Cupcake 61 - Whoopee "not pie" Cupcakes

I had planned to continue on with the Christmas theme this week, but got side tracked with the mention of Whoopee Pies. These turned out well, very moist chocolate cake, I used Valronona cocoa, confirming once again, better chocolate makes a better cupcake. And the filling, really worked with the chocolate.

Adapted from Allrecipes

3/4 c butter, room temperature shortening
1 2/3 c sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 t vanilla
1 t espresso powder, dissolved in 2 t warm water
1 pinch cayenne pepper
2 1/4 c AP flour
2/3 c cocoa powder
1/4 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 1/2 c water

Preheat over to 350. Line wells of 18 muffin cups with liners. In small bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cayenne and cocoa, set aside. In bowl of standing mixer combine butter and sugar mixing well. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well. Add vanilla and espresso. Alternately add flour and water, mixing well between each addition. Batter will seem thin, its okay. Bake 18-22 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Filling
1 c shorting, yes Crisco
1 c powdered sugar
1 1/3 c marshmallow fluff
1/4 t salt dissolved in 1 T warm water
2 t vanilla

In bowl of standing mixer, beat shorting and sugar until well combined. Add marshmallow and vanilla. Mix well. Add salt/water and whip on high. Using a pastry bag fitted with a small piping tip (I used a #4) poke tip into cupcake and squeeze filling until cupcake expands and starts to crack. (No need to use the cone method removing a portion of the cupcake.)

Cupcakes 58, 59 and 60! Coconut, Carrot and Pumpkin

A trio of cupcakes for Christmas dinner. A little something to appease all the "likes and dislikes" that come with a family gathering. I especially liked the Carrot Cake cupcakes, nice and moist.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

2 eggs, room temperature
1 1/8 c sugar
1/3 c brown sugar
1/2 c canola oil
1 t vanilla
2 c shredded carrots
1/2 c crushed pineapple
1 1/2 c AP flour
1 1/4 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1/4 t ground ginger
1 c walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350. Line wells of cupcake pans with liners. In small bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt and spices, set aside. In large mixing bowl combine eggs and sugars, (I used a hand mixer) mix well. Add oil mixing well. Fold in carrots and pineapple. Slowly fold in flour mixture into sugar/egg batter. Mix well. Add walnuts. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake 20-25 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

White Chocolate Cinnamon Buttercream

4 oz white chocolate, melted and cooled
16 ozs cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 c butter
4 c powdered sugar
2 t cinnamon
2 t vanilla
pinch of salt
2 T cream

In bowl of standing mixer, combine cream cheese and butter, whip until light and fluffy. Add white chocolate, cinnamon and vanilla, beat well. Add powdered sugar in 3 increments, mixing well. Add cream, beat on high for two minutes.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes

For the crust
1 1/2 c finely ground gingersnaps
1 1/2 c toasted, candied, finely ground pecans
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c butter, melted

Combine gingersnaps, pecans and sugar mixing well. Add butter and combine. Press crust, about 1 T per cupcake well, into lined cupcake pans. Set aside.

For chessecake
2, 8 ounce, bars of cream cheese, room temperature
1/c c white sugar
1/2 t vanilla
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 c canned pumpkin
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t ground cloves
1/4 t ground nutmeg
pinch of salt

In bowl of standing mixer, combine cream cheese and sugar, beating well. Add vanilla and eggs, beat until smooth. Add pumpkin and spices stir until combined. Fill cupcake wells until almost full. Cheesecake does not rise, much. Bake 350, for 18-22 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Coconut Cupcakes with Coconut Cream cheese frosting
3/4 c butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 c sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 c canned coconut milk
1 t vanilla
1 t coconut extract
2 1/2 c cake flour
1 t salt
1 t baking powder
1/2 c sweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350. Line 18 wells of cupcake pan with liners. In small bowl combine flour, salt and baking powder, set aside. In bowl of standing mixer cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well. Add vanilla and coconut extracts. Alternately add flour and coconut milk in three increments, mixing well with each addition. Fill cupcake wells 3/4 full, bake 18-22 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 c butter, room temperature
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 c powdered sugar
1 t vanilla
1 t coconut extract
1/2 c sweetened coconut

In bowl of standing mixer whip butter and cream cheese until light and well combined. Add extracts and salt, mix well. Add powdered sugar and mix on high 2-3 minutes until combined. Add coconut and mix to combine.

Dinner party appetizers, bring it on.

A break from cupcakes. A few appetizers for a dinner party.

Sounds simple enough, but this threw me into a bit of a tizzy. A dinner party at my boss's house with with five co-workers and spouses. We work in an ad agency, we are accustomed to good food, really good food. We use every excuse to take clients to the best restaurants. Hell, we've even carefully planned airport delays around dinner -- Newark to Baltimore by way of San Francisco, not a problem. There is a great restaurant in the San Fran airport. But I digress.

Each of the co-workers was assigned part of the meal. My assignment was "an appetizer." At face value, simple right? Much less pressure than dessert, yeah? Just like the Ritz crackers ads, some spray cheese and parsley and its all good. Not so much. In a short two weeks I had amassed 152 potential recipes. I've always been a bit of an over achiever and very competitive, but showing up with this many apps might "alarm" my hosts. Besides, I'd end up with oven issues. I needed help.

I reached out to several food friends and Kit from Mango and Ginger talked me down off the ledge. She even threw a few more recipes into the mix. In the end, I couldn't arrive at a single appetizer, but ended up an acceptable three. What can I say, I like odd numbers.

• Parmesan cups with goat cheese mousse, from the French Laundry cookbook by way of Mango and Ginger. I have to give myself mad props for the presentation, I had the perfect serving dish. Cool and delicious! (I did have some technical issues putting these together at the host' house, my pastry tip popped off the pastry bag of mousse, my intention was to a tad fancier.)

• Wonton crackers with fresh horseradish cream, smoked salmon and caviar. I used a cookie cutter to cut the wonton wrappers. Very festive and again easy. Finding fresh horseradish for the cream was a bit of hunt, next time I would use the jarred.
  

• 

• Truffled popcorn. A huge hit. Thank you again, Mango and Ginger for pointing me to Alice Q. Foodies's blog. Once I scored the truffled salt, a bit of a hunt, this was quick and wonderful. Besides, who doesn't love popcorn? (Don't you love the old school air popcorn maker? Being a bit of a pack rat pays off!)

Cupcake 57 - Snickerdoodle Cupcake

Snickerdoodles are one of my husband's favorite cookies. Not one my go-to comfort cookies from my childhood, not sure why. Nothing complicated about them, the ingredients are simple, just not among the "must-haves" like chocolate chip, peanut butter, thumbprint, brown edge and spritz - cookies I grew up with, cookies necessary to the Christmas season. My best friend Leslie's mother made them, I think.

Honestly, snickerdoodles confuse me, its the name. I badly want chocolate, Carmel, gooey nuttiness, you know, the candy bar. But then I remember its only cinnamon and frankly, I'm more than a little disappointed. Once I step back and re-group, I come to terms with the lack of chocolate, I really enjoy these cookies. And the cupcake even better than the cookie. The extra sprinkle of cinnamon sugar gave the cupcakes a nice spicy crust

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

(yields 36 cupcakes)
3 c.+ 6 T cake flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1 c. butter, melted (1 stick)
1 1/2 c. granulated sugar (250 g)
4 eggs, room temperature
2 t vanilla extract
1/2 t almond extract
1 1/2 c. whole milk, room temperature

Sift flour, bake powder, salt and cinnamon together in bowl, set aside.
In bowl of standing mixer combine melted butter and sugar, mix to combine. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well. Add extracts and mix. Alternately add flour and milk, mixing well between each addition. Fill wells of lined muffin cups 3/4 full. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar topping (below.) Bake 15- 18 minutes. Cool on wire rack

Cinnamon Sugar Topping
3 T sugar
3 t cinnamon

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

4 oz white chocolate, melted and cooled
16 oz cream cheese, softened
1 c butter, softened
1 t vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
2 t cinnamon
4 c powdered sugar, sifted

Sift together powdered sugar, cinnamon and salt, set aside. In bowl of standing mixer, combine cream cheese and butter, whip on high until light and fluffy. Add cooled chocolate and vanilla, beat well. Add powdered sugar mixture in 4 increments. Mixing well between each addition, scrapping bowl as needed. Chill in refrigerator for 2 hours. Chilling will allow frosting to be piped instead of being a gloppy mess.

