Lovin in the Oven

Are y'all in for a treat today

Everything that I'm cooking today is coming from the oven. I'm here with my friend Cheryl Day from Back in the Day Bakery

Cheryl's sharing her recipe for my all-time favorite, old-fashioned cupcakes. Mmm! I'm showing her a hearty lots-of-meat lasagna

that can turn any baker into a cook. Ha-ha! Look, girlfriend! Then we're whipping up a sasty roasted garlic bread

Cut this in half, put our lasagna on the bread, and add a lasagna sandwich

So join us as we show you the recipes that we adore

Today, it's loving in the oven, y'all. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha

Cheryl makes cupcakes like you've never had since your mama made them

Oh, thank you, Paula. And so you're going to share that recipe with us, aren't you? Absolutely. You ready

I am so ready. Okay, well, let's come on down here. Okay

This is a real simple... I am your slave, girl. Well, good, that's fine

This is a real simple recipe. We're going to start with cake flour

Make sure you're nice if you want it. All right, so cake flour. Yeah, I mix two

And that's a fourth of a cup. Actually, what we're going to end up with is one and three-fourths cup

Oh, okay. So we have to have every one of the measuring cups to measure out that one, don't we

Right, exactly. I have found that the all-purpose flour will add that stability that I want

but at the same time, the cake flour will give it that fluffiness

Well, that's what I was going to ask you. I have never mixed flours like that

So good. but that's the best of both worlds. So there is one and three-fourths cup of cake flour

That is correct. And then we're going to do one and a fourth cup of our all-purpose flour

Okay. All right, so that's my one. Okay. And, Paula, if you would for me, we're going to need two cups

Now, I know this is going to be unusual because you're so used to cream in the butter first. Yeah. But right in the bowl, if you could measure me two cups of sugar

Sugar. You just dump it right in the bowl. Okey-doke. So we've got our two flours

Two flours. And our two cups of sugar. And then I'm going to need a tablespoon of baking powder

Okay. I like to use the cake flour for this. It's not self-rising

Yes. Because I want to add in the leavening to this particular recipe. Okay. Just dump it right in

A tablespoon of baking powder. And then we need three-fourths teaspoons of salt

Okey-doke. Okay. That's a half. And a quarter now, let me tell you a tip. I was taught how to I would sift everything

That's how my grandmother taught me how to do because for lighter cakes I found if I turn that on I'm still getting that lightness and

Kind of getting it mix just right in the flower incorporating it and getting incorporating some air into it that way

So then next we're gonna add the butter We've got two sticks of butter cubed and it's room temperature

and then we're going to add that in just a little at a time

This is so different. Isn't it? But I think I'm going to like this

Now, I wonder if I can use this technique with, like, pound cakes. You can

You can use it really with any of your butter recipes, butter cake recipes. I am going to try it the next time I make a pound cake

Cheryl, you and I have so much in common. I know it

It's something, and you have been such an inspiration for me. Cheryl trained in her grandmother's kitchen

the same way as I did. We have no formal training. That's correct

And you started back in the day bakery at the same age that I started the bag lady

Can we not say what? 42 years of art. So look how that's cutting it in

And basically what we want to do is we want to get it all in there, but we want the butter to be coated with the flour

Uh-huh. We're going to need to put four eggs, one at a time. Okay

And I kind of like to crack my eggs in a separate bowl. I can, too. You never know what you're going to get

Yeah. So I can just kind of check them out. Mm-hmm. Okay. But see how it's starting to pull together now

All you cake bakers out there, I think you're going to love this method. It's almost as easy as a cake mix, isn't it

Oh, it is easier. Okay, the last one. Okay. All right, I'm going to turn that off

Okay. And, Paula, if you would, just put, I like to put a teaspoon of our vanilla. Okay

And right in our milk, because that kind of saves you a step. I do that sometimes too

good vanilla alright and so then just a little at a time

I'm going to go ahead and add just a little bit of the milk

uh huh starting to look like a batter Cheryl okay I think it done I think so too it a beautiful batter thank you And we going to scoop that into our muffin cups

Cheryl, in every cupcake you make in that bakery is made by this

Made from scratch. I don't use any mixes. We've just been committed to doing that

Well, you know, that's why people appreciate you so much. Can you help me scoop these in here

I sure will. And you know what? This is a great way to measure them out

I think so. You do a level. I do a level. But I just want to make sure it's about..

