Last fall Robin Knoll gave me a copy of an old typed recipe from a great aunt. “Will you make it for me?” Finally got around to making it, strange recipe, no butter in the cake and granulated sugar and flour in the icing! It was delicious though I thought it kinda skimpy in size and volume of icing so below is my revamped version of Robin’s great aunt’s
Waldorf Red Cake

¾ c shortening
2-1/4 c granulated sugar
3 eggs
1-1/2 oz red food coloring
1-1/2 t vanilla
2 t cocoa
½ 2 salt
1-1/2 cup buttermilk
1-1/2 t baking soda
1-1/2 T vinegar
3-1/2 cups cake flour (sifted)

Grease two 9” cake pans, line bottoms with greased parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350F.

Sift together the flour and salt on a piece of waxed paper.

Make a loose paste of the food coloring, vanilla and cocoa.

In standing mixer, cream shortening and sugar until fluffy, add eggs all at once, beating to combine.
Add cocoa mixture. Alternately add buttermilk and sifted flour mixture (1/3 of the milk, then a 1/3 of the flour and so on, ending with flour)
Add baking soda to vinegar in separate bowl (it will foam up). Gently stir into cake batter.

Divide batter evenly into the two prepared pans.
Bake at 350 for approx 30 minutes (rotating pans at 15 minutes) or until toothpick comes out clean – be careful not to overbake – check at 25 minutes.

Allow to cool in pans on rack. Make cooked part of frosting while cakes are baking and set aside to cool or refrigerate)

FROSTING
4-1/2 T all purpose flour
1-1/2 c milk
1-1/2 c granulated sugar
1-1/2 c whipped butter (not stick butter) at room temp.
1-1/2 t vanilla

Cook flour and milk until thick, whisking constantly. This will only take a minute.

It will be the consistency of that gravy you get with biscuits. Remove to bowl and set aside to cool and then refrigerate.

Press plastic wrap on top of flour/milk mixture to avoid a skin on it.
Cream butter and sugar until very fluffy and sugar has dissolved – about 5 minutes.
Add vanilla and blend well.

Add cold cooked mixture and beat again until the icing is the consistency of whipped cream.

Carefully split the each cake into 2 even layers, ice between each layer and the top.

I think next time I make this cake I’ll cut off the mounds on top for even layers – those mounds will be good snacking!
Happy Birthday Robin!

Want to send a zero calorie birthday cake? Walter Knoll Florist has just the cake for you!

Did I tell you I got selected to be a home-cook tester for Cook’s Country magazine recipes?  Cook’s Country is a spin off of America’s Test Kitchen on PBS. In the midst of the madness of the Valentine’s floral holiday I got an email with my first recipe – I have to make the recipe and fill out a survey by 2/23 – rather than wait until this weekend, I finagled leaving work a little early today and stopped by the grocery and picked up some red food coloring (- I needed 2 bottles, and they only had one, I took every bottle of every color off the shelf, and finally found a second bottle behind all the yellows!) I want this red food coloring because I thought the plain angle food cake recipe sounded a little boring (!) A N Y W A Y, I had decided to make it with a twist – I turned it into a Red Velvet Angel food cake.  Have you ever had Red Velvet Cake?  It’s a chocolate cake basically with a lot of red food coloring in it.

Since I had decided the recipe was boring (as I mentioned above) I went to the grocery store and bought 2 bottles of red food coloring to make it a red velvet angel food cake (added cocoa also) ($2.50 per bottle! geez, that *&^%&*^’s expensive, I could have bled 2 oz, but it might not have made a red cake) it’s a beautiful color – can’t wait until it comes out and I can go do the survey – I wonder if they will kick me out for altering their recipe!!!

Before I could get my beautiful batter into the oven I remembered that Wally told me to print 100 things for Mark at Anmar Photography – ooooops, I’m in trouble, forgot about it.  Hope I don’t get fired! 

Here’s the recipe they sent – I mixed 3 tablespoons of Dutch process cocoa with 2 bottles (2 oz) of red food coloring and the vanilla and added it to the mix where it says add vanilla and mix well.  This is a recipe for  an angel food cake I don’t know if you’ve ever made one but it includes 12 egg whites beat until they are very big – I got some great height out of mine and as I go to put the batter into the oven I can’t get the friggin door open! I figure my oven thermometer has fallen and wedged in the door somehow so I’m shaking the darn thing and shaking it and I notice on the panel it says “door locked” – I had accidentally hit the auto clean button! 30 minutes later I can put my cake in, it deflated a little – not a whole lot – but who knows if it will work!