Cupcake 56 - Gingerbread cupcakes with a Lemmon Glaze

Gingerbread is a favorite of mine, not so much as a cookie but as a cake. I love how all the different spices come together to give you a deeper flavor than a regular spice cake. I used both fresh ginger and ground ginger along with white pepper in this recipe. I thought about adding candied ginger as well, but at the last minute changed my mind fearing ginger overload. Because I wanted to stay true to the spices and allow them to shine, I went with a subtle lemon glaze, just a little bit of tart with the sweet ginger cake. Overall I liked the mix of spice, the fresh ginger was a good addition. Next time I will add some candied ginger as well, what the heck, its GINGER bread right?

Makes 32 cupcakes

3 c AP flour
2 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1/2 t cloves
1/4 t allspice
1 t ground ginger
3/4 t white pepper
1 t salt
1 c unsalted butter
1/2 c water
1 c packed dark brown sugar
3/4 c unsulphured molasses
1/4 c spiced rum
6 eggs, room temperature
1/2 c grated fresh ginger

Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, ground ginger, white pepper and salt, set aside. Combine water and butter in microwave safe bowl, heat until butter melts. In bowl of standing mixer combine brown sugar and melted butter water mixture, mix until well combined. Add eggs one at time mixing between additions. Add molasses and rum, again beat for 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl. Add fresh ginger and flour mixture beating until just combined. Fill lined cupcake pans 3/4 full, bake at 350, for 14-18 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Lemon Glaze

1/4 c lemon juice
1 t lemon zest
1/2 powdered sugar

Combine lemon juice and zest in small bowl, add powdered sugar a teaspoon at a time, until desired consistency. Drizzle on cupcakes.

Cupcake 55 - Minty Chocolate Cupcakes with cool Mint Buttercream

I came out of Thanksgiving dissatisfied with my cooking. Nothing was a complete disaster, but not wonderful either. My stuffing (or is it dressing?) was not up to par, I tried some new seasonings and they fell short, a little too much sage, maybe? I tried a carrot souffle for the first time, meh. And my pumpkin pie, my- tried- and- true- always- works-so- I'll- make- two- this- time, pumpkin pie needed a little more time in the oven and less sugar. My head was in the game, really. I didn't have a lot of "funky fresh" recipes on my list to derail me. I stayed with the usual suspects, but overall my sides were lack-luster.

Because I was unhappy with Turkey day, I wanted to linger a bit longer on the pumpkin theme. And I really love pumpkin. Alas, the retailers are pushing hard to make Christmas front and center. Yesterday's paper must have had 3# of ads! Every magazine I pulled out of the mailbox promised 50+ recipes for cookies. Reluctantly, I stepped away from my beloved pumpkin and moved onto a chocolate & mint theme. Not sure why those two ingredients speak to Christmas, but they do. I was hoping this batch of cupcakes would turn my cooking mojo around. Maybe put a little fa-la-la-la into my lagging holiday spirit. The did, sorta, but not entirely. I'd back off the baking time a little next time, I found the cupcakes to be a little dry. I liked the mint to chocolate ratio, not too subtle but not so bold you think you are eating toothpaste either.

Minty Chocolate Cupcakes

1/2 c butter, room temperature
1 c sugar
1/2 c raw sugar
4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped melted, cooled
4 eggs, room temperature
2 t mint extract
1 c chocolate milk
3 c flour
2 t baking soda
1 c mini chocolate chips
1/2 t salt
1 c Andes bits

Combine flour, baking soda and salt, set aside. In bowl of standing mixed combine butter and sugars, beat well, add eggs one at time, mixing well between additions. Add mint extract. Add flour and chocolate milk in three additions, mixing well. Stir in chocolate chips and Andes bits. Fill lined cupcake pans 3/4 full, bake at 350, 14-18 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Mint Buttercream
1 c butter, room temperature
3 C sifted powder sugar
pinch of salt
2 t mint extract
3 T cream

Cream butter, salt and mint extract until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar in 3 increments, mixing well each time. Add cream until frosting reaches desired consistency. Whip on high for three minutes. Add a drop or two of green food coloring if desired. (its the holidays, go ahead!)

Cupcake 54 - Pumpkin, pumpkin and more pumpkin

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

3 c AP flour
2 t baking soda
2 t baking powder
1 t salt
3-1/2 t cinnamon
1 t allspice
1 t ground ginger
1 1/2 c dark brown sugar, packed
2 T butter, unsalted, melted
1-1/4 c canola oil
2 T dark unsulphured molasses
4 eggs, room temperature
1 15 oz. can pumpkin
1/2 c sour cream, at room temperature

Pre-heat oven to 350. In large bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and ginger. Add brown sugar, stir to remove all lumps.
In separate bowl, add melted butter, oil and molasses. On low speed, cream to combine, scrape sides of bowl. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well. Add pumpkin and sour cream. Combine with spatula. Fold wet mixture into dry mixture, use mixer to combine. Do not over mix. Fill wells of 32 cupcakes pans 3/4 full. Bake 22 minutes, but check after 17 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Pumpkin Butter Frosting

1/2 c pumpkin butter
1/2 c butter
3/4 c light brown sugar
3/4 c raw sugar
4 T whole milk
4 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
3 c powdered sugar, sifted.

Melt butter over low heat, add pumpkin butter and sugars. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium low. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add milk, cinnamon and salt, continue to stir, bring back to a boil. Remove from heat, cool to luke warm. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating well between each addition. Frost immediately.

Cupcake 53 - Carmel Apple Cupcakes

When good cupcakes go bad.

I whipped up a batch of very apple cupcakes over the weekend. It took a while to peel and finely dice the apples. I got my spices just right, the pinch of cardamom was nice. The cupcakes domed perfectly when I baked them. I unwrapped 70+ caramels to get a really gooey topping for the whole caramel apple effect. This recipe took some prep time, but I was pleased overall with the outcome. I carefully packed the cupcakes to take to work, gently sealing them in a wax paper lined airtight plastic container. I pondered if caramel and airtight would play well for about ummm....10 seconds, dismissed the thought, sealed the container and checked out what we had backlogged on TiVo. I opened the container this morning to insert my cute wooden sticks to further simulate the caramel apple effect to find caramel soup with cupcake croutons floating in the middle. Lesson learned: caramel prefers aluminum foil.

Take note of the before and after pictures, they were cute, don't you think?

Cupcakes

3 c AP flour
2 t baking soda
2 t cinnamon
1 t ginger
1/4 t cardamom

1/4 t allspice
1/2 t fresh grated nutmeg
1/2 t cloves
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 c chopped apples
1 c light brown sugar
1/4 c granulated sugar

1/4 c raw sugar
8 T unsalted butter, melted
1/2 c sour cream

3 T apple cider
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, baking soda, spices and salt, set aside.
In second bowl, wisk sugars, butter, sour cream and eggs. Add apples and mix well. Add dry ingredients and stir until combined. Fill wells of 24 lined cupcake pans 2/3 full, you want these to dome. Bake 16 to 22 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Topping

70 caramel cubes

3 T heavy cream

Melt carmels in saucepan over low heat, stirring often. Add cream and stir until smooth. Allow to cool for 2 minutes. Quickly spread the tops of each cupcake with about 2 teaspoons of the caramel mixture.

