F is for FIRE

...THAT BURNS DOWN THE WHOLE TOWN!



Phew. Am I ever glad to have an excuse to post THAT.

Yesterday (July 1) was a special day. Not only was it Canada's birthday, it was my father-in-laws birthday also. Sorry Canada, you didn't rate. But I did make a birthday cake for my father-in-law, and I had to really think about it since all he specified when I asked him about it was that it had to be chocolate. The more chocolate the merrier.

So, being a pretty rough and gruff guy, I knew I couldn't get away with the typical "cute" cakes that I normally make. And I didn't want to end up with something just plain, either. It occurred to me that this man has flames on everything possible, and I figured fire was a safe bet. With that in mind I started out. Chocolate cake, check. Chocolate filling, check. Chocolate butter-cream, check. Then I threw the whole thing in the freezer, dyed the rest of the chocolate icing black, and coated the entire thing in black.

I bought a set of fondant cutters that were intended to be leaves. They looked close enough to flames to me. I originally had intended to do the fire in chocolate too, but my plan had flaws. I'd spread out a layer of milk chocolate, then covered that in a layer of white chocolate dyed orange. Then I tried to cut out the shapes. I see my error now. In the end I made my fondant flames and used broken up pieces of my chocolate as embers.

The top had some chocolate crunch and gold sprinkles, and I left a circle in the middle to write happy birthday in orange (colour and flavour) glitter gel. Voila.

Vanilla Bundt Cake

I have no pictures of this one, but I do want to hang onto (and pass on) the recipe. I made this for a bbq last weekend, I didn't do the powdered sugar on top but instead made a ganache that I poured over, and then put strawberries in the middle. It's very light and delicate, and then it's got a nice lemon freshness to it that is definitely worth having.

Link: Here

Ingredients:
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 egg, at room temperature
2 egg whites, at room temperature
3/4 cup low-fat (1%) milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel, (optional)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4-1/2 teaspoons powdered sugar

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour Bundt pan; set aside.

Beat granulated sugar, butter, egg and egg whites in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add milk and vanilla; mix well. Add flour, lemon peel (if using), baking powder and salt; beat about 2 minutes or until smooth.

Pour into prepared pan. Bake 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Gently loosen cake from pan with knife and turn out onto wire rack; cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Garnish as desired.

Nutrients per Serving
Calories 178
% calories from fat 35%
Total Fat 7 g
Sat. Fat 1 g
Protein 3 g
Carbohydrates 26 g
Cholesterol 14 mg
Sodium 181 mg
Dietary Fiber 1 g
Dietary exchanges
1-1/2 Starch
1-1/2 Fat

Strawberry Sweetness

A friends daughter, Miss Safi, turned 5 last week and her only specification was that she wanted "a berry on the top" of her cake. According to mom, the "berry" she meant was a strawberry, (thank you Strawberry Shortcake)... so that's what I made.

The top is carved cake with fondant, the tiers are covered in regular butter-cream with vanilla and almond extracts. It's yellow cake filled with custard and fresh-cut strawberries, and I got this nifty little gum paste mold for the trimming.

This was a *lot* of cake, it was quite heavy... but everyone loved it so I am happy!

Ah the Joy of Moving...

/end sarcasm.

Last week we moved. For a couple weekends before that, I held a yard sale to try to get rid of all the unnecessary I didn't want to move...

Not so relevant to my post, no, but context.

So the second weekend I let the kids set up a lemonade stand (I think they made more money than I did), and I made cupcakes to sell along with it. I had them in packages of 6, and the lesson I learned is: individual is better. I sold one cupcake, most people said they didn't want a whole package, but they would've bought one. Unfortunately by the end of the day, in the heat, a lot of the decorating I did had melted.

But I still was proud of them. I gave them away and we ate them ourselves, and we got some great pictures - so nothing wasted.

These were plain vanilla cupcakes, each one was done a bit differently. One was blue fondant, hand painted with coloured gel, there were a couple pink/white piped ones, chocolate, chocolate strawberry, and plain white butter-cream with stars and gold sparkles.

Awww, Bebe Shower!

11:49 PM. Here I sit, purely fuelled by coffee. As usual. My eyes keep wanting to close, but my brain keeps wanting to spin, so here I am.

I finally got back the pictures from this li'l party, I had a lot of fun making things for this one. Unfortunately my camera batteries died, so I had to wait on the photos.

