The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

It turned out great:

The idea was to make fresh spinach pasta, a white sauce and a ragu. The original recipes can be found by clicking on the links above. I made a few alterations. Since spinach still makes my stomach turn I just made regular pasta. I used two large eggs and whisked them well then very slowly incorperated the flour until I got a ball. Then I kneaded the dough on a surface liberally covered in flour until it was smooth. I let it rest for 30 minutes and then divided the ball into 4 parts. I rolled out each part as thin as I could and then cut it into strips. I then rolled out these strips until they were as thin as I could get. These were my final lasagna sheets. I used them fresh without any pre-boiling and they turned out great. I did have a tiny bit leftover which I cut into noodles and let dry. You can see the sheets were thin enough that you can see my fingers through them:

For my white sauce I used ricotta and mozzarella. Next time I might leave out the ricotta. I was never a fan of ricotta as a child but I thought I might have grown out of it. I didn't. It's just a bit too creamy. However my husband and I loved having a mix of cheeses in the lasagna so I'll think I'll try cottage cheese and mozzarella next time.

I also did a vegetable ragu because I really hate fried ground beef and we didn't have any sausages in. I fried some onions and diced carrots and then added cooked broccoli which I cut into small pieces. I then put in two cans of chopped tomatoes and a small can of tomato puree. I added a bit of lemon juice, sugar, and Italian seasoning. I let it simmer until the tomatoes were reduced. This tasted great but next time I'll boil the carrots first because they were a bit too crunchy which made my husband aware that were vegetables in this dish. He likes vegetables more when he can't tell they are there. I'll also add another can of chopped tomatoes because the lasagna could have used a bit more tomato flavor to balance out all the cheese.

My layers were (from bottom to top): ragu, pasta, white sauce, ragu, pasta, white sauce, ragu, pasta, ragu, cheddar cheese. It held it's shape surprisingly well. My husband, who I don't think has ever been served a proper lasagna in his life, enjoyed it very much but I think he needs time to get used to it before it goes in list of his top 5 favorite dinners. I have an ace up my sleeve though. Next time, I'm going to throw sausage into the ragu and hide the vegetables just a bit better and I know he'll go over the moon for it. As for me, this lasagna was just like the ones I remember from childhood which were cheesy, gooey and utterly delicious. I feel many cravings for this coming on and I will definitely make it again, fresh pasta and all.

While I can't reveal the Daring Bakers challenge until the end of the month, I can talk about the other item I've been making a lot...banana bread.

Being pregnant has made me much more conscious about the food I eat. So you probably won't be seeing a lot of cakes and cookies being posted here. But I am crazy about muffins and quick breads. Banana bread is especially one of my favorites.

I try to make it so that there is one serving of fruit per serving of bread. It's a little on the calorific side but it's a great snack and keeps me filled up for a long time. I like mine heated with a bit of butter.

Here's the recipe. Enjoy!

I have been doing a little bit of baking though, mainly with egg free items. I've had great success with egg free pancakes and egg free banana muffins. I hope to be sharing the banana muffins soon. The pancakes will probably never make it up because they are ridiculously hard to photograph but I will share the recipe.

Here's hoping I'll end up posting again soon!

I apologize in advance for the poor photos. This month was a bit rushed.

This month I almost didn't make it (just like I never made it to entering Iron Cupcake). The last couple of weeks have been a doozy. I didn't realize how much all the holiday baking would take out of me. But I made it (barely) and here it is.

This month's challenge was a French Yule Log with 6 layers. It's hard to tell from the photos, but the layers are all there, except for the icing that is supposed to coat the top. That was just one step too much. The recipes can be found here.

I did mini yule logs in my cupcake molds so that I'd have individual portions ready to go in my freezer. This cake is frozen so it needs to sit out a bit before serving. This means if baked in a large mold it needs to either be precut before freezing or served all at one. I didn't really like either of those options so I did it my way. It worked out really well.

As far as taste goes, I was less than thrilled. The mousse (light brown) layer was good (tastes just like ice cream) and the biscuit (bottom) layer was good as well. However I didn't like the creme brulee (large dark brown) layer at all. It stayed frozen longer than the other layers so it was a bit hard and I found the taste a bit weird. It was suggested that this could be because I didn't have enough fat in my milk. Fully possible I will admit.