Cupcake 49 - Hippy Cupcake

I used the Magnolia vanilla cupcake recipe and added streusal.

STREUSAL

2 c. graham cracker crumbs
3/4 c granola
3/4 c light brown sugar
1 1/4 t cinnamon
3/4 c butter, melted and cooled

Mix crumbs, granola, brown sugar, cinnamon and butter. Mix vanilla cake batter of your choice. Fill lined cupcake wells half full, sprinkle 1 T struesel, top with additional batter to fill 3/4 full. Bake 17-22 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Frost with cinnamon buttercream.

Cupcake 52 - Bobbing for Apples - Apple cider cupcake with Apple Creamcheese Frosting

Cupcakes

4 1/2 c apple cider, reduced to half
1 1/8 c butter, room temperature
2 5/8 c sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
3 c AP flour
1/4 t ground cloves
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1 1/2 t baking soda

For the icing
3 c apple cider, reduced to half
9 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 c powdered sugar

Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 375. In a large saucepan boil the cider until it is reduced to half and let it cool. In a large bowl of an electric mixer beat together the butter and the sugar until fluffy, add eggs one at a time. In separate bowl sift together the flour, cloves, cinnamon, baking soda, salt. Alternately add flour and cider mixing well. Fill wells of lined cupcake pan 3/4 full. Bake 18-22 minutes. Cool on rack.

Make the icing:
In bowl of electric mixer beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until light and fluffy, add 1/4 c reduced cider and a pinch of salt. Beat on high for 3 minutes.

Cupcake 50 - Sake with Pockey

No story behind these, I'm slightly enamored with the wide variety of Pockey biscuits in the new Asian grocery store. The "Man Pockey" make me giggle. Good moist chocolate cupcakes thanks to the Sake.

Cupcakes
2 c AP flour
1 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1 T espresso powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/4 t ground cinnamon
2 c sugar
1/2 c unsalted butter, room temperature
4 eggs, room temperature
2 t vanilla
1/2 c whole milk
1/2 c sake
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350. Line the 30 wells with liners. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in bowl, set aside. Dissolve espresso in 1 T warm water, combine with milk, add sake.

In bowl of standing mixer, whip butter until light, add sugar, beat well, about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well. Alternately add flour mixture with milk mixture, mixing well with each addition. Fill cupcake wells 3/4 full. Bake 15-19 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Cinnamon Buttercream

1 c unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 c shifted powdered sugar
1 T cinnamon
pinch of salt.

In bowl of standing mixer, whip butter until light and fluffy. Add cinnamon and salt, mix well. Add sugar in one cup increments, mixing well and scraping down sides of bowl. Once all the sugar is added, turn mixer to high and beat for 3-4 minutes.

Frost cupcakes, top with Pocky biscuits

Cupcake 51 - Bailey's Chocolate with Bailey's Mousse and Mocha Buttercream

Sorry, no pix, but these very good, rich and dense

Cupcakes

6 oz unsweetened chocolate
3/4 c light brown sugar
1 1/2 c sugar
4 T espresso powder
3/4 c unsalted butter, room temperature
9 T Bailey's Irish Cream
4 eggs, room temperature
3 c AP flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 c whole milk

Preheat oven to 350. Line 36 wells of cupcake pans with liners.

Combine unsweetened chocolate and brown sugar in sauce pan, melt over low heat, add Bailey's and espresso powder, stir well. Set aside to cool.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. In bowl of standing mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one by one, mixing well after each addition. Add flour mixture alternating with milk, mixing well. Fold in chocolate mixture. Fill cupcake wells 2/3 full, bake 20-25 minutes.

Bailey's Mousse

4 eggs
1/3 c sugar
12 ounces white chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 c chilled whipping cream
1/4 c Bailey's Irish Cream

Whisk eggs and sugar in large metal bowl. Place bowl over saucepan of simmering water and whisk until candy thermometer reaches 60, about five minutes. Remove bowl from water. Using electric mixer, beat egg mixture until cool and very thick about 10 minutes. Place chocolate in top of another bowl, over simmering water, stir until melted and smooth. Remove and cool until lukewarm.

In bowl of standing mixer, combine Bailey's and cream, beat until stiff peaks form. Combine egg mixture and chocolate, gently fold into whipped cream. Cover, chill until set.

Bailey's Syrup
2/3 c sugar
5 T water
5 T Bailey's Irish Cream

Combine water and sugar in saucepan. Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and bring to boil. Remove from heat add Bailey's. Mix well. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Mocha Frosting
6 T cocoa
6 T espresso powder dissolved in 6 T hot water
8 T butter, room temperature
1 t vanilla
4 C powdered sugar

Combine cocoa and coffee. Add butter and vanilla, beat until smooth. Add powdered sugar mixing well. Beat on high for minutes.

To assemble, brush tops of each cupcake with Bailey's syrup. Using cone method, fill each cupcake with 1 T Bailey's mousse; frost with Mocha Frosting, dust with cocoa.

Cupcake 48 - Christmas Vacation

This cupcake was born out my desire to enter the Cupcake Hero callenge this month. The challenge was to use two of the past challenges' random ingreidents. Knowing I had some cranberries stashed away in the freezer, I wanted to work them into the receipe. To add a little fire to cranberry chutney I added a chopped jalapeno. Tart, spicey and sweet. I baked lime cupcakes to go along with the cranberry chutney. The lime and cranberry played well together.

Makes 20 cupcakes

2 1/2 c AP flour
1 c lime sugar*
1 t vanilla
1 c miniature marshmallows
1 c butter
1/2 t salt
1 t baking powder
1/2 c whole milk
3 T lime juice
2 t lime zest

*A day in advance, combine sugar and lime zest, cover and set aside. This allows the oils in the lime zest to penetrate the sugar.

Preheat oven to 350. Line the wells of two cupcake pans with liners. Combine flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. In bowl of standing mixer whip butter and lime sugar until light and fluffy. Add flour mixture alternating with milk and lime juice until well combined. Stir in marshmallows. Fill wells of cupcake pan 1/2 full, bake 18-20 minutes until pick inserted comes out clean.

Cranberry Jalapeno Chutney

12 ozs whole cranberries, in a bag, not a can
1/3 c light brown sugar
1/3 c sugar
1/3 c apricot jam
1 c fresh orange juice
1 t orange zest
pinch of cinnamon
1 jalapeno finely chopped

Rinse cranberries, drain well. In medium saucepan combine orange juice, brown sugar and apricot preserves, bring to a boil, stir until sugar is dissolved. Add cranberries and jalapeno, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10-12 minutes. Add cinnamon and orange zest, allow to cool and thicken. This can be made several days ahead of time.

Lime Buttercream

1 c butter, room temperature
2 T lime zest
3 c powdered sugar
pinch of salt
2 T lime juice

Combine butter and lime zest in bowl of standing mixer, mix until light, add salt and powdered sugar in three increments, mixing well between each addition. Turn mixer to high and beat for 4 minutes.

Using cone method, fill cupcakes with 1 T chutney. Pipe frosting to conceal hole.