What I made were 15 cupcakes. Shortcake, which I believe is posted here somewhere... I'll dig it out later. I filled them with strawberries in syrup that I made from fresh, and then decorated with butter-cream and fondant. Butter-cream was pink (we think it's a pink baby, not blue... figuratively of course, since literal blue babies are never a good thing... but I digress), and then four of them got one letter each of B A B Y. The rest got a heart cutout. The fondant was dyed black, and then painted with edible silver, and each cupcake was also sprayed over half with purple.

In the end I was pleased with the result.

Then I'd gotten these chocolate pretzel mould. Mold? Shoot... I can never remember which is which... mould. Right. They are adorable, you use a large straight pretzel for these, about a half-inch thick, maybe half a foot long. Measurement is not my strong suit. Hopefully you all know what I mean. And then the mould has baby blocks and baby feet with hearts. I used pink chocolate again, white chocolate and milk chocolate.

Then since I had all this melted chocolate left over, I also did white chocolate coated strawberries. Fun times were had by all.

Here's eye candy:

Drunk Science!

First of all -

Did we do drunk science again?

So funny! I'm sure everyone is wondering how I tie this into my actual post, and the answer is: very loosely.

After having to do the lactose-free cupcakes, it's occurred to me that there are plenty of other areas to branch out here. Gluten-free, for instance. Vegan. Raw food. Low-fat, low-calorie.

Basically, when you spend as much time baking as I do, you start to get, well, fat. Truth be told, if I didn't bake I'd probably be fatter, because I just love food, and if I didn't make it myself it'd probably be far worse nutritionally.

Which leads me to my point. Or does it? I'm not sure. I'm not sure I have a point right now. But the bottom line is I decided to spend some time experimenting. Not drunkenly, though I might not be adverse to a glass of wine (or 4), truth be told.

Here's my list of things I hope to accomplish.

1. Come up with a lower fat, lower calorie candied-apple. I'm talking chocolates here, not hard candy.
2. Find at least one, preferably two, tried and true gluten-free cake recipes.
3. Find at least one recipe-box-worthy raw food cupcake recipe.
4. Find at least one, again, preferably two, tried and true vegan cake recipes.
5. Compile a list of acceptable food substitutions for baking, to produce healthier/lower fat/lower calorie baking without sacrificing flavour.

No small tasks. Basically I want to develop a way to bake as healthfully as I possibly can (given that baking largely involves gobs of fat and hoards of sugar). And at the same time, I want everything to come out tasting amazing. Which I think is entirely possible. Not easy, but possible.

I think that we in North America (can't speak for the rest of the world) have been conditioned to find overly refined, overly preserved and mass produced foods palatable. And we miss out on a slew of phenomenal flavours that occur in nature. Of course when you're shopping at a supermarket bakery, these things need to have a shelf-life. But when you're custom baking and doing it from home, to order, or for family - I think it's completely do-able.

Lets hope I don't have to eat those words. We shall see.

This is the challenge I'm laying out for myself, check back later to see how I do. And in the meantime, feel free to drop me any comments, suggestions, or recipes. :)

Bug-cakes

I'm a little slow here, these were ordered (and made) last week, by a woman who wanted them for her grandsons birthday for his classmates.

Anyone who knows me knows that I would not make bugs (generally speaking) of my own volition, because I feel about bugs the same way I imagine a 4 year old feels about the bogeyman. My typical reaction to insects of any sort is a shameful mix of screaming, squealing and flailing - my mind doesn't register that I am approximately 1000 times larger and that this grotesque little creature can't, in fact, actually hurt me. In my mind it's the size of godzilla and it wants to bear hug me before devouring me. Seriously. I need help.

That said, because I did have to make bugs, I made them as cute and un-bug-like as I possibly could. There were 30 of these made, and I had some caterpillars, some spiders, some ladybugs and some ants.

I'd bought some "rocks" bulk, just because I was sure I'd use them at some point - they are candy covered chocolate and they actually look like pebbles. So I piped grass onto the cupcakes, put a bug on each, and scattered rocks around them. Everything was edible.

Last minute hook - one child was lactose intolerant. Rather than making one single lactose-free cupcake, I made them all that way.

Without further ado -

Lactose-free Cupcakes
Makes 30-32 cupcakes

-6 cups flour
-5 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp salt
-1 1/3 cups margarine or shortening (I used half and half)
-3 1/2 cups sugar
-4 eggs
-2 1/2 cup Lactaid milk
Soy or rice milk could be used, but I don't know what it'll end up like - I used Lactaid (Lactose-free milk).
-2 tsp vanilla
-2 tbsp lemon zest

Cream margarine and/or shortening with sugar, add in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla, mix. Mix all dry ingredients, add alternating with milk, in 2 or 3 additions, mix well after each addition. Mix in lemon zest.

