Key Lime Mini Pies

In celebration of Mother's Day on Sunday, we had a large family cookout at my parent's house. My mom asked me to make her Key Lime Pie recipe, originally from the PierHouse restaurant in Key West.  She has had this recipe as long as I can remember, and it is by far my favorite Key Lime Pie, perfect for those warm summer nights. However, in true FTH form, I tweaked the recipe to make MINI Key Lime Pies, and I have to tell you, I was thrilled with the results! Here's how to do it:

Get a 12-count muffin tin and line the tin with paper baking cups. I try not to use the foil ones, as they sometimes continue to cook the dough inside after removing from the oven.

Next, prepare the Graham cracker crust with the following ingredients:
2 cups graham cracker cookies (crushed) or 2 cups of boxed crushed graham cracker crust (HoneyMaid)
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, melted

Combine all the ingredients until well blended.

Next, I filled each baking cup with one heaping Tablespoon of the graham cracker crust mixture. You may have a little bit left over, but just set aside until the next step.

Using your fingers, press the crust mixture into each cup, getting it evenly distributed on the bottom, and 3/4 of the way up the sides of the baking cup. This will actually help the baking cups sit down into the pan, and make sure the crust is evenly distributed. Use some leftover crust mixture to even out the sides of each baking cup. 

Place pans into the refrigerator to chill until pie filling is ready.

For the filling:
4 eggs separated (only the yolks will be used)
1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup key lime or Persian lime juice (we like the Aunt Nellie's brand of key lime juice, but if you can't find it at your local grocery, regular bottled lime juice will do). Or if you have some extra time,  squeeze juice from fresh limes.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Place the egg yolks into a bowl and using an electric hand mixer, beat the egg yolks on high until thick and light in color.

Next, add the sweetened condensed milk, and mix on low speed. 

While keeping the mixer on slow speed, add half the lime juice and cream of tartar.

Once that is mixed in well, add the remaining lime juice and mix until well blended. It should be thick and creamy!

Remove the crusts from the fridge, and using a small soup spoon or ladle, pour the pie mixture into the crusts. 

Be sure to fill them up to the top of the crust, as they will condense a bit after baking. 

Bake for 10-15 minutes (mine took about 15-16 minutes, but I checked them often) until the middles are firm. Remove from the oven, and chill in the refrigerator for about 1-3 hours.

Right before you are about to serve them, remove them from the fridge and top with light whipped cream and a lime slice for a pretty presentation!

These got rave reviews, mostly because the crust was thick and it was the perfect size dessert. If you notice in pictures, I actually made 24 mini pies, so I simply doubled the recipe above. And if you want to make a regular Key Lime pie, it is the same recipe and cooking instructions, just simply add the pie crust to a 9" pie pan. Here's to summer baking!!

How To: Wally the Whale Cake

The invitations that Michelle, a co-host and sister- in-law, designed for the baby shower had a really cute whale on them. When discussing the theme one day, I suddenly got the idea for a 3-D whale cake, and how I thought I could execute it.
I searched online for what I had in mind, but alas, all the whale shaped cakes were 2 dimensional, as in a decorated sheet cake. Our mom to be deserved a delicious cake and one that was really cute too! So I took photos as I went along in the event that it turned out close to what I had envisioned, and I am happy to say, I now have a bit of a tutorial for you! Its a long one, so maybe just glance through it unless you are really determined to make it in the future! It takes a good amount of time and patience, but the end result is so worth it!

I first started with two boxes of Funfetti cake mix, vegetable oil, water, and eggs. Mix ingredients per the directions on the box. Confession: I actually bought 3 boxes in the event I screwed up the cake that took 2 boxes and needed to make simple cupcakes for the party!

Bake the cake to the instructions on the box. I actually cooked mine for the maximum time it stated, as I did not want the cakes too soft, since I would be stacking them. For this cake you will need one rectangular 9" x 13" pan (box #1) and two 9" round cake pans (box #2 divided evenly), and be sure that the pans are greased well, as it will help to get the cakes out later in one piece.

We will skip ahead, as you all should know how to mix cake batter! Here are the cakes when fully cooked:

Make sure the cakes are cooled completely. I actually stuck the pans in the fridge for about 20-30 minutes to cool them down faster.

