. Move oven rake to center position in oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Spray Bundt pan with Pam for Baking
  3. Wash and remove stems from blueberries. Drain and let dry on paper towel.
  4. In a small mixing bowl gently whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder.
  5. In a small bowl stir together brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans
  6. In a large mixing bowl combine butter and white sugar. Beat on medium/medium high speed until mixture is creamy.
  7. Beat one egg at a time into sugar mixture.
  8. Add Vanilla into sugar mixture.
  9. Slowly add flour mixture to sugar mixture; about 1/3 of flour mixture at a time and beat on low speed until combined. Scrap bowl well and beat on medium speed until fully combined.
  10. Stir in sour cream.
  11. Fold Blueberries into batter.
  12. Pour approximately 1/2 of the batter into the Bundt pan.
  13. Sprinkle about 1/2 of the cinnamon/pecan mixture over the batter in the pan.
  14. Gently add the remaining batter to the Bundt pan. Make sure the batter in even in the pan.
  15. Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon/pecan mixture over the batter.
  16. Bake for 50 minutes in the preheated oven.
  17. Check the cake the make sure it is done by sticking a toothpick in the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, the cake is done. If not, continue to bake the cake and check for doneness every 5 minutes.
  18. Cool the cake on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Place a folded dishrag on a countertop and gently tap the Bundt pan on dishrag to loosen. Invert cake on wire rack and let cool completely.
  19. Dust with confectioners’ sugar.

Printer Friendly Version

Low-carb Chocolate Mousse

/ Sarah Collins / Leave a comment

I have been stocking up on the ingredients I need for my baking adventure. One staple ingredient is heavy whipping cream. Almost every grocery item I purchase; I check out the Nutrition Chart for calories, carb, sodium, etc. I wasn’t surprised, but I realized heavy whipping cream has zero carbs. One tablespoon of Hershey Cocoa has 3g carbs. An idea was formed. Chocolate Mousse – or at least that is what my taste tester said it tasted like.

Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 4 tbsp Splenda for Baking
  • 2 tsp Hershey Cocoa Powder

Instructions:

  1. Place all ingredients in a small mixing bowl.
  2. Beat on low speed until all the ingredients are combined. About 30 seconds.
  3. Beat on high speed until the mixture fluffy, the consistency of icing. About 3 minutes.
  4. Place into serving dishes.

Note: This recipe will make about three 1/2 cup servings of Chocolate Mousse.

You may add more chocolate for a more chocolate taste. The more chocolate you add the more carbs you add.

Oreo Chocolate Bundt Cake

/ Sarah Collins / 1 Comment

It’s that time again when the baking starts, and the goodies head off to work. I have several Nordic Ware Bundt pans, so this year I wanted to make some Bundt cakes for the baking season. After intense research, I decided to make an Oreo Chocolate Bundt cake. I started with the recipe from Liv for Cake.

Ingredients

Cake

  • 2 1/4 cups cake flour
  • 3/4 cup Hersey Cocoa Powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup milk (room temperature)
  • 1 cup sour cream (room temperature)
  • 1 cup butter (room temperature)
  • 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 4 large eggs (room temperature)
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 12 Oreo cookies broken into chunks

Note: Room Temperature – I place the items on the counter until the butter is soften. The butter should hold it shape but easily dented. It usually takes about an hour obtain room temperature, depending on the temperature of the room and the butter.

Icing

  • 1/2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
  • 1/2 cup Chocolate Morsels
  • Powder Sugar (if needed)
  • 1/2 cup of Hershey White Chocolate Morsels

Decorations

  • 6 Oreo cookies crushed into crumbs
  • 30 Oreo whole cookies (Optional)
  • 2 12oz packages of Hershey White Chocolate Morsels (Optional)

Instructions:

The Basics

  1. Move oven rack to the center position
  2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
  3. Spray Bundt pan with Pam for Baking and dust with cocoa powder

Cake

  1. In a small mixing bowl combine flour, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder. Whisk together until it takes on a chocolate color and set aside.
  2. In a large mixing bowl combine butter and sugar. Beat on medium-high speed until the mixture is fluffy. If using a hand mixer, scrap side of bowl regularly to make sure all ingredients are combined.
  3. Beat one egg at a time into the butter and sugar mixture, making sure it is thoroughly combined.
  4. Add vanilla to the butter and sugar mixture, making sure it is thoroughly combined.
  5. Add about a third of the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and beat on low until combined.
  6. Add about a third of the milk to the mixture and beat on low until combined.
  7. Add about a third of the sour cream and beat on low until combined.
  8. Repeat step 5 – 7 until all the ingredients (except Oreos) are well blended together.
  9. Pour half of the cake batter evenly into the Bundt pan. Springle the Oreo chunks onto the Bundt pan. Cover the Oreo chunks with the remaining batter.
  10. Make sure the cake batter is spread evenly into the Bundt pan.
  11. Bake for 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted unto the cake come out clean.
  12. Cool the cake for 10 minutes. Tap on the Bundt pan to loosen the cake and invert onto a cooling rack.
  13. Cool the cake completely. It will take several hours.
  14. Move the cake to the cake dish for icing and decorating.

Decorating – Optional

As an added bonus, I placed chocolate covered Oreos around the cake before Icing.