Cupcake 47 - Gettin' Figgy with it (sorry I could'nt help myself)

I'd been planning to make this cupcakes for a while, inspired by a gift of fig preserves, the name sealed the deal. I've seen a lot of chatter on food blogs lately around figs, its put me in a fig mood. Several failed attempts to procure fresh figs derailed me for a couple of weeks. Wegman's the go-to for all things upscale had sold out early in the day. A friend at work brought me a couple from his neighbor's fig tree mid-week, but I didn't have time turn them into cupcakes, so I ate them (and they were good!) I picked up several Korean Figs at the international market, but the taste was just not the same as traditional figs. Not bad, just different, not what I was looking for. I was just about ready to forget the fresh figs and use dried when I stumbled across the last two baskets in a new organic market in my neighborhood. This recipe triples the fig-iness with fresh, dried and preserves. Lots of good feed back too.

Makes 32 cupcakes

1 c canola oil
2 c AP flour
1 t baking soda
1 1/2 c sugar
1 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1 t cloves
1 t nutmeg
1 c buttermilk
1 t vanilla
1 c fig preserves
1 c chopped walnuts
1/2 c chopped fresh figs
1/2 c chopped dried figs, (kitchen shears make this sticky job easy)

Preheat oven to 350. Line the wells of cupcake pans with liners, set aside. Combine flour, sugar, salt, soda, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Set aside.

In bowl of standing mixer add oil and gradually add flour alternating with buttermilk an vanilla. Mix until combined. Add fig preserves and mix well. Stir in figs and nuts. Fill cupcake pans 3/4 full, bake 20 minutes until pick comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

1/2 c soft goat cheese
1/2 c soft cream cheese
1/2 c soft butter
3 c powdered sugar
1 t cinnamon
pinch of salt
2 T cream

Combine cheeses and butter in bowl of standing mixer, whip until combined. Add salt and cinnamon, beat well. Add sugar in three increments, beating well between each addition. Add cream until frosting reaches desired consistency. Turn mixer to high beat for 2 minutes.
Frost cooled cupcakes with generous amount of frosting. This frosting did not pipe well. Top with a chunk of fig.

Cupcake 46 - Tropical Storm - Guava, Coconut, Macadamia Nut Cupcake with Guava Buttercream

I entered into this weeks' cupcake without the slightest idea of what I was going to bake. Earlier in the week I was thinking fig, the whole fig thing was turning complicated so I moved on. I've mentioned my stockpile of "inspirational" ingredients waiting for a call to action. This week I turned to my pantry for help. The guava paste caught my eye, I like the odd shape of the can, but no experience with guavas. I also grabbed some coconut milk, guava nectar and macadamia nuts. I picked up a fresh guava at the market too.

Cupcakes - to your favorite vanilla cupcake recipe add the following, substituting the coconut milk and guava nectar for the liquid in the recipe.

1 c chopped macadamia nuts
1 c peeled and chopped guava, blotted with paper towel to remove most moisture
1/2 c coconut milk
1/2 c guava nectar

Frosting
1/2 c mashed guava paste
2 T guava nectar
1 c butter, room temperature
3 1/2 c powder sugar
pinch of salt

Combine butter and guava paste in bowl of standing mixer. Mix on medium speed until well combined. Add salt and first of three increments of powdered sugar, mixing well between additions. Add guava nectar and beat on high for 4 minutes.

Cupcake 45 - Crackerjack Cupcakes

Do you think Cracker Jack prizes have become lame? As a kid I remember getting trinkets, maybe a ring or magnifying glass, compass or a tiny flip book. Now its only a mini baseball card . Come to think of it cereal prizes have ratcheted down a bit too. Along with breakfast, you'd net out with a Dawn doll, refrigerator magnet, Hot Wheels car, or bobble head. Along with the in-box prize, the cereal folks would up sell with mail-in offers galore. I spent several summers collecting box tops, UPC codes and labels in an effort to "send away" for all sorts of wonderful merchandise. Thanks to Funny Face drink mix I consumed a tanker truck of sugar laden colored water to get the set of mugs. The next summer they offered up iron on decals, I was there. 9-Lives cat food hyped Morris t-shirts in return for zillions of cat food can labels, I was on it. Later they expanded the offering with a laundry list of goods from cat bowls to tote bags more shirts and even and watches - all for the taking with just enough labels. Christmas ornaments from Campbell Soup, Bazooka Joe notebooks, Jiff measuring cups, Camel Joe watches. The mailman should have worn a Santa Suit (and possibly a back brace) when delivering our mail. And my Mom should have worn a strait jacket to grocery shop. I had needs in the grocery store and they didn't always involve products we liked, used or needed. Patience was not my strong suite either. Before the groceries were put away, I'd cut the much needed box top off long before the contents were consumed. Our cabinets were littered with labeless cans and boxes with a gaping holes.

This week brings Cracker Jack Cupcakes - vanilla cupcakes topped with cracker jacks drizzled with caramel and a prize!

I used the Magnolia Yellow Cupcake recipe, before baking I added 1 T crushed Cracker Jacks to the top of each cupcake.

Carmel Frosting

1/2 c butter
1 c light brown sugar
1/4 c whole milk + 3 T milk
1 3/4 c powdered sugar, sifted or your frosting may be lumpy
pinch of salt

Melt butter and brown sugar in saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring constantly for 2 minutes. Add 1/2 c milk, return to boil and stir again for two minutes. Remove from heat, allow to cool to room temperature. Stir in powdered sugar and salt. Add additional milk as needed.

Pour 1 T onto each cupcake as soon as you remove from oven, it will fill all the nooks and crannies. Top with additional crackerjacks. Cool on wire racks.

Note: I used 7 boxes of Cracker Jacks for 24 cupcakes.

Omnivore 100

Omnivore 100

Here’s a chance for a little interactivity for all the bloggers out there. Below is a list of 100 things that every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food - but a good omnivore should really try it all. Don’t worry if you haven’t, mind you; neither have I, though I’ll be sure to work on it. Don’t worry if you don’t recognise everything in the hundred, either; Wikipedia has the answers.
Here’s what I want you to do:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

The Omnivore’s Hundred:
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal (I really hate mayo)
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant (hell yeah)
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

58, I've got some work to do!

Cupcake 44 - School Lunch - PBJ Cupcake with Vanilla Cream Frosting topped with a Chocolate Chip Cookie

I was a "brown bagger" for my first 12 years of school. Actually for the first three I had lunch boxes, The Partridge Family was my last one. Sadly, I had to retire the Partridges when it was no longer cool to carry a lunch box and moved on to a brown bag. I'll admit it, I was a huge Partridge Family fan, first the TV show, which segued into the album, trading cards, a poster and finally I got to see the Partridges "live", thanks to my cousin, Brenda. David Cassidy, with his feathered hair and pastel bell-bottoms was every girl's dream. Truth be told, my real favorite was Danny Bonaduce. The red hair and devil-may-care attitude drew me in. Who knew back in the day he'd turn out to be an on-again-off-again drug addled pseudo-celebrity. But I digress. I proudly displayed my fan loyalty through my choice of lunch box.

Selecting the right lunch box at the beginning of the school year caused me great angst. The pressure was on. Without a lot of finagling with Mom, I couldn't willy-nilly swap out Bobby Sherman for the Partridges mid-school year. I had to pick correctly in August while shopping for all my other school supplies. My only out was breakage; after Thermos switched from glass to plastic the whole set up was practically indestructible. I could have easily gone a full 12 years toting Shirley, Ruben and the gang, but that would have been a deal breaker in the lunch room. Friendships were built on cool. Really, the Mondrian square inspired school bus only had about a grade's worth of cool until the next hot lunch box came along.

