Brown Butter Rhubarb Cake

I was lucky enough to be able to stop by the farmers market on Nicollet Mall last Thursday. Normally, I'm in class but we had our summer break last week. I didn't think that I would be able to because I had training for work that day - but we got out early! Yay! I was also able to stop by the Friends of the Library book store (got some old cooking magazines) so it was pretty awesome, overall.

Anywho, I bet you're wondering about this delicious cake, right? I found one seller who still had some rhubarb and snatched some up. I thought rhubarb season was over and was resigned to waiting another year.

Since this might be it for an entire year, I was anxious to pick just the right rhubarb recipe. Well, this one doesn't disappoint! It's got the delicious nutty brown butter, the tart and tangy rhubarb, and just enough sweetness! The only change I made was to toss the rhubarb with some brown sugar and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over the top before baking. Make sure to really whip those eggs or you're cake won't rise as much as it should.

Here is the recipe, courtesy of Emily Kuross and her blog:

http://www.fiveandspice.wordpress.com/2010/05/26/brown-butter-rhubarb-cake/

Some Treats in Red, White, and Blue!

I made a few patriotic type treats this past week. Above is a pic of some red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. The pics below show two ways to decorate them. It's actually pretty easy, although a little time consuming, to make your own pinwheel decorations but I found these on sale! The other pic has some plastic stars on top, in addition to the blue and red sprinkles. That was kind of an accident, as my top-heavy cupcake rolled over onto the stars. Since the stars aren't edible, maybe just go with the sprinkles!

I also made a black-raspberry fool, shown below. I think I overbeat the whipped cream a little but it was still delicious. Just berries (of which we have a ton, having gone picking at a our favorite secret spot) and whipped cream, folded together.

Last, here is a pic below of the tart I made earlier this week. I used store-bought puff pastry because I had some I had to use up. It also has some pastry cream and I'll give the recipe and instructions for that in another post.