Beanilla Giveway Winners!

Thanks so much to everyone that entered the Beanilla Giveaway. I am so excited to give out these wonderful products for you to try. If you had fun entering this giveaway, please head over to the Beanilla Facebook page and thank them for sponsoring the giveaway on SQD!

Here are the winners!

Madagascar Vanilla Beans: Lael that left a comment saying, "I did it all - liked your FB page, left a comment, shared it, liked Beanilla's page, and am following your blog. Glad to have found you." 

I didn't hear from the first winner for the extract so here's the second winner:
 Mexican Vanilla Extract:  "Ranell and Brandon". If this is you, please contact me within 24hrs.

Congratulation to the winners! If you are Lael or Ranell and Brandon, please send me a message within 24 hours through the SQD Facebook page and include your name and address so that I can send it out to you! Please head over to the Beanilla Facebook page and let them know you won from the SQD giveaway and thank them for sponsoring the giveaway!


If you didn't win stay tuned because I have another giveaway coming up! :) Please tell your friends and family about SQD. The more followers we have means that we can do more giveaways! Yeah!

Have a great weekend and Happy Baking! :)

-Juli

Beanilla Giveaway!

You've heard me rave about my love of vanilla beans and how much I love the company Beanilla. The nice folks over at Beanilla were kind enough to sponsor a giveaway on our blog! Now you can try making your own Patriotic Trifle in time for the 4th of July with some delicious Grade A Madagascar vanilla beans or try making your own homemade vanilla extract.

Here's what's up for grabs:
-(1) Glass vial full of (3) plump, gorgeous Madagscar vanilla beans
-(1) 4oz. bottle of Beanilla Mexican vanilla bean extract

Enter the giveaway by doing these (3) steps:
1. Head over to the Something Quite Domestic Facebook page and "like" our page.
2. Find the Beanilla Giveaway picture at the top of our Facebook page. "Share" the photo and comment on the photo to tell us what you want to win.
3. Leave us a comment below to tell us what steps you did (including extra entries).

For (2) extra entries:
1. Become a follower of our blog by going here.
2. Head over to the Beanilla Facebook page and "like" their page. This is a great way to find out about new recipes and specials from Beanilla.

Beanilla Giveaway!
{www.somethingquitedomestic.blogspot.com}

Easy Peasy! Winners will be randomly picked via Random.org and will be announced on Friday, June 21st. Winners will have 24 hours to claim their prize. Good luck!

Strawberry Banana Trifle with Vanilla Bean Pudding

I'm not usually a trifle kind-of-gal, but this recipe has converted me. Thanks to my sweet cousin, Emily, for sharing this recipe. Trifles are fun to make because they look pretty and you can use your favorite fresh fruit. My favorite is strawberry banana. If you missed my post on how I created a Patriotic Trifle for the 4th of July, you can  read about it here. There are so many ways you can make a trifle, so use your creativity.

Oh my gosh. You have not experience a trifle until you've had this one. The vanilla bean pudding is so delicious that you will come back for seconds and thirds. The first time I made it my husband about died when he tasted it. I don't think my husband has ever asked to lick a bowl or the beaters in our 5 1/2 years of marriage, except when I made this pudding.

The pudding is made with sweetened condensed milk so it has a slight caramel, banana-ish flavor when mixed with the boxed pudding. It totally goes amazing with strawberries and bananas. If you read my post about the Patriotic Trifle, I mentioned my husband is allergic to bananas. I have made this with just strawberries before and it is really yummy also.  Just when you think the pudding can't be any more delicious and incredible, just add some vanilla bean paste to it. It's outta this world! And I love seeing those lovely little black flecks in the pudding. It seems so fancy to me. :)

I've told you about the place where I buy my vanilla beans. I mainly use Madagascar vanilla beans since they are the most versatile bean in baking, but the Tahitian beans are also incredible. If you want to try out the Madagascar beans, they are on sale right now! This is the best price I've seen and you get free shipping! Check out the sale over at Beanilla. AND some lucky person is going to win some lovely, gourmet Madagascar beans in my upcoming giveaway sponsored by Beanilla. Stay tuned!

Back to the trifle...You can use your favorite cake although I'm partial to a vanilla sponge cake, yellow or angel food cake. You can either cube a 9x13 cake or use (2) 8" or (2) 9" round cakes whole (depending on the shape and size of your trifle bowl) for a quick assembly of the trifle.

I don't recommend assembling the trifle any sooner than a few hours before you want to serve it as the bananas tend to go a little brown and watery even when coated with citrus juice). However; you can prep the cakes (freeze them) and the pudding a few days in advance. The pudding needs at least 3-4 hours to set up properly, so make sure you take that into account when making this. Make sure to keep your trifle refrigerated until right before you serve it.