About this time I figure it’s happy hour and time for a cocktail, I get my Maker’s Mark and splash of Cointreau poured and open up one of those cute little bottles of ginger ale and poor it in and it doesn’t bubble, friggin ginger ale is flat! and it’s a new bottle! and it’s the last bottle!

I’m having a day I think. I’ll try to save you a piece of cake! The batter is delish and such a great color!

Here’s the cake right out of the oven, those little framed portraits in the background are Richard and my Paris Metro Pass pics from 1988 – cute, huh!

GOAL: Angel food cake from the supermarket bakery is dense and chewy – more like a very sweet sponge cake. We wanted a classic angel food cake with light, pillowy texture that melts in your mouth like cotton candy. Since angel food cake relies on a tricky technique and laborious steps, we wanted to take the fear out of angel food cake and simplify the technique to produce a cake with heavenly texture every time.

ANGEL FOOD CAKE
Serves 10 to 12
If your angel food cake pan does not have a removable bottom, line the bottom of the tube pan with parchment paper and gently tap pan upside down on counter to release it from the pan. Do not grease the tube pan before baking the cake or it will not rise properly.

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (4½ ounces) cake flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1¾ cups sugar
12 large egg whites, room temperature
1½ teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. PROCESS SUGAR Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk flour and salt in bowl. Process sugar in food processor until fine and powdery, about 1 minute. Reserve half of sugar in small bowl. Add flour mixture to food processor with remaining sugar and process until aerated, about 1 minute.
2. BEAT WHITES With electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until frothy, about 1 minute. Increase speed to medium-high. With motor running, slowly add reserved sugar and beat until soft peaks form, about 6 minutes. Add vanilla and mix until incorporated.
3. SIFT AND FOLD Sift flour mixture over egg whites in 3 additions, folding gently with rubber spatula after each addition until incorporated. Scrape mixture into 16-cup tube pan.
4. BAKE Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean and cracks in cake appear dry, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool, inverted, to room temperature, about 3 hours. To unmold, run a knife along interior of pan. Turn out onto platter. Serve.

What can I say! I’m a monkey who can bake and knit hats!

otterbox

This tree is in the Lobby of the Metropolitan Square building in downtown St Louis (Located at 1 Metropolitan Square).  This year the tree has been transformed to tell the story of the history of St Louis. Included in the ornaments are 32 large, custom luminaries that were hand crafted by Walter Knoll Florist.  These luminaries show a pictorial history of St Louis.  The luminaries are made from Lexan, a clear polycarbonate that has been cast into tubes that then have historical images from St Louis’ past displayed with back-lit illumination.  Images featured include Louisiana Purchase, Thomas Jefferson,  Lewis and Clark, The 1904 Worlds Fair, Charles Lindbergh & the Spirit of St Louis,  the construction of the St Louis Arch and many other Saint Louis historic moments.

Standing at over 45 feet tall, this is the largest Indoor holiday tree in the St Louis area.

This year we added a podium and a book with copies of the images and a description of each photo.

Some Close Ups of the Luminaries

Many of the images came from the Missouri History Museum and  several from the personal collection of Mark Allen from Anmar Photography.

If you are out looking at holiday decorations this season, it is worth your time to go by and see the biggest and best tree in St Louis. The Metropolitan Square Building tree is a great backdrop for a holiday photo.

This tree was assembled and decorated by Walter Knoll Florist and we manufactured many of the decorations as well.

If you would like to ask Walter Sr a question about the decorations click here.

Sweetest Day is celebrated each year on the third Saturday of October. Although often thought of by many as a second Valentine’s Day, Sweetest Day is actually a day meant to celebrate all the people who make your life special. It’s an occasion to make someone happy, a chance to celebrate and give gifts to relatives, friends, and associates.

Sweetest Day was founded around 1922 in Cleveland, Ohio by Herbert Birch Kingston who was a local candy company employee. Kingston sought to bring cheer and some happiness to the lives of those who were often forgotten. With the help of his friends, he began distributing candy and small gifts to children living in orphanages, those stricken with illness or disabilities, shut-ins, and others who were forgotten.

During the early years of the holiday, movie star Ann Pennington presented 2,200 Cleveland newspaper boys with boxes of candy to express gratitude for their service to the community. Theda Bara, another movie star of the period, also helped in establishing the holiday by giving away 10,000 boxes of candy to people in hospitals and to those individuals who came to watch one of her films at the Playhouse Square Theaters in Cleveland, Ohio.

Within a decade, the simple idea had gained such popularity that the city of Cleveland officially declared the third Saturday of October as Sweetest Day.