Overall though, I would not make this again. The recipe is quite complicated and it took me the good part of a day to do. The end result was definitely not worth it. Oh well, here's hoping next month turns out better!

As mentioned I've been having trouble with the whole baking things and then writing about them. Here are some things which were made earlier this month but didn't get their own post:

At the beginning of the month I made an apple pie. I took a photo before it went in the oven:

It smelled so good though that we ate it as soon as it came out of the oven. It was delicious. The crust is just a basic crust (200g flour, 100g butter, dash of sugar) and the filling was just chopped apples with a bit of butter, sugar and cinnamon.

I also made éclairs. These came out ugly but quite tasty. I tried and tried to get a good photo but simply could not for the life of me do it.

What they look like from the outside:

What they look like on the inside:

Seriously, they came out looking like funky burger buns:

To see how they should look and for the recipe go here.

I made also shortbread biscuits which I didn't like but my husband said they were ok. They came out...spotty. I have no idea why this is but they look diseased to me.

Finally, I made sugar cookies last night which came out okay. At first I thought they weren't that good because they were a bit crunchy (I think I may have over cooked them slightly). However, they seem to have benefited from a good night's rest. This morning they were soft and chewy, just the way I like my cookies. The recipe is here (the only change I made was to halve it).

Here they are all decorated with plain powdered sugar icing:

And then here they are all prettied up with red icing gel:

Things still to make this month: Iron Cupcake entry, Daring Bakers (and boy is it a doozy this month!), Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars, and hopefully some festive gingerbread men.

Thanks!

I decided to make 6 giant cupcakes instead of a three layer cake. I baked them for around 25 minutes and they came out great. The cake was not too sweet, dense, and moist as well. The frosting was sweet and really balanced nicely with the cake. Other bakers found the cake and/or frosting too sweet, but none of the people who tried my cake thought that. Even one my testers who has the opposite of a sweet tooth really enjoyed these cakes (in fact, I've never seen him scoff down a cake so quick! I gave him and his wife one cupcake to share and I wasn't sure she was even going to get a bite).

A lot of people also had problems with the caramel syrup but I had beginners luck on my side. I thought I would detail how I did it though just in case it helps anyone.
In a cast iron pan I combined the sugar and water:

It started to boil with little bubbles:

Then bigger bubbles:

And finally it turned nice and amber:

I did not touch the pan or syrup the entire time. I then put the cover on and poured the rest of the water through the steam hole. It is important to be careful when adding the water because apparently the caramel likes to jump around and cause severe burns. For this reason I kept the lid on until all the noises died down. I then took off the lid and gave the syrup a stir. I kept stirring and let the syrup return to the boil.

As soon as it began to boil (it was still runny at this point) I shut the heat off and put the pot in a bowl full of cold water. I did this because cast iron pans do not cool down quickly and I didn't want my syrup to keep cooking. As my syrup got cooler it began to thicken and turned into a nicely thick goo. At no point did my syrup ever harden like some people had problems with even though it was left out in a pretty cold kitchen for a few hours.

Each month the challenge is hosted by a different person and this month the host is Dolores and helping her this month are Alex and Jenny. And helping with the vegan/gluten free alterations is Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go. I'd like to thank them for introducing me to such a great cake recipe! I am really pleased with how these turned out and will definitely be making them again!

These cupcakes were enjoyed by everyone who tried them and I would definitely make them again. They are basically a chocolate (vegan) cupcake with a cranberry buttercream frosting.

Also, I'm trying out a new way of writing/posting the recipes. Please let me know what you think.

Some notes on the recipe. These cupcakes really need to cool. They break/crumble quite easily when warm. Also vinegar could be used instead of lemon juice. Also I used vegetable oil and dutch-processed cocoa powder.

Voting is open so go vote here! and this month I am competing to win the following prizes:

• LOLLIPOP WORKSHOP
• COOKIE SUNSHINE
• as well as a pair of cupcake earrings from LOTS OF SPRINKLES
• PLUS, a piece from CAKESPY
• And as an added bonus an apron from SWEET CUPPIN CAKES BAKERY AND CUPCAKERY SUPPLY

And that's in addition to the usual prizes:

• HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS
• HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson
• JESSIE STEELE APRONS
• the CUPCAKE COURIER
• TASTE OF HOME books

Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers. More info on how to become a part of Iron Cupcake is available here.