Here's what you need:

-(2) baked 9-in round cakes (bigger or smaller depending on the diameter of your bowl)

-1 lb of fresh strawberries, sliced

-4 C ripe bananas, sliced

-2 TBS lemon juice

Pudding:

-(1) 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

-(1) 3.4 oz box of instant vanilla pudding (I like Jello brand best)

-1 1/2 C ice cold water

-1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

-1 Madagascar vanilla bean (sliced and vanilla caviar removed)

-4 C heavy cream, 1 C reserved after whipping

1. In a small mixing bowl combine sweetened condensed milk, cold water and vanilla and mix on medium speed for about 1 minute until well-combined. Add the pudding mix and continue beating for 2 more minutes. Slit the vanilla bean lengthwise and then use the back of a butter knife to scrape out of the vanilla beans.  Add vanilla bean paste and beat until combine. Refrigerate 3-4 hours or overnight. It's important to allow plenty of time for the pudding to set up so that the consistency stays when you fold in the cream.

Vanilla Bean Caviar. Delicious!

2. In a separate bowl, whip heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold cream (except one cup) into chilled pudding mixture until color is mainly uniform with no white streaks in the pudding. Be careful avoid over-mixing. 

3. Prepare fruit and slice. Toss sliced bananas with lemon juice to prevent them from browning. Place first cake layer in the trifle bowl. Place bananas and strawberries right up against the glass all the way around (just for aesthetic purposes). Spoon pudding mixture on top of cake. Add a layer of strawberries and bananas on top of pudding. Repeat with the next layer of cake, put fruit up against the glass, spoon in a layer of pudding, another layer of bananas and berries, etc. Once trifle bowl is full, cover the top with the reserved whipped cream.

4. Make a decorative pattern on top of whipped cream. I like to use a pattern just with strawberries so that the bananas don't go brown when prepping ahead of time. 

Enjoy and Happy Baking!

Here's the printable recipe.

Patriotic Trifle

I went to a family party and my uncle had made an incredibly delicious trifle. I finally tracked down the source of the recipe and yy cousin, Emily, was sweet to share this recipe with me. I thought it would be so fun to make a holiday version of this trifle for the upcoming summer holidays.

Trifles are so fun to make because you can make them anyway you like with whatever fruit is your favorite or in season. The pudding in this recipe goes well with any type of fruit. You can also use your favorite cake. My favorite is a vanilla sponge cake, but if you are short on time I actually love yellow cake with this.

Most of you know my addiction to vanilla beans and extract in baking. I usually use Madagascar beans in baking because they are so versatile, but this time I tried Tahitian vanilla beans. Tahitian vanilla beans have a slightly fruity undertone that I thought would pair perfectly with the fruit and pudding. This was the first time trying Tahitian vanilla beans and I have to say that it was quite a treat. The beans are gorgeous, moist, plump and chuck full of delicious vanilla caviar. I couldn't believe how huge these beans were and they did not disappoint in flavor.

I buy all of my beans at Beanilla. They are my favorite company to work with because they have impeccable customer service, fast shipping, the beans arrive perfectly every time and the taste of the beans is exceptional. They also have the best selection of gourmet vanilla beans for the best price. They also have a great selection of vanilla extract making supplies as well as baking extracts. Beanilla is the one-stop shopping place for vanilla beans and extract supplies. I can't tell you how much I love them.

My whole world stopped when I discovered their vanilla beans and I use them in my baking all the time. They just add that extra special layer of flavor that separates your baking from others' baking. Look how gorgeous these are. The Tahitian is on the left and the Madagascar on the right. Tahitian beans are more expensive, but you get a lot more paste out of one pod, so that balances out the price. If you are just starting with using vanilla beans in baking, I recommend starting with Madagascar beans since they are the most versatile in baking.

Tahitian bean (left), Madagascar bean (right)

This trifle will knock your socks off and you will have to resist grabbing the bowl to lap up any leftovers. The pudding in this recipe is ridiculously easy to make, it tastes incredible and people may be knocking down your door to get the recipe. Whomever thought of using sweetened condensed milk as a pudding base was a baking genius. It has a slightly caramel, banana-ish flavor and then when you add some vanilla beans---holy cow! So yum! It pairs beautifully with any fresh fruit, but I love it best with strawberries, bananas and blueberries. My husband is allergic to bananas (I almost killed him on our first date) so some of my pictures do not include bananas. If you aren't against (or allergic) to bananas, definitely add them to this trifle for sure. If you are making the trifle with bananas, make sure to assemble your trifle the day you want to serve it or your bananas will go kind of brown and watery. The pudding also takes a few hours to set up, so be mindful of that when you are planning. I usually prep the pudding and prepare the fruit and bake the cakes while the pudding is setting up.