The option of the school prepared lunch never wowed me. Not even on special days when the dittoed menu promised pizza or cheeseburgers. The rectangle shaped slab of anemic pizza didn't appeal. I never developed a fondness for tater tots, a major selling point for the cheeseburger entree. I stayed true to the brown bag and Mom obliged, packing my lunch every day. I consumed a lot of PB&J on white bread, the only bread in the 70's. She would mix things up a bit throwing in an occasional lunch-meat combo sans condiments, maybe tuna fish, but it didn't hold up well in a locker all day. Along with a sandwich, I'd get Fritos if I was lucky, maybe a Zinger or Devil Dog and a fruit cup (the kind in the can with the pull tab.) Without a Thermos, I'd buy milk. I didn't much care for milk back then, it was always warmish and tasted like the paperboard carton it was sold in. A whopping six cents bought milk in 1973 and I had issues keeping up with the nickel and penny prior to lunch. Unable to locate my funds most days due to the deep pockets of my book bag, I'd bypass the milk. This must have been foreshadowing, some years later, I'm still not good with money, but I do like a bargain, and back then milk was a bargain.

School officially starts this week, in honor of school lunches everywhere this week's cupcake is aptly named Brown Bag Lunch - a peanut butter cupcake filled with grape jelly, topped with a layer of vanilla cream and finished with a chocolate chip cookie. Lunch never tasted so good.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes

To your favorite yellow cupcake recipe add 1 cup peanut butter. Fill wells of cupcake pan 1/2 full add 1 t grape jelly, top with more batter. Bake 20-23 minutes.

Frost with vanilla buttercream and top with homemade chocolate chip cookie. I've been dying to trying this recent recipe from the NY Times A bit more involved than the Toll House recipe, but it paid off.

Cupcake 43 - Naga Cupcakes

An odd combination of flavors - pumpkin, curry coconut and chocolate, but worked and worked well. I was rushing the season a bit, after all pumpkin is a fall flavor. These cupcakes satisfied my taste for pumpkin while I wait for the weather to cool.


Adapted from Martha Stewart.com
36 cupcakes

3 c AP flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 1/2 t salt
3 3/4 t curry powder
1/8 t of cayenne
3/4 c light brown sugar
2 3/4 c of sugar
1 1/2 c unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
6 large eggs
23 ounces pumpkin puree

Preheat over to 350

Shift together the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, curry and cayenne. Set aside.

Whisk together the sugars, butter, and eggs. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Add pumpkin. Fill lined cupcake wells 3/4 full. Bake 18 - 23 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Chocolate Ganache


14 ounces of chocolate
1 1/4 c heavy cream
1/4 c butter, room temperature
2 c confectioners sugar
1/2 t salt
1/2 c milk
1 t vanilla
unsweetened coconut

Chop chocolates, put in heat proof bowl. Simmer cream, pour cream over chocolate. Allow to sit for one minute, stir until combined and melted. and transfer into a heat proof bowl. Add butter and stir well.

In separate bowl whisk sugar, salt, milk and vanilla. Add sugar mixture to chocolate, mixing well. Allow to cool to room temperature. This will thicken when it cool. Beat until fluffy with electric mixer. Frost cupcakes, top with coconut.

Chocolate Cake With Hazelnut Semifreddo

The recipe was published recently in The Baltimore Sun, before the name change and new format (what the hell?) I added to it the pile of "make sometime soon" recipes and moved on. I made this a couple weekends ago when were We having company. Set aside a good chunk of time, its a bit involved. But the payoff is huge, a really good summer treat.

Cupcake 42 - Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes

Me: Promise you won't talk to her today.

Hubby: You know I can't promise you that. I work with her, I have to talk to her.

Me: Well, make sure its only work stuff, 'kay? Keep it all business. And quick.

Hubby: Really, how's that going to work?

Me, starting to whine: I don't know, but don't look her in the eye then.

Hubby: You're just being crazy, now. I have to work with her, we are going to interact.

Me: Well then, just say no!

Hubby: I can't, it would be rude.

My husband's coworker has a garden. She has a bountiful crop of zucchini this year, well every year. She keeps bringing them into work and handing them out, like condoms on a Baltimore Street corner. Rob can't turn the zucchini down. I don't have as much use for zucchini. It's a "filler" vegetable in my mind, used to stretch more expensive vegetables. Truth be told I ate way too much of it when I worked at the airport in 80's. One of the perks of my college employment was free meals, and I'm not complaining, but airport food and zucchini used in the same thought never nets out with anything good!

In an effort to use these babies up, this week its Zucchini Cupcakes. I went chocolate, so no one mentioned zucchini bread and even more to hide the green taste of the veggie.

Chocolate and Zucchini Cupcake

Makes 24 cupcakes

1 ½ c brown sugar
¼ c melted butter
¾ c vegetable oil
3 eggs, room temperature
1 t vanilla
½ c buttermilk
2 c grated zucchini
1 c chocolate chips
2 c AP flour
1 c coca
½ t salt
2 t baking soda
1 t allspice
1 ½ t cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Line 24 muffin tins with liners, set aside.

Sift together flour, coca, salt, baking soda, allspice and cinnamon. In bowl of standing mixer, beat butter, oil and sugar. Stir in buttermilk and vanilla. Add zucchini and chocolate chips. Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients, mix to incorporate.

Fill cupcake wells ¾ full, bake 20-22 minutes. Do not over bake. Cool on wire rack.

Vanilla Glaze
1 ½ c confectioners sugar
2 T cream
½ roasted chopped pistachios

Shift confectioners sugar into medium bowl, add cream stirring until smooth. Dollop scant 1 tablespoon onto each cupcake, sprinkle with nuts.

Cupcake 41 - Peaches and Herb

Peaches are plentiful this time of year and I thought they would make an interesting cupcake flavor. Fearful that peaches alone would not give enough flavor, I opted to roast the peaches much like the bananas a couple weeks ago. The sugars caramelize to enhance the flavor, in addition, I simmered peach nectar to a thick syrup which added another layer of flavor. A tablespoon of fresh thyme worked well with the peaches. And it made me giggle every time I said "Peaches and Herb" when anyone asked about the flavor of the week. After several very off-key rounds of "Reunited" Rob forced me to move on. I may have to dig out my cassette....

I used a standard yellow cupcake recipe and replaced most of the liquid with
1 c sour cream
1/4 c oil
1 c roasted peach (cut peach in half, remove pit, roast at 350 with cut sides down, 30-40 minutes, cool, peel and puree with hand blender)
3/4 c peach nectar, reduced to 1/4 c by simmering

Cupcake 40 - Roasted Banana Cupcake with Chocolate Fudge Frosting and Salted Carmel

As a kid, every summer, we'd make our annual retreat to Delaware shore, staying in the same house, sleeping in the same bunk bed each time. The days were spent on the beach bogie boarding, reading and trying to stay one step ahead of sun poisoning - a challenge for a fair skinned kid. The evenings were spent roaming the boardwalk (only after Mom covered me with a good layer of Noxema to ease the days' sunburn.) Never a fan of rides or games, my favorite boardwalk attraction was Spin Art. Night after night after night, I'd create 4" x 5" masterpieces. For as long as I was allowed to linger with the spinning art board and squeeze bottles of paints, I would perfect my technique, mingling colors and splatters. Finally the attendant would flip the switch, turning off the dizzying easel and carefully place my work into a cardboard frame to dry.

Drunk from the fumes of the Spin Art paint combined with Noxema and salt air we'd head down the boardwalk for ice cream. I'd opt out the traditional cone, going for a frozen banana, a delicacy only found at the beach in the early 70's. The bananas were frozen so hard the first bite would make my teeth ache and by the end the thawed fruit was a mushy chocolate-y mess. I had to be very careful to preserve the art work, not dripping any banana goo into the tacky paint.

This week's cupcake is a nod to the beach's frozen treat. I roasted the bananas to caramelize the sugars and enhance the flavor, this paid off with a deeper flavor and more subtle texture. I topped the cupcake with a fudge frosting created with five kinds of chocolate, I added a drizzle of caramel, Spin Art style, and sprinkle of nuts. But no Noxema in the air. I'm much more careful in the sun these days.