Spoon into prepared cupcake liners and bake at 350 degrees, 15-20 minutes.

I used butter-cream on these that I substituted again some margarine and shortening instead of butter.

The spiders and ants had legs piped on for simplicity.

And here they are:

Food-a-licious

Yesterday was my favourite Amanda's birthday, my sister-in-law. I promised to make her a cake, and she told me the kind she wanted, but would not tell me how to decorate it. I got a lot of "Oh, whatever you do is fine." Accomodating? Yes. Slightly infuriating? Also yes. Because I like things to be perfect (as perfect as I can do, anyway), and to be something that the person I'm giving to will love...

I racked my brain for a good week. I asked family members, all of whom were also stumped. I thought, and thought, and thought... and then, a lightbulb went off.

On her facebook she'd said that (being 5 months pregnant) all she wanted for her birthday was food. Chinese food, popcorn, etc. Foods she's been craving. And at the family BBQ over the weekend I did hear her talk about the cliche'd pickles and peanut butter sandwiches...

So I made her a cake with food on it. Cake food.

The cake is my apple cake, with caramel apple filling (that's getting to be popular), and then I also made a pound cake to use for decoration, since it's a sturdy sort of cake.

Recipe from epicurious.com:

• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 cups cake flour

1 Set rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees.

2 Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer and beat on medium speed with the paddle attachment until very light, about 5 minutes. Beat in the vanilla. One at a time, beat in 3 of the eggs, beating until smooth after each addition.

3 Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in one-third of the four, then another egg, beating until smooth after each addition. Stop the mixer occasionally to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Beat in another third of the flour, then, after the flour has been absorbed, beat in the final egg. Scrape again and beat in the last of the four.

4 Use the rubber spatula to give a final mix to the batter, then scrape it into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

5 Bake for about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the cake is well risen, cracked on top, and well-colored and a toothpick inserted into the center emerges dry.

6 Cool the cake in the pan for a few minutes, then unmold it onto a rack and turn right side up to finish cooling.

Pound cake. Done.

So, once that was finished, I cut a couple slices off, trimed them down to squares (no crusts) and made the same peanut butter filling I use for peanut-butter cups, except with chunky peanut butter. It's not exact, maybe 1/3 cup peanut butter, some icing sugar, some vanilla.

Made a sandwich with the pound cake slices. Made a couple fondant pickles.

Then I covered a peice of the poundcake in white fondant and made a chinese take-out box. I painted a chinese symbol on it (no I don't have any clue what it means) and a flower, with red gel, and put a wire that my husband so kindly contributed on top for the handle.

Then I made pink candy popcorn... which I can't, at the moment, find the recipe to... and put about half my batch into disposable piping bags, tied with ribbon. They wouldn't fit on top, so they're just kind of hanging out on the sidelines there.

In the end, this is what I got:

GIANT CUPCAKE OF WIN!

For what feels like an eternity, but was probably more like 4 months, I have been foaming at the mouth for this particular cupcake cake pan. Dude. It's a cake pan... that makes a cupcake shaped cake. I called it cupcakezilla. You may recall my earlier post: Cupcakezilla.

Well I recently took a little drive (and when I say "little drive" I mean it the same way that the civil war was a "little spat"), to hang with my bestest buddy. And the visit was eventful, not just because I got the privilege of hanging out with such an awesome person as she, but also because she BOUGHT ME THE PAN I WANTED. If we were cartoons, I would be hug-crushing her body while hearts floated out of my head. I'm not joking.

So when I came home, I made this cupcake cake for Easter dinner with the fam. It was devils food cake with butter-cream, and then I got these nifty little chocolate molds. Moulds? Molds. *checks dictionary.com* Okay, yes, molds. No green stuff. So I have these little butterfly lollipops that I used strawberry chocolate for, by which I mean strawberry white chocolate, this stuff is delicious. And then I have the cupcake molds. I made the bottoms chocolate, with caramel inside, and the tops strawberry again. I laughed that everything on my platter was cupcake - except there was no actual cupcake.

I stuck the lollipops in the top, put three choco-cakes around the cake, sprayed the butter-cream pink, and here's my finished product:

It seemed to go over well, when I got ready to go home all I found left was some crumbs and one butterfly. Dessert win.