Also, if you are short on time you can make (2) 8-in or 9-in round cakes (depending on the diameter of your trifle bowl) and use them whole instead of cubing the cake. I also like the look of the whole cake layer and it is quicker to assemble, too.

Here's what you need: (Slightly adapted from my cousin's recipe)
-(2) baked 9-in round cakes (bigger or smaller depending on the diameter of your bowl)
-1 lb of fresh strawberries, sliced
-1 lb of blueberries
-4 C ripe bananas, sliced
-2 TBS lemon juice

Pudding:
-(1) 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
-(1) 3.4 oz box of instant vanilla pudding (I like Jello brand best)
-1 1/2 C ice cold water
-1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
-1 Tahitian vanilla bean (sliced and vanilla caviar removed)
-4 C heavy cream, 1 C reserved after whipping

1. In a small mixing bowl combine sweetened condensed milk, cold water and vanilla and mix on medium speed for about 1 minute until well-combined. Add the pudding mix and continue beating for 2 more minutes. Slit the vanilla bean lengthwise and then use the back of a butter knife to scrape out of the vanilla beans. Add vanilla bean paste and beat until combine. Refrigerate 3-4 hours or overnight. It's important to allow plenty of time for the pudding to set up so that the consistency stays when you fold in the cream.

Look at that gorgeous vanilla bean paste!

2. In a separate bowl, whip heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold cream (except one cup) into chilled pudding mixture until color is mainly uniform. Be careful avoid over-mixing.

3. Prepare fruit and slice. Toss sliced bananas with lemon juice to prevent them from browning. Place first cake layer in the trifle bowl. Place bananas and berries right up against the glass all the way around (just for aesthetic purposes). Spoon pudding mixture on top of cake. Add a layer of berries and bananas on top of pudding. Repeat with the next layer of cake, put fruit up against the glass, spoon in a layer of pudding, another layer of bananas and berries, etc. Once trifle bowl is full, cover the top with the reserved whipped cream.

4. Make a decorative pattern on top of whipped cream with the fruit. I like to use strawberries around the bowl with a blueberry star in the middle.

Here are some other decorative ideas:

Trifle using whole cake layers. 

Love how this design turned out. So cute and festive! 

Enjoy and Happy Baking. This trifle will make a perfect addition to your 4th of July BBQ!


Here is the printable recipe.

Giant S'more Cake

I love planning and putting together birthday parties for my kids. We have a tradition to invite our whole immediate families to our children's first birthday. Since my daughter was born in the summer, I thought it would be perfect to throw an outdoor/camping themed party. I haven't had a chance to blog about the whole party, so stay tuned.

I wanted to have a s'more bar, so I thought it would be perfect to make a giant s'more for her birthday cake. I found the original idea on the Not Just a Housewife blog. I took those concepts and created my version of the S'more cake. I loved her idea for making the homemade graham cracker. The dough was so good and it was perfect being made in advance. It's a really great recipe and worked nicely for the cake.

I made (2) 9-in round chocolate cakes since we were going to be serving a lot of people. Although the giant graham crackers are so cute and even taste delicious, I didn't think people would want a big hunk of cracker with their cake, so I opted for a graham cracker cream filling. I have to tell you, the filling was to die for. I'm not usually a big graham cracker fan, but it totally worked with this cake. I wanted the cake to look like a real S'more, so I opted for marshmallow frosting (AKA "7 Minute Frosting") that could be toasted with a kitchen torch (thanks to my awesome friend, Missy, for that great idea). I also wanted the chocolate to look melted, so I thought chocolate ganache would be a perfect addition for that. 

So I didn't do a practice run with this cake before my daughter's birthday, so this was all trial and error. The flavors were so yummy, but there were a few aesthetic hiccups that I had to figure out the day of the party. So fortunately for you, you can learn from my mistakes. The biggest problem is that I made the graham crackers way to big and they were too thin, so they were kinda droopy when the top was placed. I did them a little bit smaller than a standard baking sheet. The next time I make this cake I will make them each about 10"x10". That way they are slightly bigger than the cake, but you won't have to deal with any droopage. :) Also, always always ALWAYS work with frozen cakes when you frost them. That prevents all of those little cake crumbs from getting in your frosting. It's especially important when using the marshmallow frosting. Seriously, frozen cakes are so much easier to work with.

So here's what you need. I'm going to separate it into each component:

Cake:

(2) 9-in round chocolate cakes, baked and frozen

Homemade Graham Crackers: (slightly adapted from Not Just a Housewife)

-1 C butter (2 sticks)

-1 C brown sugar 

-1/2 C dark corn syrup

-1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
-1 1/2 tsp baking soda

-4 C all-purpose flour

-4 TBS cold water

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter, sugar, corn syrup and vanilla together in a medium mixing bowl. Add baking soda and flour and mix until incorporated. Add 2 TBS of water and continue stirring. Add a TBS of water at a time until you have a dough-like consistency. My flour was more dry, so I used all 4 TBS of water. 