Next, get a large sturdy platter out that you will serve the cake on. It is easiest to use this from the beginning, because once you start stacking the cakes, it will be nearly impossible to move otherwise.  Since I was a little unprepared for this, I ended up using a disposable foil pan that I couldn't really dress up in the end. I would recommend getting a clear or blue platter that will hold a 9"x13" cake without spilling over the edges.

Carefully cut around the edges of the 9"x13" cake, and invert the cake pan on top of platter. The cake should come out smoothly.

Next, I could have freehanded the fish shape cut, but I decided to be extra careful, since this was the base and foundation of the whole cake. I took a large piece of paper I had in my craft drawer, and cut a circle for the head and a tail. The circle size was actually traced from the bottom of one of the round cake pans, so that when you stack them, the cakes making up the head will all be about the same size.  I drew in the black lines on the photo where I would cut around the paper so you can envision it:

And here is after the cuts:

Be sure to try to keep the left over pieces whole, as we will be using some of these later. No eating cake bits until the end!!!

Here is how the base looks without the template.

Next, get out one can of frosting. I don't really care for icing unless it is Cream Cheese flavored. I bought 3 cans of the whipped cream cheese, as I knew I would be doing multiple layers of frosting and wanted things thin and creamy. You will need at least 3 cans. One is used to "glue" the cake pieces together, and two more for the decorative frosting once the cake is molded.

Using a flat spatula or knife, spread a thin layer of frosting on the "head" of the whale. Don't worry about it being perfect, as you won't see it later! It should look like this:

Next, take one of the round cake pans and cut around the edges before turning it upside down on top of the frosting.

Repeat the frosting again on this layer in order to prep for the third layer of the "head".

With your last round cake pan, cut the cake in half, and place one half on the front part of the "head" and frosting. I realize that this photo does not look like it is half of the pan because I took it at an angle, but trust me on this one! You will see below that it is half of layer #2.

With the remaining half, cut about 2/3 of it for the back part of the "head". The long sliver from the middle will be used for the tail later.

Add the smaller half circle to the back of the "head". I have also photoshopped a line where I trimmed off the back edge of layer #2 to stack to finish layer #3.

You will see below that the small edge has been "glued" to layer #3 with some more frosting. This is to help round out the shape of the head later.

I also cut a triangle from the back portion of the "tail" and inverted it onto the now straight-edge of layer #2, and "glued" with frosting.

Now, remember those leftover pieces we still have? We are going to use them to shape the tail. I have labeled them for your convenience.

And here is where they go on the back of the tail. Be sure to frost the bottom layer first, then place frosting between each piece as you "glue" them together.

Here is another view after I have fit them all together:

You have now finished the cake portion of the project! I popped him into the fridge to cool down, so that the pieces wouldn't slide around when they were frosted later. I would say a good hour is perfect.

Next, put the remaining frosting in a bowl, and using blue food coloring, add drops until you reach your desired color. I believe for both cans of frosting, I used about 30 drops for each.

Stir well to make sure there are no swirls!

Before you frost the cake, trim the layers vertically so that they are all even. These trimmings you can eat! You just want to shape the cake into a smooth shape.

Finally, using a smooth knife or spatula, spread a thin layer of frosting on the entire body. Don't worry if some cake pieces flake into the frosting, or you don't cover all the little spots. You will be using a thin layer of frosting 1-2 more times after the base coat.

Put the cake back into the fridge for about an hour so that the frosting can set. Repeat this step until you have a fairly smooth finish, and all spots are covered well. Remember to refrigerate in between layers. I actually left the initial frosting layer in overnight, and did the other two the next morning.

Then, I used black tubed icing to add some detail work. I added some lines to give the tail shape, and a smile to make him look cheery. The eyes are candied eyeballs that I used at Halloween here.

Lastly, add some blue twizzlers. I actually found these blue raspberry ones at Fresh Market. Just stick a few into the center of the head, and you now have yourself a whale! How cute is he?!

He also made a great centerpiece for our Under the Sea table. Good luck to anyone who tries to replicate this, and please let me know if you have any questions!!! You can e-mail me at foreverthehostess@gmail.com.

I hated to cut into him, but he was the most delicious Funfetti cake I have ever had! Remember, there are a few layers of frosting in between layers, so he was nice and moist, sweet and delicious!!! Thanks, Wally, for sprucing up our party!