Over the years, the Sweetest Day idea of spreading cheer to the underprivileged has expanded to an occasion offering us the opportunity to remember not only the sick, aged, shut-ins, and orphans but also friends, relatives, and those individuals whose helpfulness and kindness we have enjoyed during the year.

The traditional observance of Sweetest Day involves the same types of gifts and acknowledgments as Valentine’s Day with the most popular being cards, flowers, chocolates, and candy.

Ann Pennington Sweetest Day is primarily a regional holiday celebrated in the Great Lakes region and the northeast. The observance of the holiday is gradually spreading throughout the United States as people relocate to various parts of the country and bring the regional celebration with them to their new homes. States that have the greatest observance of the holiday include Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Cities with the greatest observance of the holiday are Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, and Buffalo. Sweetest Day is an original American holiday that is not based on any single group’s religious sentiment or on a family relationship. It is simply a reminder that a thoughtful word, deed, or small gift enriches the life of the recipient as well as the person giving it.

In 2008, Sweetest Day will be celebrated on Saturday October 18th. Remember to celebrate the holiday and touch the life of someone special with a gift of flowers, plants, chocolates, or an eCard.

Rachel and Phil Ricks sent me these two pics of their night blooming cereus – aren’t they beautiful!

Click here to see the Cereus Posting

And there is sooooo much more!  Stop in one of our stores and see our selections, most of the grains are priced by the bunch,  or order from our Autumn Bouquet selection and you’ll see how creatively we use our trims!  Our Thanksgiving bouquets will be up at the wkf.com soon!

This guy’s gonna eat every seed out of this sunflower!

My friend Barb Eastman, up in LaPort, IN made this beautiful wedding cake at home! It called for 72 eggs and 9 lbs of butter and it is filled with lemon curd and raspberries. You rock, Babs!

Walter Knoll Florist has been named by the Saint Louis Rams as the official florist of the Rams.  For the past 10 years Netties Flower garden has been the official florist of the Rams. As of October 2007 Walter Knoll Florist and Nettie’s merged into one company. For the 2008-2009 season Walter Knoll Florist is the Official Florist of the Saint Louis Rams.

Pastry
4 cups Unbleached Flour
2 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoon salt
4 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pats
2 large egg
4 tablespoons milk
1 large egg, to brush on dough

Filling
3/4 cup raspberry jam
1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon cold water

Icing
1.5 cup confectioners’ sugar
5 to 7 teaspoons water

Make dough: Combine flour, sugar, and salt in food processor. Pulse in butter until mixture is crumbly but still has bean sized lumps of butter still visible. Mix egg and milk, and add it to the dough, mixing just until everything comes together – it should still be slightly crumbly, dump onto lightly floured surface and need into cohesive ball of dough. Divide into 4, shaping each portion into a rectangle, smoothing edges. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour, or for up to 2 days.

Make filling: In a small saucepan, mix jam with cornstarch/water. Bring mixture to boil, and simmer, stirring, for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Assemble tarts: Remove dough from the refrigerator, and if it’s been chilling for longer than 1 hour, allow it to soften and become workable, about 15 to 30 minutes. Place one piece on a lightly floured work surface, and roll it into a rectangle about 1/8″ thick, large enough that you can trim it to an even rectangle. Set it aside. Roll second piece of dough just as you did the first. Beat egg, and brush it over entire surface of one rectangle of dough. Use a ravoli sized scallop edged cookie/biscuit cutter or whatever shape you want your pop tarts to be to cut shapes into the egg brushed rectangle of dough. Place a heaping 1/2 teaspoon of jam into center of each rectangle. Place second rectangle of dough atop first, using your fingertips to press firmly around each pocket of jam, sealing the dough well on all sides. Gently place tarts on a lightly greased or parchment or silpat-lined baking sheet, and refrigerate, covered, for 30 minutes. Roll out other 2 rectangles the same way. Make cute little slices with a very sharp knife into the top of each tart just before putting into a preheated 350 oven – do not cut into the filling tho or you’ll get tarts that look like this:

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until lightly golden brown. Remove from oven, and allow them to cool on pan on racks.

Combine confectioners’ sugar with 3 teaspoons of water, adding additional water if necessary to make a pourable glaze. Pour the glaze into a quart sized ziplock bag and snip the corner and squeeze decoratively onto the cooled tarts.

Makes about 60. This is a variation of a recipe I found at the King Arthur Flour website created by Joanne Chang of the Flour Bakery & Café in Boston, MA. Thank you Joanne, these are going to be a regular bake of mine!

Have you checked out our Holiday Fun photo contest submissions lately! Getting more photos every day Holiday Fun. We’d love to see your idea of holiday fun, and I’d personally like to see some “snowman” photos! But hurry, contest ends 12/22!