Ladybug Cake

Yesterday, apparently, I sat gazing at my hands and cursing their flesh toned-ness... I mean, why be white when I can be red? I swear if I took photos of *just* my hands, I could pass as a red Oompa Loompa. Surely.

I decided to make fondant ladybugs. Making fondant ladybugs means dying fondant red, unless you have the financial capability and store availability to buy red fondant. I had neither, so I dyed my hands. And then with my hands I dyed the fondant. In that order, though in fairness it wasn't meant to be that way.

I made about 6 ladybugs of varying sizes. The largest one is about the size of a mini muffin, the smallest about the size of a nickel.

Instructions are:

Take a red ball, roll it between your hands into an egg shape. With a knife, press a line down into the back of the egg shape, lengthwise, press down about 2/3rds to the bottom. You're left with something resembling a red coffee bean.

Get a smaller peice of black fondant, roll it out between your hands into a short rope, fatter in the middle. Curve it backwards, put it onto the end of the red coffee bean.

Use the end of a paintbrush, toothpick, whatever - to poke eye holes in the black fondant, roll your tool around some to loosen up the hole.

Use small balls of white fondant, roll them into a teardrop shape, push them into the face holes skinny end first and press down to make eyes.

From this point on you can simply use black colour paste and a paintbrush, paint dots on the eyes and on the back of the ladybugs.

This is as far as mine got. You can also find something curved to indent a smile into the face, or use black rice noodles for antennae.

After this point, I used my apple cake (here) in a square pan. No filling, though if I'd had my apple jelly with me (I'm on vacation), I would have filled it with that. Rum butter-cream on top, and then I dyed the rest of my butter-cream green and piped grass on top, before placing my ladybugs on it. I finished it off with some red smarties that I found. I'm like the scavenger baker.

Dragonfly Cupcakes - Lemon Raspberry

Can't witty, I has teh dumb.

My mom requested these for a group she's going to, so I did my best. They're a lemon cupcake, filled with raspberry jam, decorated with butter-cream, colour spray and fondant. They take a bit of work, let me warn you.

Lemon Cupcakes

• 3 cups self-rising flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons lemon zest
• 1 cup whole milk, divided
• 2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line 30 cupcake pan cups with paper liners.
Sift the self-rising flour and salt together in a bowl. In another bowl, beat the unsalted butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating each egg until incorporated before adding the next. Mix in the vanilla extract and lemon zest.
Gently beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture, one third at a time, alternating with half the milk and half the lemon juice after each of the first 2 additions of flour. Beat until just combined; do not over mix.
Fill the prepared cupcake liners with batter 3/4 full, and bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 17 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for about 10 minutes before removing them to finish cooling on a rack.

Note: I didn't have self-rising flour, so I used 3 tsp of baking powder along with the flour.

After the cupcakes cooled, I just took the wide end of a chopstick to poke a hole through the top of each one, about halfway down, and then put my jam in a piping bag and piped it in.

Then I made butter-cream, I used a couple tablespoons of lemon juice in place of the vanilla and some of the milk.

Dragonflies are as follows:

Roll out white fondant and use a small heart shaped cookie cutter, cut in half up and down for the wings. The body I just rolled out with my hands, thinner on one end, and the head is just a ball - all dyed black.

The antennae on mine are just a thin thread covered wire, but you could play around with that - try rice noodles, whatever.

Voila.

Little Miss Sunshine's Birthday Cake

I have a friend who is a bundle of get-up-and-go (I think she's masochistic, to be quite honest), who turned 29 on Saturday (for the first time, at least), loves pink, and also happens to be getting divorced.

I made her cake. With the above spec-combo to work with, we came up with this:

This, in case it's not abundantly obvious, is her kicking her ex, in the butt, off the cake.

Rather than go into all the recipe details this time around, I'm just going to say what it was. If anyone actually wants recipes, just ask and I will dutifully forthwith append them.

Cake: Yellow (doubled, that's 4 round cake pans)

Filling: Strawberries in syrup (1 carton chopped strawberries, splash of water, half cup of sugar, lemon juice in a saucepan), + custard.

Decorations: Pink and black fondant, butter-cream, little sugar buttons and of course the happy black couple on top.

Turned out well, my piping penmanship still leaves something to be desired but overall I was happy with it. Tasted fantastic.

Here's the birthday girl helping the scene along:

Annnd the front with the bow.

Tea!

"Remember the tea kettle - it is always up to its neck in hot water, yet it still sings!" ~Author Unknown

Tea just goes with cake. Or pastry, cookies, bars... if it's not coffee, it's tea.