This was a simple swap in your standard yellow cupcake, replace some or all of the liquid for the following:

1 c sour cream
1/4 c oil
1 c roasted banana (place two banana's in peel on cookie sheet, roast at 350 for 10 minutes. Skins will turn black; allow to cool, peel and mash)

Cupcake 39- Lychee cupcakes with Raspberry Cream

Lychee Cupcakes

1 ½ c self-rising flour
1 c AP flour
¼ c ground almonds, toast before grinding
1 c unsalted butter room temperature
2 c sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
¾ c whole milk
¼ c rose water
24 whole lychees, if canned rinse several times

Preheat oven to 350. Line 24 wells of muffin pan with liners, set aside.

In bowl combine flours and almonds, set aside. Combine milk and rose water, set aside.

In bowl of standing mixer cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at time, mixing well with each addition. Add dry ingredients alternating with milk in 3 increments, beating well. Fill cupcake wells ¼ c batter, place a single lychee in the center of well, add an additional ½ c batter on top, spread batter to cover lychee. Batter will rise, don’t overfill. Bake 20-25 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Raspberry Buttercream
½ c unsalted butter, room temperature
8 ounces mascarpone cheese, room temperature
2 c powdered sugar
½ c raspberry jam

In bowl of standing mixer, beat mascarpone cheese and butter until smooth. Add powdered sugar, mixing well. Add raspberry puree and beat on high until smooth and creamy.

Cupcake 38 - Balsamic Black Pepper Strawberry

For several years growing up Mom had a "jones" to pick strawberries. Long before school ended, Mom would start pulling out canning jars, stock piling sugar and Sure-Jel l in preparation. We had a little "Pick your Own" farm near our house (living in suburbia, I'm not sure why this tiny farm survived over development, but it did) and Mom would keep an eye out for the hand lettered signs announcing "Ripe Strawberries." The announcement coincided with the end of school and me sleeping late. I did not enter into this process willingly --it would take a fair amount of prodding on Mom's part, until I'd finally give in, sighing and huffing as only a teenage girl can. We'd spend most of the morning squatting between rows of strawberries in the hot sun, dusty and bug bitten, filling boxes and buckets with precious cargo. We paid for the berries by weight, sub par berries were a waste, Mom kept a good eye on the quality aspect of this process. There was no sense rushing.

We would return home at lunchtime for a quick sandwich and begin the tedious process of "capping" and chopping the berries for jam. The jars were saved and used from year to year, depending on the style of lid, some were sealed in boiling water others with wax, only six at a time. It was a long day, there was no sense rushing.

The jam would last most of year, much to my dismay. My friend Leslie's mom always had grape jelly and when the container was empty it doubled as a juice glass with a Mighty Mouse character on it. She had the whole set. I was so jealous. (Leslie's mom also made spaghetti sauce from powder in a packet that only needed water and for sleep-overs she would make fried Spam sandwiches with orange Velvetea cheese.) Leslie was so lucky. Mom assured me many, many times that our jam was better. I doubted her until I was old enough to understand preservatives, high fructose corn syrup and meat by-products.

I used Maryland strawberries for this batch of cupcakes. I didn't pick them myself, but got them at the farm stand and stashed them in my freezer a few weeks ago. They were perfectly sweet. The balsamic vinegar and black pepper added a "grown up" element enhancing the strawberry flavor. I even had a little of the strawberry sauce leftover for ice cream. Maybe I should look Leslie up and invite her over?

Cupcake 37 - Maple Walnut Cupcake

I mentioned I got a new oven, very recently. My techy husband is enamored with the digital control panel, not that he cooks, but he likes the "wow factor." From a purely visual standpoint, I'll give him the cool factor. The whole control panel "R2-D2" functionality didn't kick-in until this weekend. My old oven ran hot and in an effort to prevent tragedy, I set the timer to the shortest amount of time, check, add a few more minutes, check and repeat. On the new space-age oven, the "on/off" bake button is next to the timer "on/off" button. Do you see where this is going? The first batch of cupcakes would not bake, seems I was turning the oven off instead of the timer.... after 30 minutes I realized the oven was off, cooling quickly and my cupcakes were still liquid in the middle. I attempted to reheat the oven and finish baking, this didn't work so much. Dry and hard are not characteristics you look for in a cupcake. I started over, which finished off the half bottle of lovely organic amber maple syrup I was saving for another day.

With appropriate baking time, this batch was remarkably better, good maple flavor, thanks to the Canadians and their syrup, and very moist. I tried both maple and ginger frosting on the maple cupcakes and thought the ginger worked nicely, a good contrast.

Maple Walnut Cupcakes
(makes 20-24 cupcakes)

3/4 c unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 c raw sugar
1/2 c maple syrup
1 t vanilla extract
3 eggs, at room temperature
2 c AP flour
2 1/2 t baking powder
1 t salt
1/4 c whole milk
1/2 c chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350. Line wells of cupcake pan with liners.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt in bowl, set aside.

In bowl of standing mixer, cream butter until light. Add sugar and beat 3-4 minutes on high. Add eggs, one at time. Mix well. Add syrup and vanilla, mix until smooth. Add flour alternating with milk. Beat well. Fold in walnuts.

Fill cupcake pan 2/3 full, bake 20-22 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Maple & Ginger Creamcheese Frosting

3/4 c unsalted butter at room temperature
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
4 c powdered sugar, sifted
pinch of salt
1/2 t vanilla

Cream butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy, add salt, mix well. Add powdered sugar in 1 cup increments, mixing well. Add vanilla. Whip on high speed 4-5 minutes. Divide batter in half. In first half add 3 T Maple Syrup, beat well. In other half add 1 t ground ginger, beat well.

Cupcake 36 - Mimosa

I'd been thinking about a way to incorporate the bubbly flavor of champagne into a cupcake. Why not go to the brunch staple, a Mimosa? These worked well, the OJ was the predominant flavor with a subtle hint of champagne. I opted to use cake flour which gave me the perfect texture, light but dense enough to absorb the champagne glaze.

(heavily adapted from the Cupcake Project)

Mimosa Cupcake
(24 cupcakes)
3 c cake flour
1/2 t salt
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 c unsalted butter, room temperature
1 c sugar
1/2 c + 2 T orange juice concentrate
3 eggs, room temperature
3/4 c plain yogurt

Preheat to 350. In small bowl sift together flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. In bowl of standing mixer, cream butter until light and fluffy, add sugar beating well. Add OJ, mix to incorporate. Add eggs once at a time, mixing well. Add flour in 3 increments, mixing well. Add yogurt. Batter will be thick, but smooth. Fill cupcake wells 3/4 full, bake 15-20 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Champagne Syrup

1 1/2 c champagne
3/4 c powdered sugar
Mix champagne and sugar in small pan. Bring mixture to boil, allow to boil stirring occasional so as not to scorch and reduce by half. It will not get very thick. Using a wooden skewer, poke holes in cupcakes and drizzle syrup until absorbed by cupcakes.

Champagne Buttercream Frosting

2 c butter, room temperature
4 c powdered sugar, sifted
Pinch of salt
3 T champagne syrup

Cream butter until light and fluffy, add salt, mix well. Add powdered sugar in three increments, mixing well between each addition. Add champagne syrup until desired consistency. Mix on high 4-5 minutes.

Cupcake 35 - Chai Tea Latte

This weekend was the maiden voyage of my new oven. First time out, it was all good. And actually fun again to bake without constantly monitoring the temperature. Soon, I promise, I will read the manual, but until then I'll stumble around. Really, the stove/oven book is not nearly as good as say, the new issue of Food and Wine.