2. Chill dough for at least 30 minutes before rolling out. Do not skip this step or the dough will be super messy to work with. 

3. Take a piece of parchment paper (mine is the size that fits a standard baking sheet) and sprinkle a little flour on op. Take half of chilled dough and begin to roll it out. You want it about 1/4" thick. Roll it out bigger than you need so that you can cut clean, crisp edges. Cut your rolled dough with a pizza cutter into a 10"x10" square. Repeat for the other cracker. 

4. Take a wooden dowel and make an impression in the middle of the dough. Then take the end of the dowel and make the circular impression to resemble a real graham cracker. 

5. Transfer the piece of parchment paper with the rolled out dough on top and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 13-15 minutes until cracker is golden brown. If you bake less time then you'll have a softer texture, so make sure to bake enough time to ensure a cracker-like consistency and so that it doesn't fall apart when you assemble your big S'more. Remove from oven and allow the cracker to rest 5-10 minutes before transferring the parchment paper (with the cracker on top) to a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before assembling your cake. 

Graham Cracker Filling:

-(1) 8oz. cream cheese, room temp

-3/4 C canned marshmallow cream

-1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

-1/2 C prepared marshmallow frosting (the same you are using for the cake)

-2/3 C graham cracker crumbs, finely processed in a blender or food processor

1. In a small mixing bowl combine cream cheese, marshmallow cream and vanilla on medium speed until well-combined. Then add marshmallow frosting and graham cracker crumbs until combine. Refrigerate until you are ready to fill your cake. 

To fill cake: Place one cake layer down on frosting pedestal. Add graham cracker filling in the center of cake. Use a knife or an off-set spreading spatula and spread out the filling in an even layer to the edges of the cake. Place the next layer on top and then proceed to frosting the whole cake with marshmallow frosting.  

Marshmallow Frosting:

-1 1/2 C white sugar

-1/2 C water

-2 egg whites

-1/2 tsp. salt

-1 tsp. cream of tartar 

-1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1. In top of a double boiler combine all ingredients. Stir until ingredients are just combine. If you are using pure vanilla extract, your mixture will look brown. Don't worry; after you beat your frosting it will become white and glossy. While water is heating, beat all ingredients with an electric mixer at high speed for about a minute.

2. Place top of double boiler over rapidly boiling water and beat at high speed until mixture forms soft peaks (peak tops fold over). This took me about 3-4 minutes.

3. Remove pan from heat and transfer mixture into a separate mixing bowl. Continue beating on high speed until stiff peaks form and mixture becomes glossy and thick enough to spread. This took about 2-3 minutes.

  

4. Frost your filled cake. I like using a rotating cake pedestal for this step. If you aren't an expert at frosting a cake, don't worry because this frosting is forgiving and I think that adds to toasted look of being a marshmallow. In fact, I actually purposefully made the cake have some imperfections in the frosting so that I could get some toasted dimensions on the outside of the cake. 

5. Once you have frosted your cake, take a kitchen torch or a heavy-duty torch on the lowest setting possible to toast the outside. Be careful not to burn the cake. I practiced a few times with a spoonful of frosting before trying to toast the cake. You don't have to toast the top of the cake since it's going to be covered in ganache, but I did anyways so that I would have an even look once the ganache was on. I didn't want to have to battle melting ganache. 

6. Once your cake is toasted, top with cooled ganache and drizzle in on the sides so that it resembles melted chocolate. Make sure the ganache is barely warm or you will melt the frosting. 

Chocolate Ganache:

-4 oz. semi-sweet baking chips

-4 oz. heaving whipping cream

1. Combine baking chips and whipping cream in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir mixture. If chocolate is not melted entirely, continue microwaving on high for another minute, stirring in 15-30 second intervals. 

2. Allow the ganache to cool so that it's barely warm to the touch. If the ganache cools too much it will become thick like frosting. If the ganache cools too much before you need it, just microwave it 10-15 seconds and stir before you drizzle. Make sure cake and ganache are chilled before assembling the cake.

Assembly of Cake:

1. I like using Wilton Cake boards. You probaly want to get a 10" circle or an 11x13 rectangle. I used the latter since my crackers were a lot bigger. You just need something that you can lift when the cake is assembled to transport it to where it will be displayed. 

2. Place one large cracker on the cake board. Carefully lift the cake and place on top of graham cracker. Carefully place the 2nd graham cracker on top. 

Cut, serve and enjoy! I wouldn't taken a picture of a slice of the cake, but it got eaten too fast! :) Here is the cake with the S'more bar.

Happy Baking!

Here's the printable recipe.