Here's my bit of shameless promotion:

Look to the right-hand side of your screen, there is a Steeped logo. My mother sells this tea, and I don't feel I'm biased at all when I say it is insanely good. Their after-eight tea, for instance, I pinched out of the bag and chewed on for a while. You know, because I'm odd like that. And it was good that way.

These are high quality but affordable teas. Nothing in a bag, these are all loose teas, as far as I know. They smell good, they taste good, some of them are even good for you. Let me give you a run-down on some of the more interesting flavours:

Cherry and Rose Sencha - sencha green tea, rose petals, natural flavours
This smells and tastes amazing. I love cherry, and this is just beautiful - fragrant and delicate.

Superior Snow Cap - green tea, meringue bits, green currants, rose buds, orange edges, cardamom, cloves, natural flavour
I have not tried this one myself, but it sounds amazing.

Don't Worry Be Happy - chamomile, peppermint, licorice root

Feminini-tea for Women - cinnamon bark, apple pieces, red bush leaves, ginger pieces, raspberry leaves, fennel, chamomile, cardamom, lady's mantel, cloves, orange peel, St. John's Wort, black pepper, juniper berries, silver weed, natural flavour

Masculini-tea for Men - apple pieces, cinnamon bark, red bush leaves, ginger, bean pods, mistletoe, lemon grass, sea holly, cardamom, lemon peel, cloves, black pepper, ginseng root

Sinful Seduction - roasted chicory, chocolate pieces, cocoa pieces, red peppercorns, ginger peices, natural flavour

There is a weight-loss Oolong, sampler packs that include things like a wellness sampler, black tea, green tea, white tea, etc. There's also an entire section of flowering tea balls, which are just nifty to look at. If you've never seen such a thing, you should. A few years back, my old boss brought back some flowering tea balls from China. Jasmine, I think. You put them into a glass teapot, and literally watch them flower in the water. Very pretty.

Then there is a whole line of accessories, tea balls, tea pots, iced tea jug, kettles, cups, you name it.

I have never bought a single item from this company, because I don't have to. My mother is a consultant (and lives with me). But if it wasn't already in my home, I would buy it, and believe me when I say that I am not sales-ploying anyone just for the heck of it. These really are great products.

This is a Canadian company, and because of that, the legalities of shipping to the US need some ironing out. But if anyone is looking from within Canada and is a tea drinker, I'd encourage you to give this stuff a try. I highly doubt you'll regret it.

Mocha, Apple, plus Chocolate Biscotti

Yesterday I spent the day at my mother-in-laws making these cupcakes for her to bring to a church function. And since I bookmarked this page for her when I got on it to grab, of all things, my own recipe (yes my memory is that bad), I'll note how nice it was to have the use of her kitchen. No worries about kids getting into things, nobody underfoot, lots of space. Mmm. Thanks MIL!

I have no pictures yet, she took the pictures and I need to retrieve them. But like I said, I literally have the memory of a goldfish so I'd better get out the details while they're still rattling around in my brain somewhat.

To clear up any confusion, I made two kinds of cupcakes. It's not mocha and apple together, though the more I think about it the more I think that might be good.

I made a mocha cupcake, similar in looks to the previous coffee one - but more, shall I say, cost effective. There is no ganache or cream. The effect is about the same, looks-wise, but probably less rich. The night before I made mini chocolate biscotti, which I used as a garnish. So I'd suggest, if you're doing it, do these first and get them out of the way. They will keep up to 2 weeks in an airtight container, you won't even need half of them for these cupcakes and they go great with coffee.

Chocolate Biscotti
Recipe found here.

50 to 60 cookies

Use a good-quality cocoa powder. You can use natural or Dutch-process for these, whichever one you like. Just remember that the chocolate flavor of the finished cookies is dependent on the quality of cocoa powder you use. So it’s worth using a decent one. I used Valrhona. See notes below on ingredients.

If you like extra-crisp biscotti, you can flip each one over midway during the second baking, in step #6. I sometimes smear one side of the cookies with melted dark chocolate. When dipped in a warm espresso, I can’t imagine anything better.

For the biscotti

• 2 cups (280g) flour
• 3/4 cups (75g) top-quality cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup (200g) sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 cup (125g) almonds, toasted and very coarsely-chopped
• 3/4 cups (120g) chocolate chips

For the glaze

1 large egg
2 tablespoons coarse or crystal sugar (see Notes)

1. Preheat the oven to 350F (180C) degrees.

2. In a small bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

3. In a large bowl, beat together the 3 eggs, sugar, and vanilla & almond extracts. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients, then mix in the nuts and the chocolate chips until the dough holds together.