Chai Tea Latte Cupcakes. I've had these on my list for a while, more of a priority when we had a chill in the air, Its July, its 90-ish and its humid, the boat has sailed.... A bit of a back story to this weeks' selection. I had purchased the Chai tea bags a while ago, last week out of curiosity I broke open the box, free from the cellophane, the fragrant spices consumed my pantry in about 10 minutes. I used the "baggie inside of baggie inside of a baggie inside of a baggie inside of a plastic bowl" method to contain the spiced tea, with limited success. I was still getting hints of chai-ness in my Honey Nut Cheerios and the boys Science Diet Mature Cat kibble was taking on a spicy aroma. Clearly it was time to bake.

I'm not a hot drink person, ever. I don't really understand the whole coffee/ tea thing as a beverage of choice. I don't understand any of the options at Starbucks - seems like a lot of choices and strong possibility of things going wrong. I'm a purist, no condiments for me, generally. I fear someone accidentally throwing in an unwanted flavoring or option. Don't get me wrong, I know Starbucks has a stellar training program for the barisitas, but things happen, attention wains.

My point is, I've never had a Chai Tea Latte in my life and had to do a little research to get to the cupcake. I needed to understand the spice combination that makes the tea so special. After many Google searches it was not clear cut, a pinch of this and that, lots of cinnamon and ginger, optional cloves, coriander, star anise, lemmongrass, vanilla, saffron, rose and cardamom. Seems most people like a tiny touch of pepper, white or black was debated. It took a little while to arrive at the proper proportions of spices to mingle with the tea and stand up in a baked good. I wanted my cupcakes to have a hint of black tea with the !BANG of the spices without an overwhelming spice leader. I didn't want anyone to say "Your cinnamon cupcakes were good." While I love compliments, clearly, the cupcakes didn't deliver if they missed the black tea, cardamon, cloves, ginger, pepper etc.

I opted for a milk based cake so that I could steep the chai and black teas a bit. I upped the spice flavor by adding ground spices to flour. I netted out with good flavor and only a little disappointment. The pretty pinkish-purple milk, thanks to the tea, did not carry over into the baked cake; they were more tan than lavender. Yogurt added moistness to the final product. To keep the latte theme going I topped the cupcakes with a rich vanilla buttercream and a sprinkle of spice. Good no matter the temperature.

Chai Tea Latte Cupcakes

Makes 30 cupcakes

3 3/4 c AP flour
4 1/2 t baking powder
3/4 t salt
3/4 c unsalted butter at room temperature
2 1/4 c sugar
3 eggs, separated
1 1/2 c whole milk
2 t vanilla extract
6 best quality Chai tea bags
2 best quality black tea bags
2 T Chai spice mix (below)

Preheat oven to 350. Bring milk to simmer, remove from heat, steep teabags in milk for 15 minutes. Remove tea bags, allow to cool.

In small mixing bowl combine flour, salt, baking powder and chair spices. Place butter in bowl of standing mixer, cream until light, add sugar beat on high until light and fluffy. Add eggs yolks one at a time, mixing well. Add vanilla. Alternately add flour and milk mixing well between each addition.

In separate bowl, whip egg whites until stiff, but not dry. Fold into batter.

Fill wells of cupcake pan 3/4 full bake 15-20 minutes.

Chai Spice Mix

1 T + 1 t cinnamon
1/2 t cloves
1 t ground ginger
1/4 t ground white pepper
pinch of black pepper
1/4 t cardamom
pinch of ground star anise

Top with vanilla buttercream.

Cupcake 33 - Brown Sugar Hazelnut with Blackberry Buttercream

So good and so pretty. The blackberry jam made the most beautiful purple frosting, the picture does not do it justice! I toasted my hazelnuts to intensify the flavor.

(heavily adapted from Raspberry Eggplant Cupcake)

Brown Sugar Hazelnut Cupcakes with Blackberry Buttercream Frosting

(makes 32 cupcakes)

1 c hazelnuts
4 T sugar
3 c AP flour
4 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 c low-fat yogurt, I used greek
1 c milk
2 t vanilla
12 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 c packed light brown sugar
4 eggs, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350. Line wells of cupcake pan with liners.

Toast hazelnuts in large skillet until slightly brown and aromatic. Allow to cool. Once cool, place hazelnuts and sugar in food processor. Pulse until nuts are ground, not to a flour but more of meal. Put scant 1 T in each well of cupcake pan. Set aside.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In second bowl, whisk together the yogurt, milk, and vanilla. Set aside.

In the bowl of standing mixer, cream the butter, add brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs, once at time, mixing well. Alternately add flour and yogurt mixtures, mixing well between each addition.

Fill each well 3/4 full. Bake 18 - 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Blackberry Buttercream

1 c unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 c shifted powdered sugar
pinch of salt
8 T blackberry jam
1/2 t vanilla

In bowl of standing mixer, cream butter until fluffy, add jam and vanilla. Mix well. Add powdered sugar in 1 c increments, mixing well and scraping sides of bowl between each addition. Turn mixer to high, beat 4-5 minutes.

Cupcake 34 - Wacky Cupcakes with Marshmallow Filling, Bittersweet Ganache and White Chocolate Buttercream

I came across a recipe for Wacky Cake this week. I vaguely remember it from 70's, along with the Tomato Soup and Mayonnaise cakes. As a kid Wacky Cake just sounded fun (and much more appealing than mayonnaise cake!) Wacky Cake is making a comeback, thanks to the simplicity of the ingredients and that it is vegan. After looking over the ingredients it wasn't wacky at all, but a very moist chocolate cake without butter, eggs or even a mixer. The fat in the recipe comes from oil, easy to make on the fly - no need to bring butter to temperature. I added some espresso powder to enhance the flavor of the cocoa. The cupcakes were super easy and quick so I spent a little more time on the filling and frosting-- creating a marshmallow filling for cupcakes, then topped them a layer of bitter chocolate ganache and finished them off with a hearty dose of white chocolate buttercream. And some red white and blue sprinkles in honor of 4th of July.
(The cupcakes were so moist, they did not need the filling or ganache, just a big glass of milk)

Wacky Cupcakes
32 cupcakes

2 c sugar
3 c flour
1 t salt
1/2 c Dutch process cocoa powder
2 T espresso powder
2 t baking soda
2/3 c vegetable oil
2 T white vinegar
2 c cold water

Preheat oven to 350. Line wells with papers for 36 cupcakes.

In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, coca, salt, and baking soda. In small bowl mix espresso powder with 2 T warm water, mix until dissolved. Add oil, vinegar, water and dissolved espresso. Mix well until no lumps remain. Fill each cupcake well 3/4 full. Bake 18-20 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

Marshmallow Filling
1 15 jar Marshmallow Fluff
2 c powdered sugar, sifted
1 t vanilla
1 T whole milk

Pour fluff into bowl of standing mixer. Add vanilla beat well, add powdered sugar in 2 increments. Mix well scrape sides. Add milk and beat well. Note: this will be really sticky and somewhat thin.

Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache

16 oz bittersweet chocolate, best quality, broken into pieces
3/4 c cream heated to a simmer
Pour heated cream over chocolate, stir until creamy. Allow to cool.

White Chocolate Buttercream
16 T unsalted butter, room temperature
2 t vanilla
2 T whole milk
4 1/2 c powdered sugar, sifted
pinch of salt
10 oz white chocolate, broken in pieces, melted and cooled to room temperature

In bowl of standing mixer whip butter until light and fluffy. Add melted white chocolate and mix well. Add vanilla and salt, mixing well. In one cup increments add powdered sugar, mixing well and scraping down sides of mixer. Add milk and beat on high 3-4 minutes until desired consistency.

To assemble:
Using paring knife cut small well into each cupcake. Using pastry bag fill well with marshmallow cream. Top each cupcake with 1 t ganache, spreading to edge. Refrigerate cupcakes to allow ganache to set-up, about 1/2 hour. Frost cupcakes with buttercream.