  1. Cover a work area with parchment paper to allow Oreos to harden.
  2. Place 12oz of white chocolate morsels in microwave safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds.
  3. Stir. Microwave for 15 seconds and stir again. Repeat until the morsels are completed melted and creamy (no chunks).
  4. Immediately, dip Oreos into white chocolate and place on parchment paper. Springle with the Oreo crumbs.

Note: I was able to make 15 covered Oreos with one 12oz bag of morsels.

Icing – Chocolate Ganache

  1. Once the cake has cool completed, you can put the Chocolate Ganache on top.
  2. In a microwave safe bowl, place 1/2 cup of Heavy Whipping Cream. Microwave for 1 minute until cream is hot (not boiling).
  3. Add 1/2 cup of chocolate morsels and let sit for 5 minutes.
  4. Stir the mixture until it has the chocolate color. The mixture must be thin enough to pour on the cake, but not runny like water.
  5. Let the mixture sit for another 5 minutes and stir. If mixture is still too thin, keep repeating this step until the mixture is cool.
  6. If the mixture is still not thick enough, add 1 tsp of powder sugar to the mixture, stir well, until the mixture is at the right consistency.
  7. Pour evenly on top of the cake.
  8. Melt 1/2 cup of white chocolate morsel in microwave and drizzle over ganache.
  9. Springle the remaining crushed Oreos over the cake

The report from the office was that the cake was devoured. So, it was probably good.

Printer Friendly Version

Railroad Town – Mill

/ Sarah Collins / Leave a comment

I have created buildings for my Railroad Town using Tinkercad. The last building I created was the town’s mercantile. If you look at the front of the building, you will notice that I created some bags of flour along with other supplies.

My thought was if the town mercantile sold flour, they would a supplier for that product. Hence, the water mill for the town was conceived. Originally, I was going to design the mechanism use to grind the grain, but it is complex. If you look in the inside you will see the beginning of the mechanism. I may complete it one day.

First I created the water wheel, which match the gears on the inside. Then I created the building. I needed a trough to direct water on to the water wheel.

The terrain had to be create and adjusted to support the trough.

The door was above water level so I needed a path to enter the building.

I copied my horses and wagon from the Tinkercad design I made for the Town Livery and loaded the wagon with copies of the flour from the town’s Mercantile design file. I just noticed the horses do not have their harness on, let me go correct that.

If you would like to see the 3D design for this building, please visit Tinkercad.

Museum of World Treasures

/ Sarah Collins / Leave a comment

The Museum of World Treasure is located in Wichita, Kansas. It contain artifacts from ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt. Their military exhibits dates from the Civil War to the fall of the Berlin Wall. As you enter the museum, T-Rex Ivan welcomes you.

Head up the stairs you are greeted by a suit of armour.

One of my goals when I visit a museum is to capture patterns, and ancient pottery works contains the most interesting designs. Along with rock formations.

The military exhibit contained the normal items you see at most exhibits, but it did have original letters written from that period of time. By today’s standards, these handwriting is a work of art. So, I wonder if the kids today did not know what the U.S. Constitution says, because the can no longer read it.

In a corner, where most people would miss seeing the display, are two tapestries. These were the most beautiful items on display at the museum.

Up Close To Fall

/ Sarah Collins / Leave a comment

The Fall Season has beautiful colors. The leaves are falling from the trees. The berries are a bright red. The sky is a brilliant blue (or it is when I go out.) It is enjoyable to go and experience that colors of fall. Sometimes, I capture something special.

Fall 2021

If you would like to see more of my Fall Photos, check out Photos by Sarah Facebook page.

Railroad Town – Mercantile

/ Sarah Collins / 2 Comments

Many years ago I created a 3d train in Tinkercad. My goal was to create all the buildings I needed for a Railroad town. (Yes, I am slow featuring the buildings here.) My Railroad Town, which I named Sunrise, has a Train Station, Saloon, Bank and other buildings. The citizens of this town would need a place to buy and sell goods; the Railroad Town Mercantile was created. Yes, I could have name in General Store, but I wanted a more sophisticated name.

This building was created in Tinkercad, which is a easy to use 3D modeling program which it free to use. It is own by Autodesk and it is their apparent their goal it to teach students how to design. This is the link to view the 3d Railroad Town Mercantile building in Tinkercad.

There is no inside of the building. I created items for placement on the porch; barrels, flour bags, crates of apples and oranges, and fabric rolls.

Note the hinge and lock on the back door. If these items were normal size and 3d printed, they would actually function.

Flower in Boxes Coloring Page

/ Sarah Collins / Leave a comment

Its finally here! 18 months later and I have added a new drawing to my Coloring Page . It is available for anyone to download and color. It was so much fun to create and color this drawing. I think I will need to create more drawings. I already have an idea for the next one. This drawing was created and colored using Corel Draw.

Here are a few examples how I colored the drawing. Be creative, color them to you desires. Mostly, have fun.

Wichita Art Museum

/ Sarah Collins / Leave a comment

The Wichita Art Museum exhibits work honoring women artists, pre-Columbian artifacts, glass works, and other sculptures and paintings. I found Kay Sekimachi’s Leaf Bowl a fascinating work of art.

The artist of the glass painting did a remarkable job capturing the light reflections.

The museum had some beautiful glass works.

One of the most interesting items in the museum was the history of the Corning Glass Works. Most of us have use Corning dishes. They made the first light bulb for Thomas Edison.

The blown glass exhibit featuring Richard Marquis was entertaining. His glass work was unique, humorous and creative.

Finally, the sculpture titled “Bed” by Lloyd Glasson was amazing.