Candy Cane Cake

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup sifted cake or pastry flour
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 12 egg whites, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 8 ounces peppermint candy canes
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 
  
• Preparation
• 1. Preheat oven to 325°. Sift together flour and 3/4 cup sugar. Sift again and set aside.
• 2. In a large bowl or standing mixer, beat egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar and salt. Beat until soft peaks form. Add 3/4 cup sugar and the vanilla and almond extracts. Continue beating until egg whites are firm but not dry.
• 3. Sift one-third of the flour-sugar mixture onto the egg whites and, with a rubber or silicone spatula, gently fold the mixture into the egg whites. Add remaining flour in two batches, folding gently after each addition. Turn batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan and bake until browned and firm to the touch, 50 to 60 minutes.
• 4. Invert cake (in pan) on a cooling rack for at least an hour. When completely cool, run a long, thin, sharp knife between cake and pan to loosen, and remove cake.
• 5. Put candy canes in a large sealable plastic bag. Crush them into small pieces with a meat pounder, rolling pin, or the bottom of a small frying pan. Sift crushed candy with a fine-mesh strainer and reserve candy dust for another use (see Notes). Set crushed candy aside.
• 6. In a large bowl, beat cream with remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar until soft peaks form. Frost cake with whipped cream using a spatula to form swirls and peaks. Sprinkle frosted cake with crushed candy canes. (To get candy on the sides, hold your hand about 1 in. from the cake and gently toss crushed candy at the sides.) Serve immediately, using a serrated knife to cut slices.

Holiday Horror

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Boasting cooking schedules to adhere to, family to impress and one day to do it all, Thanksgiving is a holiday that famously breeds disaster. We asked our readers last thanksgiving  to send us their holiday-gone-wrong recap—and boy did they ever. Some exemplified the classic mishaps (think dog eats turkey, broken heating element, etc.) I even had my own Holiday mishap last year st christmas my Brother bought the turkey and thought it would stay frozen in the back of his truck, so he left it there for days and the crows ate it on christmas eve!! So needless to say we had to find a turkey christmas eve, not easy!

So we want to hear from you again we love to hear what exciting mishaps made your holiday so memorable. So email Gigi at gigi@sugarbabyaprons.com your most memorable holiday disaster stories and you could win a Sugar Baby Apron for all your holiday hardships. To increase your chances share our contest on your facebook page and twitter page and be sure and Gigi why you should get a Sugar Baby Apron!! Contest Closes December 1st.

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