4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Divide the dough in half. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into two logs the length of the baking sheet. Transfer the logs onto the baking sheet, evenly spaced apart.

5. Gently flatten the tops of the logs. Beat the remaining egg and brush the tops of the logs liberally with the egg. (You won’t use it all). Sprinkle the tops with the coarse or crystal sugar and bake for 25 minutes, until the dough feels firm to the touch.

6. Remove the cookie dough from the oven and cool 15 minutes. On a cutting board, use a serrated bread knife to diagonally cut the cookies into 1/2-inches slices. Lay the cookies cut side down on baking sheets and return to the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, turning the baking sheet midway during baking, until the cookies feel mostly firm.

Once baked, cool the cookies completely then store in an airtight container for up to two weeks. If you wish, the cookies can be half-dipped in melted chocolate, then cooled until the chocolate hardens.

Notes:

1. I did not use the glaze at all, I didn't have any coarse sugar. I don't know that it's necessary, but might be a nice touch.
2. I made 4 logs out of this, not 2 - since mine were mini. For the purpose of this cupcake they need to be small. But if you like larger biscotti, I'd suggest you break into 2, make one regular log and two of of the remaining half.

These only took me about an hour, hour and a half maybe, all totalled. Plus, the scraps you get before the second baking will make you popular around the house, everyone here loved them.

Okay! On to...

Mocha Cupcakes
Recipe found here.

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup cold brewed coffee
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 3 teaspoons cider vinegar
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup baking cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, beat the eggs, coffee, oil, vinegar and vanilla until well blended. In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into coffee mixture until blended.
Fill paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool.

I baked these, like I said, in the coffee cups. The link has a mocha frosting, I didn't use it - I used strictly butter-cream that I piped on. On the top I put the chocolate crunch sprinkles again, and then a biscotti at edge of the cup on each one.

For the apple cupcakes, I used my apple cake recipe that can be found here.

Then I made a caramel apple filling that unfortunately you are not going to get exact measurements on, but I'll do my best.

Filling

• 3 apples, diced (I used Gala apples, Granny Smith would probably be better)
• 1/4 cup plus a handful of white sugar
• 2 or 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp (or so) pumpkin pie spice*
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup water
• 3 tbsp flour

*Failing pumpkin pie spice, use a dash of ginger, clove, nutmeg and cinnamon

Put all the ingredients in a saucepan and heat to boiling, stirring frequently. Keep boiling until the mixture thickens and caramelizes, the colour will turn dark. Remove from heat and cool. It will be syrupy, not hard or very thick. Set aside.

Apple Cake

• 2 1/4 cups cake flour (all purpose can be used, I didn't have cake flour)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup powdered apple cider mix (or 3 individual pouches)
• 3/4 cup shortening
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3 eggs
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp rum extract (or 1 tsp rum)

I substituted almond extract for rum this time, and butter for shortening. Same measurements.

Preheat oven to 375*F. Prepare pans; first grease and then flour two 9-inch round cake pans.

Into a large mixing bowl, measure all ingredients except frosting and jelly.

With mixer at low speed, beat until well mixed, scraping bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase speed to medium; beat 5 minutes, occasionally scraping the bowl.

Drop one full spoonful into each cup of a paper-lined cupcake pan. Cover with 1 tsp of caramel apple sauce, try to get more apple and less sauce. Drop one more spoonful of batter over each to cover.

Bake at 375* for about 20 minutes, or until browned. Cool 5 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto cooling racks.

I ended up with about 18 cupcakes out of this recipe.

When they cooled, I piped butter-cream on them, sprayed with pink, and garnished with chocolate pieces I'd made.

That's it, that's all - I'll add photos when I have them!

Edit: And now I have them. Here they be, enjoy.

Chocolate Coffee Cupcakes/Lemon Crunch Parfait

I made both of these today for an event that turned out to be cancelled. C'est la vie. I get to keep all my sugar. ^^

The first one is a coffee chocolate cupcake. I found the recipe here. I decided I wanted to make them in coffee cups, and I searched high and low - everywhere I went the cups were plastic, too big, made for water... whatever. Dollar store to the rescue! I found these cute little coffee cups, about espresso-shot sized, 20 for a buck. I bought 100. I plan to keep doing this.

