(Inside A Black Apple)

Cocoa Rosettes

I've decided what I will be, should the artist/illustrator/whimsy-stitcher thing not work out in the long haul:

A Chocolatier.

On a recent excursion to Atlanta with the Squirrel Mother and our best Andy, we went to brand-new F.C.S. (Fancy Cooking Store), where I scurried around excitedly and acted like a loony...grabbing things here and there and emitting little yelps of glee. One thing I grabbed (and promptly paid for) was a heavy-duty bon-bon baking/chocolate molding tin. It is a really beautiful object itself, and as you can see, even more beautiful, tasty things come forth from it.

I think that most chocolate molds these days are flexible, thin, plastic...and though they are probably easier to work with, I think I would be hard-pressed to find one that makes such beautiful candies. The floret-mounds (there are two on the left) are my favorite, I think. Or maybe the wee star.

I filled them with various good things that I whipped up in tiny quantities...quite a few had tasty peanut-butter candy centers (just small balls of peanut butter mixed with a tiny bit of butter and lots of confectioner's sugar) and the others had mint and orange cream fillings, respectively. Mint, because there are NOT ENOUGH milk chocolate/mint combinations. I can never find them! And orange is just so lovely with chocolate. The creams were confect-ed of milk, butter, generous amounts of confectioner's sugar, and extracts of peppermint and orange. We surprised our dinner guests with them, and I think they were a hit.

I've got a bit of work ahead of me, so I'll stop going on about candy-making. But it is so fun...I could go on for much, much longer!

Happy Saturday, dears.

Everything was a mess, so I made some bread.

Thank you guys so much for all the support over at Venus. It's so exciting just to be nominated with such wonderful company alongside me!

My whole apartment (bedroom, studio, etc.) is messy right now, so I'm being the slightly-bored straightening-and-cleaning-fairy. You know how all of a sudden...after a few house-guests...some willful ignoring...your home is suddenly not in the least tidy. It has exploded with clutter.  And then it's a few days to set it to rights.

This weekend was nice and quiet and was mostly the aforementioned slow cleaning and being a bit of a hobbit. And I finally read the September Vogue that weighs at least as much as Miette.

Also, on Sunday afternoon I thought that the smell of fresh bread a-baking would give a nice homey-ness back  to the place, so I rustled up the really good recipe that began as Alicia's and is now a little different (due to my experimental cooking nature). It is so easy and really, really addictive when it is finished.

Really Tasty Rosemary and Olive Oil Bread
(The foundation of which is Anne's No-Knead Bread, courtesy of Ms. Alicia Paulson)

Combine and set aside:
2 C King Arthur White Whole Wheat flour (or similar...this particular pale whole wheat is really tasty, has just a tiny bit of nuttyness and is a little more nutritious than its white counterpart)
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 Tablespoon + 1 pinch Salt
2 packages of dry yeast (1/4 oz packets)
2 Tablespoons fresh Rosemary (or dried, if it's what you have access to)

Warm lightly on the stove:
1 C Water
1 C Milk
1/4 C Olive Oil

Have on hand:
1 Egg
2 C. White Whole Wheat flour
Greased loaf pan (6"x9" or 5"x8")
1-2 Tablespoons butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove liquids from heat, and add egg. Stir this mixture into the dry ingredients. Blend slowly (with your mixer, or your wooden spoon) and then a bit more vigorously for 3 minutes. Stir in the other 2 cups of flour with your good ol' trusty spoon. Cover with a cloth and let rise about 50 minutes (it should be about doubled). Stir down and then spoon into greased loaf pan.

Bake for about 35 minutes, and then test with a knife or skewer for done-ness. It may take another 5-10 minutes if you're using a 5"x8" loaf pan. Take care to not overcook, it should be lovely and golden all around. Brush/spread top with a dollop or two of softened butter, and you should have a crust resembling this:

Let it cool for at least 30 minutes (but preferably a bit more) before turning it out. Let cool a bit more, whilst cutting slivers absent-mindedly for yourself to snack on. After it's mostly cooled, unless you have enough people to devour the whole loaf right away, cut off some slices for yourself and those deserving, and wrap it in foil (It's very moist and soft and wonderful, but seems to get a hardness/staleness creeping in very quickly).

If you're feeling peckish, you can make yourself some tasty (but crumbly) chicken and/or tomato sandwiches for lunch the next day:

Happy Monday, Applets!

Hi there! I'm here.

Sorry for taking a wee, un-announced break there, and for worrying anyone that I worried.

I'm here!
I'm fine.

I've been getting work done, but also keeping it a little quiet at the Black Apple cottage.

A little of this...

(Enjoying Amy's book, which is every iota as wonderful as everybody says)

A little of that...