What ounce is this? I think it's about three ounces. That's what I thought, about three ounces

Yeah, that's just perfect, because you don't want some cupcakes mounted up

and then some flat. Exactly. Great way to measure. So we're all set

So shall we pop these in your oven here? Absolutely. I'm just going to put these at 325

It takes about 17 minutes or so. 325, about 17 minutes. We are fixing to have some fabulous cupcakes, y'all

Coming up, it's a stick-to-your-ribs, lots-of-meat lasagna. Ha-ha! Look, girlfriend! And later, I'm loving this roasted garlic bread

This was my piece of bread! Ha-ha-ha-ha! I'm in here in the kitchen today with my friend Cheryl Day

I'm sharing with her my recipe for lots of meat lasagna. So in our pot, we're browning off, y'all, one and a half cups of ground chuck

And then we've got a pound of ground Italian sausage. Now, Cheryl shared with me over the break, y'all, that she didn't even know how to cut an onion

That's true. So we're going to dice up one onion, Cheryl. You just cut that onion, slap in two, lay it on its side, and cut it in strips

Okay. Then turn it around and come back, cutting the other way, and you'll have a little diced up pieces. Okay

So try your hand at that, girl. Oh, yeah, that's easy, Paula

See how easy that is? It looks perfect. Okay. All right, I'm going to go ahead and get that little bit of garlic in

Garlic smells good. So get that in our pot. Okay. Just take your, there you go

Scoop it up. So now we're going to add our seasonings. Okay

We've got two teaspoons of oregano and one teaspoon of basil. Toss it in

So we just toss it in. Okay. Now, if you've got fresh herbs, you'll just have to remember

your fresh herbs are not as potent as your dry herbs. Okay

So you'll probably need to use, like, twice the amount. All right, let's put a little salt

Okay, just about a pinch? Oh, no, more than a pinch. Oh, a lot. A big pinch

Oh, and another pinch. Okay. And one more pinch. And how about grinding us up some fresh pepper

So you can grind it straight into the pot, or you can grind it into the cup

and then just take the cup off. Gotcha. All right, now let's start adding our wet ingredients

We're going to use a 14.5-ounce can of diced tomatoes. Two 16-ounce

cans of tomato sauce. And depending on your store brand, you know, the ounces may vary a little

bit. And then we're going to add one 8-ounce can of tomato sauce

So we need two and a half cans. And then we're going to add one

6-ounce can of tomato paste. And your tomato paste is a real concentrated tomato

And it's going to make our lasagna very thick and very rich

Oh, yum. All right, let's put the lid on it now, Cheryl

And we're going to let this simmer for about 30 to 45 minutes

Our next step is to mix together the custard part for our lasagna

I'm going to use some cottage cheese. Okay. About one and a half cups

and I'm going to use about five ounces of a grated Parmesan cheese

and then we've just got some fresh parsley. I've got two eggs over here that we're going to mix in with that cottage cheese

and this will make it... Some body? Yeah, it'll give it some body and kind of hold it together and let it stand on its own

All right, so we're just going to mix that together and over here, I started

grating up our mozzarella cheese because we're going to need this when we start layering our lasagna

together. So, I've got a pot back here of our sauce, Cheryl

that's been cooking. Great. And you can see in there. And if you'd get

out of our dish. Okay. And while we're layering this together, I want you to

tell everybody about your wedding day. We got married right in the bakery during the middle of lunch rush two years ago What happened was we were going to get married the week before when we were on vacation And for one reason or another we just didn do it

But I had picked up the marriage license from the judge that happens to be one of our customers

And he came by that Saturday and said, oh, how was the wedding and everything

And I knew I couldn't tell him a tale. So I said, well, Judge, we didn't get married

And he said, well, I've got my vows and my robe in the car

Do you want to do it now? So I hollered to Griff in the kitchen, and my sister came out

and she had flowers, pulled them out of a vase, and someone had a camera, and we just pulled it together

and, you know, we're so in love. It didn't really matter. You know, only somebody in the restaurant business

could appreciate that story because you get so busy. You do. All right

I put just a little bit of sauce on the bottom. Then I put a layer of our custard on

Okay. And our mozzarella cheese. And now we're going to come back

You know, and there's no right or wrong to this. Right. So I'm going to let you take over from here. Okay

These are great. Aren't these great? And they fit in here perfectly. Cheese

Yes. And we don't want to skip on that cheese, so I'm going to reach around there

Oh, that looks so, so good. Okay. All right, now we'll just dot this just like that

We're going to put a little bit of cheese on top. We're going to bake this for 45 minutes at 350

In the oven, it goes just that quickly. Great. You have Griff a fabulous meal

And you can even freeze. If you've cooked too much, you can even freeze it after it's been cooked

Yay, I'm so excited. Right up. What about the cupcakes? Come on, girl, give it up

I'm going to show you a few little tricks. Give it up. Don't go anywhere

She's going to show us her tricks. Up next, just wait till you taste my mouth-watering roasted garlic bread

Cut this in half. Put our lasagna on the bread and had a lasagna sandwich

And later, we're frosting cupcakes, y'all. Hey, y'all. Today's show is loving from the oven

Everything that we're cooking today has gone through our oven. Cheryl is taking out that wonderful lasagna

and I'm getting everything ready to share with you. A wonderful little recipe for zesty roasted garlic bread

Okay. Now, we are going to start with a fresh garlic bulb. Mm-hmm

We're going to just cut that top off. Okay. Now, all we're going to do, Cheryl, is just put about a tablespoon, a couple of teaspoons of olive oil right on top of that so it can creep down into the cracks