Untrue to form, I'll give you the pictures first.

Now that that's out of the way, here's the recipe:

Chocolate Coffee Cupcakes

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup instant coffee powder
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter -- at room temperature
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs
3 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup coffee beans -- crushed
8 ounces milk chocolate -- finely chopped
2 cups mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar -- sifted

To make the cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 30 standard muffin cups with paper liners.

Combine the milk, cocoa, coffee and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, constantly whisking, until the cocoa and coffee have dissolved. Let cool and pour into a liquid measure.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. In the bowl of a mixer, cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk mixture in three batches, ending with the liquid. Fill each muffin cup halfway with the batter. Bake 18 to 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes from the pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.

To make the mocha ganache and mascarpone cream:

Combine 1 cup of the heavy cream and coffee beans in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from the heat, cover, and let infuse for 10 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean sauce-pan and bring back to a boil. Put the chocolate in a medium bowl and pour the hot cream over it, stirring slowly, until the ganache is smooth. Spoon enough ganache over each cupcake to fill the liners to the rim.

Using a whisk or in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the remaining 2 cups of heavy cream to stiff peaks. Add the mascarpone and confectioners sugar and whisk until smooth. Spoon the mascarpone cream into a pastry bag fitted with a medium round tip and pipe the cream on top of the ganache in a circle.

Notes:

1. This says it makes 30 cupcakes, in my cups it made 20.
2. I didn't have marscapone cheese, I substituted cream cheese and it worked just fine.
3. I made chocolate covered plastic spoons to serve with - I won't bother to include instructions on that unless anyone asks.
4. Chocolate crunch on top again, cocoa could be used, sprinkles, whatever. Play, experiment, have fun.

On to the parfait. This was surprisingly simple, and it looks simple, but it tastes SO good.

Shyah my cups were too big. Next time I'd get smaller ones. And I just realized I can see myself reflecting in them, haha.

Lemon Crunch Parfaits

Makes 6 servings

1/4 cup whipping cream
1 can apricot halves in light syrup, drained

Lemon Curd:

3 egg yolks
1 egg
1/2 cup and 1 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp finely grated lemon rind
1/2 cup lemon juice
pinch salt

Almond Crunch:

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp large-flake rolled oats
1 tbsp packed brown sugar
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp slivered almonds

Almond Crunch: In bowl, stir together flour, oats and brown sugar. Using pastry blender, cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in almonds. Spread on parchment paper-lined baking sheet, bake in 350*F (180*C) until golden and crisp, 12 minutes. Cool.

Lemon Curd: In heatproof bowl, whisk together egg yolks, egg, sugar, lemon rind, lemon juice and salt. Place over saucepan of simmering water; cook, whisking often, until thick enough to coat a spoon, 8-10 minutes. Strain through a sieve into a bowl. Place plastic wrap on surface. Refrigerate until cold and set.

Loosen curd with spoon. Whip cream; fold half into curd. Fold in remaining cream.

Divide apricots among glasses; divide lemon mixture over top. Sprinkle almond crunch over each.

So-o-ooo, that's my desserts for the day. Good stuff, both most likely things I will make again. Hope everyone else makes and enjoys them too. ^^

Aw man...

A funny thing happened to me this morning. Of course I don't mean "funny" "haha", I mean "funny" more like "soul crushingly disappointing"... but I have to admit it was humorous the way it happened.

Having just woken up I was leafing through a magazine of my mothers that'd just come in the mail. Folded over to fit in the mailbox, I read ________ Living. Which I automatically assumed to mean "Canadian Living", because, y'know, we're Canadian. Somewhere around page 3, I find this Jelly Belly $10,000 Cupcake Challenge.

ooOOooOOoo

My eyes light up, and look like O.O!

So exciting! I love jelly belly's. AND I love cupcakes. It's so perfect!
Then I read:
"Open to legal residents of the 50 United States who are 13 years of age and older..."

Wait, what? I keep reading for the "AND CANADA" but it doesn't materialize. Finally I say to myself, "Well that's just stupid, why would they run an American contest in a Canadian...." *flip to the cover to read "Country Living* "....oh."

Well, regardless, there are some nifty decorating ideas in there AND I happen to know that maybe some American friends might read this, so check this:


Jelly Belly Cupcake Challenge

I am still rooting through all the cupcakes on there and I probably will make one or two of them, especially with Easter coming up.

So check it out, no matter where you're from, it's pretty nifty.