(munching on banana bread)

And a just a little of this, too:

PS: Thank you so much for the great update Tuesday!
There are a few original pieces in the shop at the moment, so take a gander if you're interested, as it doesn't happen too often.

PPS: I'm not getting about half of my comments via email...and I don't know why. I'll investigate, but in the meantime, it's probably best to email directly if you have an important question.

Oh, where does the week go?

In my case, it was eaten up by some really un-fun errands, tons of shipping/packing, and a bit of drawing/designing. Oh, and reading the 6th Harry Potter book so that I can snap up the last one tonight at 12:01 am. Very exciting...

Here's a new little hedgie drawing/collage to say "Happy Friday" to you:

One of my favorite things about summer is the subsisting on fruit and veggies and fish and such. I love winter-food, too, but this is a real summer lunch feast:

I am so crazy for peppered garbanzos right now. We are eating them for lunch seriously every other day! I always loved them when I was little, so I guess it's just like my broccoli addiction...meaning its here to stay.

I hope that good weekends are on the way for everyone! I'll be back with more to say/show soon.

PS: Thank you so much for all the love on the "Tear Papa" print! It means alot whenever you guys give something a thumbs up, but especially something with so much personal history in it.

How many times have I used Happy Friday as a post title?

This would've been the third time, it appears. I need to come up with some new title-material, clearly!

Just a little note to say just that, well, "Happy Friday", that is...and let you know that I've got a few new postcard packs a-brewin', the first one being comprised of these cuties:

It's just been added to the shoppe as we speak!
The other new pack is a new sort of sampler pack, which I'll show off in the next few days.

Josiah's amazingly lovely mum and sister came to stay with us for a few days, so in addition to packaging up orders, running errands, and scheming up new painting ideas, I  had a reason to bake cupcakes! Not that one needs a reason, at least I certainly don't...but a reason is nice...

My secret ingredient in the magnolia buttercream that I alwaysalways use, is that I include about a teaspoon of cinnamon. It's just barely noticable and it takes a little bit of the super-sweet edge off.

So good.

Raspberry Day

I had such a nice Fourth of July.
Quiet, calm, and so, so nice. I completed my (very short) to-do list for the 4th, which consisted of:

1.) Listening to X's song "4th of July", off their underrated record See How We Are...

2.) Preparing a super-traditional and very yummy potato salad, and baking up some tiny pound cakes to eat with whipped cream and fruit, and generally having a great mini-cookout with excellent friends.

 

and

3.) Watching some really beautiful fire-works. I'm not a big fan of the colored variety, but I do love all of the white/yellow-ish ones...this year they had one that looked like the Milky Way imploded! It was incredible.
I hope that everyone else had a nice day, too!

The winner of the little hedgie tote from Tuesday's post was a nice gal named Jill, at lucky # 187 (once again, thanks to the miracle of the random number generator). Thank you all so much for the movie recommendations (many of you mentioned movies that I love so much already, which warmed my heart!) and the reminders of all the great fruit that is in the world.

I'm going to have a few more little present-days coming up, so don't despair. The fun isn't over yet!
xoxo

In Which I Invent a Very Good Cake

Hey! Thanks for all the tee love, you guys. There are still a few left in le shop, if you'd like one!

So, I needed a cake to grace my newly acquired and long-sought-after cake stand, so I made this incredible cake this weekend, and I have just been itching to share it.
Because it's crazy-good.
And because I'm proud of it, as I (kind of) invented it. I say kind of, because I used a basic Vanilla Layer Cake Recipe from the Magnolia cookbook as the foundation. I love, LOVE chocolate-and-orange combinations. I know that lots of folks are with me on this. However, I do not love very dark chocolate (I know, I'm still waiting for my palette to grow up) with my orange-flavored confection. And I have a really hard time finding milk-chocolate + orange combinations.

Thus, I bring you...

Orange Layer Cake with Whipped Fudge Icing

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/2 C self-rising flour
1 2/4 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C milk
1/2 c Orange Juice
Grated zest from two oranges
1 Tablespoon orange extract

Preheat oven to 350.

Grease and lightly flour 2 9" round cake pans (I like to use the inside of the wrappers from the softened butter to grease with, after I dump the sticks into the mixing bowl). Cream the butter with your mixer on medium. Add the sugar and beat until smooth and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, and then slowly add the flour, alternating with the milk and juice. Mix well after every addition. Blend in the orange zest, and mix a bit more.

Divide the mixture between the two pans, and bake for 20-25 minutes (test with a small, sharp knife or a cake tester into the center, and, as per usual, make sure it comes out clean...otherwise, back in the oven for a few more minutes). Let the cakes cool in their pans for about 10 minutes, and then remove to racks. Let cool completely at room temperature (I let mine cool overnight) before frosting.