Cupcake 32 - Vanilla loves Vanilla

I had never baked with Raw Sugar before this cupcake, the flavor intrigued me. The sugar was easy enough to find and seems to be in most grocery stores.

These are good, really good, so good I almost didn't share.

(heavily adapted from Raspberry Eggplant)

Raw Sugar Vanilla Cupcakes
36 regular cupcakes

2 3/4 cup AP flour
3 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
12 T unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 c granulated sugar
3/4 c turbinado sugar
3 large eggs room temperature
1 1/2 c whole milk, room temperature
3 t vanilla paste

Heat an oven to 350 F. Line the wells of cupcake pan. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in bowl, set aside.

In bowl of standing mixer, add butter and cream until light and fluffy. Add sugars and continue to beat, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at time, beating between additions. Add flour mixture alternating with milk and vanilla. Mix until combined.
Fill cupcake wells 3/4 full. Bake 15-18 minutes until pick comes out clean.

Very Vanilla Buttercream

2 sticks butter, room temperature
4 3/4 c confectioners sugar, sifted
pinch of salt
3 t vanilla paste
2 T whole milk, room temperature

In bowl of standing mixer, beat butter until fluffy, add confectioners sugar and salt one cup at a time, mixing well between additions. Add vanilla paste, mix well. Finish with milk, beating 3-4 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl.

Cupcake 31 - Mango and Ginger

A recipe that has been in my head for a while and the ingredients on my shelf waiting. I just got my stash of extracts from Supreme Spice (http://www.supremespice.com) and very eager to give the ginger extract a whirl. Delish! The mango was subtle and the ginger gave a cupcakes a bit of an exotic feel. The extract had more punch than powdered ginger or fresh, it was a good choice when you need a spice to be front and center. I paired the cupcakes with some of my favorite Thai food for mini vacation.

Very accidentally this batch of cupcakes coincided with my friend Kit's wedding anniversary. She's the author of the blog Mango and Ginger (http://mangoandginger.blogspot.com) Cheers! Kit and Cooper!

To the standard yellow cupcake recipe add 1/3 cup mango marmalade and 3/4 c mango nectar, 6 drops ginger extract and 1/2 cup chopped candied ginger. Once the cupcakes cool, bush the tops with melted mango marmalade. Frost with buttercream adding 3 T mango marmalade, 3 t mango nectar and 4 drops ginger extract.

Cupcake 30 - S'mores

Sorry, no cupcakes last week. We lost power Saturday night and it did not come back until late Sunday afternoon. And it was hot outside, Baltimore summer hot and humid, I could not bear to turn the oven on.


This week was S'mores. I used finely crushed Graham crackers in place of most of the flour in the cupcakes. Topped each cupcake with dark chocolate ganache and frosted the cupcakes with marshmallow frosting. My first attempt with the frosting did not go so well, it melted into a puddle. My second try was slightly better, much more body, but sadly the frosting would not toast properly. I got a little browning with the torch, but not the drama I was looking for. Almost like the S'mores I made in Girl Scout camp without the grit from the fire.


Cupcakes
(makes 36 full size cupcakes)


3 c Graham cracker crumbs, plus additional for topping.
1 c AP flour
1/2 t salt
5 t baking powder
1 c unsalted butter, room temp
1 1/2 c sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
2 t vanilla
1 1/2 c milk
36 Hershey kisses


Preheat oven to 350. Line the wells of 3 cupcake pans with liners.
In small bowl combine flour, Graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt, set aside. Beat butter and sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla. Alternately add flour and milk beating after each addition. Fill each cupcake well 3/4 full, poke one Hershey Kiss into each cupcake. Sprinkle edges with Graham cracker crumbs. Bake 18- 22 minutes. Cool on wire rack.


Marshmallow Frosting


4 sticks butter, room temperature
2 c confectioners sugar
1/2 t vanilla
16 oz jar marshmallow cream


Beat butter until light and creamy. Add vanilla, beat well. Add marshmallow fluff alternating with confectioners sugar. Beat on high 3 minutes until light and creamy.


Chocolate Ganache


8 ozs bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 c cream, heated to a simmer


Pour hot milk over chopped chocolate, stir slowly to melt chocolate until incorporated.


To assemble -
On cooled cupcake, place on teaspoon ganache on each. Refrigerate until firm. Pour one tablespoon, plus frosting on each cupcake, brown with torch if desired.

Cupcake 29 - Pomegranate Grapefruit Rickey

I didn't bake last week, took the week off after doing some a lot of painting at home. I went into the week looking forward the weekends' cupcake. I was missing the weekly routine. Early in the week I decided on my cupcake, but then kept changing my mind, again and again. By Friday I was semi-close to doing something "Sex and the City" related, maybe a Cosmopolitan cupcake? But then I backed off. Too trendy? Intimidated by the need to be couture-like? Is the Cosmo "last-year"? Was I afraid of being associated with the less than stellar movie reviews floating in the media on Friday? Not sure what was going on in my head, best to keep Carrie and Big out of the kitchen. By Sunday morning, when I settled into baking I had no idea what I was doing. Not the ideal way to enter into baking.

Pomegranate Grapefruit Rickey with some blueberries thrown in to up the antioxidant factor. (Blueberries and pomegranates - big antioxidants, right?) Over all, not loving it so much. I chose to use pomegranate juice instead of pomegranate molasses, wanted to keep it light. The juice did not give the punch of flavor I was looking for. And the color, not the deep red I had hoped for, more timid, but not pink timid. And, I couldn't detect a trace of grapefruit in the cake either, I wanted some zippy- tartness. To up the ante in the frosting, along with grapefruit zest and juice I added grapefruit oil hoping to achieve a punch of grapefruity-ness. Not so much. I saw this cupcake as more of a side-dish, not a meal or maybe a token desert to a really great meal. Forgettable.

For next week, I know what I'm doing and I'm sticking to my plan. We will see if the results follow.

Mint Syrup

1/2 c sugar
1/2 c water
1/4 c (good handful) mint, chopped

In a small sauce pan, bring sugar, water and mint to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Store in the refrigerator.

Pomegranate Grapefruit Cupcakes

1 1/2 sticks butter, unsalted, room temperature
1 1/8 C sugar
3 large eggs, separated
2 1/4 C AP flour
2 1/2 t baking powder
3/4 t baking soda
3/4 t salt
1/2 C Grapefruit juice
1/2 C Pomegranate juice
2 T grapefruit zest
2 t lime zest
1/2 C blueberries

Preheat oven to 350. Line two 12 cup cupcake pan with liners.

Beat egg whites until they form stiff peaks, set aside. In separate bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In bowl of standing mixer cream butter until light and fluffy, add sugar and beat well. Add egg yolks one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add dry ingredients in three increments alternating with juices. Mix well with each addition. Fold egg whites into creamed mixture. Gently add blueberries, be careful not to crush.

Fill each cupcake well 3/4 full. Bake 18-24 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Grapefruit Frosting

1/2 c butter, room temp
1/2 c Crisco (I know, I know, but it was terribly hot yesterday and I feared the buttercream would melt without a little help)
4 1/4 c powdered sugar, sifted
1 T grapefruit zest
2 T fresh grapefruit juice
1/2 t grapefruit oil

Cream butter and Crisco (I know...) until light and fluffy. Add zest and grapefruit oil, nmext well. Add powdered suger 1 cup at a time, mixing well. Add juice and beat until desired thickness. Turn up mixer and mix for 4-5 minutes until light and fluffy.

To assemble, after cupcakes have cooled, poke holes in tops of cupcakes with wooden skewer. Brush tops with mint syrup. Frost with grapefruit frosting.