Win a Copy of Rose's Heavenly Cakes

Written Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 by Jason T.

Hey Bloggers! Would you like to own a copy of Rose Levy Beranbaum's new cookbook Rose's Heavenly Cakes?

If so, here's all you have to do. Bake one of the cakes included in this post. Then, write a blog post about your baking experience and the cake you created. Feel free to include pictures, audio, videos or any other form of media you enjoy using in your post. HalfHourMeals and BlogCatalog will then select 5 of the blog posts we enjoyed the most to share with our readers on our blogs and in BlogCatalog's February newsletter. And, we will randomly select one of these 5 bloggers to receive a free copy of Rose's Heavenly Cakes.

To enter the contest, simply write your blog post. Then, submit it to us by leaving a comment below with a link to your post. Finally, be sure to include a link or trackback to HalfHourMeals.com and SpruceTV.com in your post. All posts must be submitted by January 28, 2010 11:59 PM CST- in order to be considered.

Here are the recipes you can bake. (Just open each link and either bookmark the page or print it out.):

Chocolate Velvet Fudge Cake:

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Recipe Page 1
Recipe Page 2

Classic Carrot Cake with Dreamy Creamy White Chocolate Frosting:

Recipe Page 1 and Pic
Recipe Page 2
Recipe Page 3

If you have any questions regarding this contest or if you have any problem viewing or printing the recipes, email jason@blogcatalog [dot] com with any questions. Be sure title your email Cake Contest so it doesn't get overlooked!

For a little information about Rose Levy Beranbaum and her new book check out this page on SpruceTV.com.

Dip It, Dip It Good!

Written Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 by Jason T.

Last week I had the opportunity to try a selection of Stonemill Kitchens premium refrigerated dips: Artichoke and Jalapeno, Spinach & Artichoke Parmesean, Artichoke & Parmesean, and Three Cheese Peperoncini. Since there was way more dip than one man could possibly eat all by himself, I threw a little dinner party for my wife and her two sisters. First I served each dip heated with crackers, bagel chips and warm baguettes. Next, we sampled each one as a sauce on top of some fresh pasta. And finally, we tried each one broiled on top of a piece of ribeye steak. Here, I'll go through each coures one-by-one and let you know what the ladies and I thought of the dips.

So, for the first course I heated each dip and served it on it's own with crackers, bagel chips and baguettes. My first recommendation is definitely heat these dips! The containers say "Great Heated" and they mean it.  I tried each one cold as I was preparing them and, in my opinion, they were too rich and way too thick to eat without heating them first. Once they were heated, it was a totally different story. The thickness I experienced when trying them cold disappeared allowing us to enjoy the creamy texture and flavor of each dip.

The three ladies were all born and raised in South Texas; so it was no surprise to me that their favorite was the Artichoke and Jalapeno dip. In fact, this was my favorite too. Unlike a lot of jalapeno dips, this one is not overwhelmingly hot. The jalapeno adds a nice flavor and a wee bit of heat, but even those who do not enjoy hot foods can still handle this one and enjoy the flavor and subtle heat the pepper provides. The Spinach & Artichoke Parmesean as well as the Artichoke & Parmesean went over well too. Although, once these dips began to cool, the ladies agreed that the consitincy became a bit too thick, and, while they were still good, the thickness made it harder to enjoy. My suggestion would be to serve these dips in a thick bowl that will hold in the heat and allow guests to enjoy them warm. Out of the four dips, the Three Cheese Peperoncini was the groups least favorite as a dip. Peperoncini fans shouldn't worry though; it made a great comeback during our second course!

For the second course, I served each dip as a sauce on top of some fresh Rotini pasta. Here is where the Three Cheese Peperoncini shined. Three out of the four of us, decided that this was our favorite pasta topper. My wife was the only holdout sticking with the Artichoke and Jalapeno as her favorite. Every single one of the dips worked well as a pasta sauce. While the Peperoncini was dubbed the overall favorite, the Artichoke & Paremsean as well as the Spinach & Artichoke Parmesean were very good also. I mean can you really go wrong combining parmesean, spinach, artichoke and pasta? I think not!

For the final course, I prepared some all-natural ribeye steaks with a generous portion of the dip broiled on top of the meat. This was by far my favorite use of the dips. The flavors and the texture of each dip complemeted the natural flavor of the meat quite well. Interstingly, this is the one course where there was not a clear favorite. I preferred the Spinach & Artichoke Parmesean; I thought the combination of the spinach, cheese and meat were amazing. The younger of my sister-in-laws decided that she thought the Three Cheese Peperoncini went best with the meat while the older of the two said that she preffered the Artichoke & Parmesean. We had a little debate about this as I felt that if she liked the Artichoke & Parmesean than clearly the Spinach & Artichoke Parmesean should be her favorite because the spinach only adds another dimension of flavor. Alas, she would not concede. My wife surprised no one by sticking by the Artichoke & Jalapeno, which I have to admit was a close second for me. The flavor of the pepper blends very nicely with the flavor of the steak.

So, the final verdict form the group was that we definitely recommend the Stonemill Kitchens dips. Everyone enjoyed them as a dip, a pasta sauce and a meat topping. Even though they are called dips, the group definitely seemed to enjoy them more when I served them with the pasta and the steak. My personal preference was to serve them on top of the steaks. It seems that I enjoy these dips more the hotter they are, and getting them super hot in the broiler where they got a nice golden brown crust on top was, in my opinion, the best way to serve them. In retrospect, when serving them as dips in the future I would broil them too to ensure that they are served hot and get that nice golden crisp on top. It really does add a lot. Check out the Stonemill Kitchens website for heating suggestions.

If you'd like more information about the dips we tried, or any other Stonemill Kitches products, simply go to www.StonemillKitchens.com. There you will find information about each of their products and their chefs as well as coupons.

Rose's Heavenly Cakes

Written Sunday, December 20th, 2009 by Jason T.

Rose Levy Beranbaum, a.k.a the "Diva of Desserts," has followed up her world famous and award-winning book, The Cake Bible, with a brand new recipe book titled Rose's Heavenly Cakes. If you've ever wanted to bake some of Rose's mouth watering cakes, it has never been easier. Featuring detailed directions and instructional photographs that guide readers step-by-step through her recipes, the book makes it easy for any home baker to create her delicious desserts. The book features butter and oil cakes, fluted-pan cakes, baby cakes, sponge cakes, and the bravest bakers can even attempt one of her wedding cakes!

If you want to find out more abour Rose or her world famous recipes, check out her own blog, Real Baking with Rose. Here she shares thoughts about baking, lists her upcoming appearances and has a complete list of all of her popular cookbooks. You can also take a peek at http://heavenlycakeplace.blogspot.com/ where bloggers are cooking each one of the recipes from Heavenly Cakes and writing about the experience!

Here are a few of Rose's tips for baking a great cake:

Click here for a larger version of the video.