Icing Ingredients:
1/2 C heavy whipping cream
4 squares (8 oz) unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped
4-5 C confectioner's sugar
3/4 C (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter

Carefully melt the butter (you can cube it for easier melting) and squares of chocolate on low, stirring occasionally and watching carefully to make sure the chocolate doesn't scald. When all of the chocolate is melted, remove from heat and let cool for about 5 minutes.

Beat the whipping cream with your mixer on high for 2 minutes, and then add a cup of your sugar. Continue to beat, and  the mixture should get lighter and fluffier. When cooled, slowly add your butter/chocolate mixture and beat on low until smooth. Cup by cup, add the remaining confectioner's sugar, until the mixture is light, thick, and a good spreading consistency. When I finished with this icing, it was verging on gross how obsessed I was with it. I was licking the mixer's beaters...the spatula...the bowl...

Place your cake on the serving plate (or cake stand) and push some small-ish pieces of tin foil or wax paper under the bottom of the cake, all around the perimeter. This will catch your icing mishaps and neaten things up! Using a knife and spoon, ice between the layers and the top and sides of the cake, adding decorative icing "swoops" to the surface with your knife if the spirit moves.

I can tell you that the spirit almost always moves me to do so. Remove scraggly "icing catcher" pieces of tin foil or wax paper from your serving apparatus and there you have it.
Cut and serve to appreciative and deserving peeps, including you!

13...er...4 ways of looking at a Cupcake

   

   
Devil's food + perfect pink buttercream...

I don't know whether Wallace Stevens would be flattered or depressed.

PS: I hope everyone is having a nice weekend!

A Giant Cupcake with the Fishes

Yesterday we all had a crazy-fun day, in honor of Sara being born some years ago.

I both baked AND happily remembered to photograph the aforementioned giant cupcake:

Then we headed off to the aquarium in Atlanta for the day. We had a nice lunch and then several hours later found ourselves rather blue and eerily illuminated:

(birthday lady looking cute)

This is a just little bit of the wonderful fishies and creatures we got to see:

 

The moon jellies were my favorite thing, and were also the trickiest to photograph! I also love seahorses, though, and whale sharks, and have since I was a little person. They have 3 huge whale sharks in their giant tank, and they are just incredible.

After aquarium-ing, we did a little bit of night-shopping at the best store and came back to Athens for dinner and giant cupcakes and presents and a grueling game of Scrabble.

I think that Sara had a pretty great birthday, and I, personally, had a very lovely day with my very lovely friends! I feel darn lucky to have them.

Happy Weekends all around, my sweets!

Easy Pie for You Sweethearts

I got the sweetest heart ice-cube trays a little while ago on an Ikea outing with Sara + Andy (who, coincidentally, like to refer to Ikea-trips as "the relationship-tester", a point with which I can't disagree). Since generally I don't like their furniture aesthetic that much, I'm pretty much only in it for the little things from Ikea, anyway. Like heart-shaped ice cubes for my cranberry juice.

Since it seems Spring is officially here, and there is no more wavering and silliness of boomeranging from 40 degrees to 90 in the span of two days, I made Nigella's super easy key lime pie the other day, and we enjoyed it with the aforementioned Sara + Andy over a heated game of evening Scrabble.

I've blogged it briefly before, but just to freak out over how easy and good it is. As I was making it this time, I thought about the fact that many people might not have the Nigella arsenal at your disposal, and this pie is so absurdly easy and scarily tasty, it needs to be shared.

You need to gather:

-Ready-made graham cracker pie crust (you can be a fancy-pants, and make your own, but this is all    about ease)

-4 limes

-1 Bottle lime juice (back-up juice for when your lime-squeezing isn't as fruitful as you would've hoped)

-14 oz sweetened, condensed milk

-1 1/3 cup heavy cream

Zest the limes as much as possible, and scoop the fruits of your labor into a large mixing bowl. Juice said limes, and if your juicing doesn't produce about 1/2 C + 2 Tbls juice (it probably won't), supplement with your bottled lime juice. Then, simply add both cream substances and beat well with an electric mixer until thick + creamy. The pie will not be green, but a light yellowy color...if you want a truly green pie you'll have to break out the food coloring.

Pour into prepared crust and chill at least 30 minutes before serving! This pie is a bit "custard" like, so don't think you've failed if it is very light and doesn't have an extremely solid consistency.

Thanks for all the Gocco love! I will certainly be making more undies...they were too fun to not do again. I'm spending today packing + shipping and working in the studio on some new paintings, so it's a typical happy Monday on my end.

I hope good weeks are ahead for everybody!

xoxo