Cupcake 65 - Just like the grocery store, but better!

A little work, but so worth it. And once again, buying really good chocolate really pays off!

Adapted from Food Network Magazine Feb/Mar issue.

Cupcakes
1 1/4 c AP flour
2 t baking soda
2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 1/4 c sugar
1 c water, boiling
4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/2 c butter, cut into pieces
2 t vanilla
2 eggs

Filling
4 T butter at room temperature
1 c powdered sugar
2 t vanilla
4 T heavy cream
1 C marshmallow fluff

Ganache
6 oz bittersweet chocolate, chipped
1/2 c heavy cream
1 T butter
1/4 t vanilla

Icing
1/2 c butter, room temperature
2 t vanilla
1 T milk
2 C powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Line 24 wells of a cupcake pan with liners, set aside. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, set aside. Bring water and sugar to bowl, stirring until sugar dissolves. Put chopped chocolate in bowl of standing mixer, pour boiling sugar water over chocolate, stirring until chocolate is dissolved. Stir in vanilla. Allow mixture to cool slightly. Using mixer, beat in eggs, once at a time. Add dry ingredients in two installments, mixing well. Fill cupcake wells 3/4 full, bake 20-24 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Filling
Using mixer, cream butter until light and fluffy. Beat in 1/2 c sugar, add vanilla and 1 T cream. Beat until smooth. Beat in second 1/2 c sugar and 2 T cream. Add marshmallow fluff, mix well. Attach medium tip to pastry bag and fill bag 3/4 full. Set aside.

Ganache
Place chopped chocolate in bowl. Heat cream and 1 T butter until just boiling, pour over chocolate. Stir and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth. Add vanilla and mix well. Allow to cool until still glossy and liquid.

Icing
Beat butter until light and fluffy, add vanilla and pinch of salt, beat on high. Add sugar in 3 increments, beating well with each addition. Fill pastry bag fitted with small tip. Set aside.
To assemble. Insert filling tip into center of cooled cupcake, fill until cupcake expands, but does not burst. Dip top of cupcake into ganache, chill for 15 minutes. Squiggle icing in line across top.

Cupcake 63 - Wattleseed

Wattle what? A spice out of Australia, pay attention an you'll get a little hazelnut, a little coffee and a little chocolate. Worth the scavenger hunt to find.

Heavily adapted from http://vanillagarlic.blogspot.com/2008/08/wattleseed-cupcakes.html thank you Garrett.

Wattleseed Cupcakes

Makes 24

1 c of unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/3 c of sugar
6 eggs, room temperature
1 t vanilla
3 c AP flour
3 t of baking powder
1/4 t salt
2 t ground wattleseed
1/2 c of milk

Preheat the oven to 350. Combine flour, salt, baking powder, wattelseed in medium bowl and set aside. In bowl of standing mixer, cream butter and sugar on high until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well. Add vanilla, beating well again. Add flour in three increments alternating with milk, mixing well between each addition. Fill cupcake wells 3/4 full. Bake 18-20 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Wattleseed Frosting

4 c powdered sugar
1 c of unsalted butter, softened
1 t vanilla
pinch of salt
1 t ground wattleseed
2 T milk

In bowl of standing mixer cream butter until light and fluffy, add wattelseed and vanilla, mix well. Add sugar in three increments and whip on high 3-4 minutes. Add milk until you get desired consistency.

Cupcake 64 - Fluffer Nutter

Maybe it was the mention earlier in the week of Elvis' birthday or maybe it was the jar of marshmallow fluff sitting on the shelf, but this week I was feeling very fluffer nutter. I went into this experiment of sorts, never having eaten anything resembling a fluffer nutter sandwich. The thought makes me shudder. I like my peanut butter plain and my marshmallow mostly mixed with Rice Krispies, never between bread. The outcome on a cupcake - sweet, very tooth achingly sweet. The flavors worked well together and I'm glad I decided against adding banana to the cupcakes, sorry Elvis. Maybe a little chocolate next time?

Heavily adapted from Bake and Destroy blogspot.com

Vanilla cupcakes

1 1/2 c + 4 T cake flour
1 c + 4 T AP flour
2 c sugar
3 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 c unsalted butter, room temperature
4 eggs, room temperature
1 c whole milk
1 t vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 degrees, line two cupcake pans with lines. Shift together flour, salt, and baking powder and set aside.

In bowl of standing mixer, beat butter, until light, add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at time, beating well after each addition. Mix vanilla and milk, alternately add milk and flour mixture beating well after each addition. Fill wells of cupcake pan 3/4 well. Bake for 18- 22 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Fluffer Nutter Frosting

2 c marshmallow fluff
1 cup peanut butter
2/3 c butter, room temperature
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 t salt
2 2/3 c confectioners’ sugar
2 T milk

Combine butter and marshmallow fluff in bowl of standing mixing , mix well, add peanut butter and mix until well blended. Combine salt with confectioners sugar, add in three increments, beating well each time. Add milk until you reach spreadable consistency. Beat in vanilla. Chill 20 minutes if you are piping frosting.

Are you a pusher or a puller?

Interesting article in today's Ad Age, grocery shoppers have been divided into two groups - either pushing the card through the line or getting ahead of the cart and pulling . I'm a puller, for sure. I like to keep things moving. And I like to keep things organized on the check out belt. (don't want my dryer sheets mingling with my leeks! God knows the 12 year old cashier has all he can do to find the code for Boston lettuce and finagle my eco-savvy bags.) I guess too, I'm a little compulsive when I place my things on the belt, I group them, neatly - helps me do a quick inventory and spot anything I've missed. (Not to worry, I'm not one to sprint out of line in search of canned beets leaving the everyone in limbo.) More than anything else, pulling the cart through tricks me into thinking the line is moving, therefore I'm progressing toward the door.

I'm not in the minority, it seems 74% of grocery shoppers are pullers. Looks like someone needs to pay a little more attention to the pullers, give us a little more opportunity for impulse purchases. The pullers are not noticing the ice-melt or Styrofoam coolers in the front of the store. We are seeing the wide array of mints and tabloids. Hummm.... maybe that's why this bowl of mints occupies the corner of my desk?

Cupcake 62 - Tailgate party!

I'm not a huge football fan, but the folks around me are, by association I get a little more football than I need on a day to day basis. My brother asked if I was making a cupcake to celebrate the Baltimore Ravens making the playoffs. I had to sigh, just a little, and ask what a "Ravens cupcake" would taste like? I even hedged my question with "purple is not a flavor unless you are four years old at a snowball stand." I only got a bunch of sports jargon and buzz words, not much help in the kitchen. Feeling more lazy than creative yesterday, I threw together a batch of vanilla cupcakes with some purple sprinkles and purple marshmallow filling. And you know what they taste like? They taste like victory, sweet, sweet victory. Okay, maybe I am a football fan, just a little.