Perfect. So all we're going to do is wrap that in the bowl, and we're going to roast this in the oven for like 30 minutes

Okay. I've got us two sticks of butter here

It's kind of softened. So all we have to do now is take our garlic, open it up

Now, all we're going to do is just take our garlic, and we're just going to squeeze, just squeezing it out

That's great. I know it just squeezes right out. So we're just going to mash this

With my hands? I don't know about you. Yeah, you can use your hands. I do a lot of things with my hands

I said some of the best kitchen tools ever invented, God gave us

Absolutely. So I'm just going to wash that excess off. I'm going to toss in the fresh parsley

Okay. Now, do you want me to mash those pieces? Yeah, just kind of mash it

So they're kind of chunky. Mm-hmm. And I'm going to toss in just a little salt

and I'll grind you up some pepper. All right. Now, I have sliced our bread horizontally

and we're just going to take that garlic butter, and we're just going to smear it on this bread

and we're going to stick it under the brawler. So this is enough for me

Are you going to have some? One is for you, and one is for me

I'm telling you, we are a match made in heaven, honey. Smear it

Smear it. Just smear it. We bring out the worst or the best in each other

I don't know which it is, Cheryl. Oh, perfect. Okay. Perfect. I'll let you have a little extra ball

Okay. The thin piece is mine. Is that what you're saying? There we go

This is gonna be sinfully, sinfully delicious. All right, so we're just gonna put this in the broiler. Okay

We got our lasagna out and it rested for a few minutes So let stick this under the broiler Cheryl And we really gonna have to keep an eye on it All right So Cheryl you watch the bread and I be cutting

us up some lasagna. Oh, good. I'm just gonna kinda take my knife

and go around the edges to loosen that. Mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm. Look

Ha-ha! Look, girlfriend! That looks good. That's your piece that's got just the perfect amount of thick layer

Cheese. Of cheese. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. And up comes little fat girl's piece

Is the bread about ready? Just about ready. I think I'm going to pull it out. Well, bring it on up here, honey

Because I'm ready for it. All right, now, this was your piece of bread

Oh, my goodness. You know what would be delicious? If we cut this in half, put our lasagna on the bread

and had a lasagna sandwich. Oh, that sounds good. You want to let's do it

Yeah, let's do it. Okay. There you go, girl

Oh, my goodness. Mmm. Oh, Paula. Here's to us, Cheryl. We earned it

Mmm, we earned it. Mmm. Thank you so much for teaching me how to make this

We'll be back in a minute and taste those cupcakes. Coming up, y'all, frosted cupcakes

that's gonna tickle your taste buds. I'm gonna take sprinkles and tint them with pastel colors

finally we started the show with these cupcakes and we're gonna end the show with these cupcakes

this is just your simple butter confectioner sugar icing with a little vanilla right but what i wanted

to show you i don't like those sprinkles that you just get those stock colors so either i don't

either. I remembered that my mom used to make these little candies and

tend them with pastel colors. So I said, why couldn't I do

the same thing with sprinkles? So all I do, Paula, I'm going

to let you fill up a little bag. These are just plain white. Alright, now where can everybody get these? There's a lot

of places online that you can get them. Just look for, you know, white

sprinkles. Is that enough? That's good. Yep, that's perfect. Okay. All right, so now here's the little secret

This is also something they can order online. It's just a powdered food coloring

I've never heard of a powdered food. Rather than a gel, but I mean to tell you, this goes a long way

It does. All you have to do is put a doll up. Oh, no

I was just funning you. All you have to do is put a little drop in there

Mm-hmm. You know, like you said, a little bit goes a long way, and then you can always come back, just close it up

And Paula, all you do is shake it. Look at that. That's a pretty color

See, that's perfect. That's perfect for a baby shower for a little boy

Then I brought these little things. These are just little flowers to go on

and I thought we'd have ourselves a little decorating party. Oh, my goodness

I'll let you sprinkle and do whatever you want to. Okay. But I wanted to show you one last little trick

Now, you know, I taught myself how to decorate these. So they look a little bit different

Let me scoot around here. Beautiful. colors. All they do is, all you do is take them

and then I just do a little, just try to make it

look like a rose, a little dollop in the middle. And then you just kind of

go around with the petals, like that. It's beautiful. Oh, that's beautiful. I want to try

Try what? You know I want to try. So get your little middle part. Get up there

Yep. You gonna turn? It's not time to turn yet. There you go

See, that's cute. It looks like a little flower. It looks like a little homemade rose

All you do is stick your little leaves on there. And who's going to tell you that's not a rose

Well, yours is much more beautiful than mine. I think yours is gorgeous. But I think I could get there eventually

Look, I'm going to use some plain ones. Cute. Well, I'll taste

I'll get rid of this flour. Shall we finally have a cupcake

To Cheryl Day and Back in the Day Bakery. Bring the bakery to your house. Mm

Mm. Mm. Mm-mm-mm-mm. Good. So good, y'all. Best dishes

from our kitchen to yours