First Wilton Cake! August 11, 2009

I’ve been wanting to take the Wilton Cake Decorating courses FOREVER now and had never gotten around to it.  Finally last month I decided I was going to sign up even if it meant going alone.  My classes began last Tuesday but this week was the first time we actually got to decorate.

We had to make the “assigned” designed on our own cake (any flavor any filling we wanted).  We had to cover it in blue Wilton buttercream (aka lard & sugar! lol) and in class we made our rainbow design.

Please ignore the horrible frosting & the 2nd grader hand writing- it’s my first real time decorating ok!?

The cake I originally made was an Puerto Rican Amaretto Cake, but sadly it didn’t work out.  I had to use a deeper pan than I’m used to and the center of the cake didn’t bake right.  I did bake a small portion into some cupcake cups so I can tell you it tasted amazing, but sadly the large cake just didn’t work.

It was super late Monday night and I since my class was on Tuesday I had to bake something QUICK! I dug into the pantry and grabbed a Yellow Cake box mix, mixed it in with Amaretto and vanilla flavors, then filled it with bananas, blueberries, and amaretto cream cheese frosting.  YUM!  Overall it was quick and easy- just what I needed at 11pm Monday night! haha.

Overall the class was a lot of fun.  They cram so much into the 2 hour class so we were constantly busy but I really learned a lot and can’t wait to use these techniques again.

If you’re thinking of taking these classes- GO FOR IT! SIGN UP!  Next week we’ve been assigned to make a flower cake- I can’t wait!!!

Pollo Guisado…Old School Favorite August 11, 2009

Growing up my mom used to make Pollo Guisado all the time- it’s a dish I will FOREVER love.

My friends and I decided to have a small dinner party last week and our theme was “latin night”.  Since the majority of us come from a hispanic background we each made a traditional Spanish dish.
We had everything from Picadillo, to plaintains, tres leche cake, black beans, white rice, flan, and some awesome taco-dip.  Because my friend was going to make a beef dish I decided I should make chicken and immediately knew I wanted to make pollo guisado.

When made right the chicken will fall right off the bone and be extremely moist and juicy.  DELISH!!!

Saturday morning I joined my friend Jenn to the Winter Park farmers market and got some great veggies that I used in this meal.

Pollo Guisado
Cocina Caliente Original Recipe (With Help From My Mom!! )

Feeds: 10-12

1 large (family sized) pack of chicken thighs, bone-in  (drumsticks can also be used)
Half a can of broth (I used beef) (Water can also be used)
1 medium green pepper (cut into small pieces)
1 medium red pepper (cut into small pieces)
1 medium carrot (sliced into small pieces)
1 large potato (cut into small cubes)
Half of a medium white onion (diced)
1 tsp. of garlic
Adobo (for seasoning chicken)
2 bullion cubes (I used the powdered kind)
2 packets of Sazon
3 tablespoons of Sofrito
1 1/2 cans of tomato sauce
Salt to Taste

First season your chicken with the adobo.
Because I was making so much chicken and I wanted to make sure it all cooked through evenly, I set a large deep skillet over medium low heat I seared the chicken pieces in the sofrito, sazon, bullion cube, and tomato sauce mix (only use half the sauce at this point).  Let that simmer for a little bit.  Be sure to cover your pan so everything stays really moist.
After about 10 minutes I added all the veggies, the remaining half of tomato sauce and added enough broth to cover about 1/3 of the chicken.
Keep the heat medium low and let the chicken continue to cook in the broth/veggie mix.  Be sure to mix it well so that all the flavors incorporate.

For the large amount of chicken I made, I think it took me about 30 to 40 minutes before it was just right.
You should be able to put a fork through the chicken and the chicken should be cooked all the way through.

You can always add more veggies, take away some veggies, add ingredients of your choice- whatever you like to give it the flavors you want.  Everyone at the dinner party commented on how good the chicken was and it really is SO simple to make.

Buen Provecho!!!