Cream Cheese Crater Cupcakes

Some days you wake up and think, I could really use some espresso. With sugar. And chocolate. And cocoa. And butter, more sugar on top and more butter. No? Is that just me? I guarantee if you eat one of these for breakfast you won't feel tired. At least until the sugar crash.

Regardless I have the solution.

I made these yesterday, they came out of a little booklet I got with a Canadian Living magazine. There was no image and no frosting/decorating involved in the recipe, so I made all that up myself.

This says it makes 12 cupcakes. I doubled it and got maybe 18, so I'm not too sure... maybe they made puny cupcakes. I do no such thing.

Cream Cheese Crater Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes (apparently)

• 1/3 cup (75 mL) boiling water
• 1 tsp (5 mL) instant espresso powder
• 2 oz (60 g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 1/4 cup (60 mL) buttermilk
• 1/4 cup (60 mL) unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup (150 mL) granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp (2 mL) vanilla
• 1 cup (250 mL) all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• Pinch salt

Filling:

• 1/2 cup (125 mL) cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup (60 mL) granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp (1 mL) vanilla

FILLING: In bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla; set aside.

In small bowl, whisk boiling water and espresso powder into chocolate until smooth. Let cool slightly. Stir in buttermilk.

In large bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy; gradually beat in sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla.

In separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt; beat into butter mixture alternately with chocolate mixture, making three additions of dry ingredients and 2 of chocolate.

Divide evenly among 12 paper-lined muffin cups. With a spoon, make indentation in center of each. Spoon about 1 tbsp (15 mL) filling into each.

Bake in 350*F (180*C) oven until tops are firm to the touch, about 20 minutes. Let cool.

Notes:

1. I thought I had chocolate, turns out my youngest ate it all (except what he dumped on the floor, joys of parenting and all). So I used cocoa, and I found this handy conversion on using cocoa for chocolate: Cocoa/Chocolate Conversion. In my recipe I used the formula for semi-sweet chocolate. Their steps yield 6 oz of chocolate equivalent. This recipe calls for 2, but I doubled it. So if you want to make this substitution, use 3 tbsp cocoa, 2 1/4 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp shortening (or butter) for each 2 oz.
2. I found my cupcakes a tad dry for my liking, not crumbling dry, but I would've liked a bit more moisture. I'm not sure if it's that I left them in a minute too long or because of my chocolate substitution, but I feel like if you use real chocolate you might get a moister cupcake.
3. This batter comes out sort of like store-bought whipped frosting in consistency. It's more elastic though. When I was making the indentations I found the way to do it was to first use the back of the spoon to smooth the batter out (it won't simply fall into place in the paper cup). Then tilt it up at about a 45 degree angle, still using the back of the spoon, twirl in a circle in the center of the cupcake. It'll push the batter out toward the edges and create a well. If I didn't smooth the batter out first this worked horribly.
4. Finally - after making these, I think that in the future I might actually put the filling right in the center. Fill the cups halfway, put a dollop of filling in the center, fill the rest of the way. I think it'd work much the same but leave the tops smoother, and the filling more central. Just my thought.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, I piped butter-cream on them and coated with chocolate crunch sprinkles. They're really good, these sprinkles, by Wilton. The butter-cream I made had rum extract in it rather than vanilla, and it was quite good. This is a very rich cupcake, lots of flavour, so I found the butter-cream lightened it up some.

Picture time!

It's TUESDAY! And that means...

...absolutely nothing! Yay!

I have been doing *zip* in the kitchen. But having started this blog I'm (if it was even possible) even more obsessed with baked things. Bad thing? Good thing? I don't know, I'm just rollin' with it.

So in order to keep things moving along in this, my very own testament to insanity and sugar addiction, I've gone and dug up some things that I just think are dang cute. Seriously, I ONLY found the pictures, you want back story or directions, you're in the wrong place.

I have no idea what this is about, but I seriously want one:



It looks adorable. I like to imagine it tastes like a mouthful of fruit loops. For all I know it could just be multi-colored, and let me be the first to say, that would be lame. I'd still eat it though.

Next!



Those butterflies don't look awfully edible, and if that's the case, again I say: lame. But regardless, they are pretty, and even those aside I think the decorating is just lovely.

This next one is a little bit different, it's something that I think most bakers overlook - the paper around the cupcake. This is a nifty reminder that all the decorating doesn't need to be sugar upon sugar and fat heaped on top.



I'm not real big on seashells meself, but I like the concept.

Here's a prettier (in my oh-so-humble..andright... opinion) wrapper:



And then I see:



How awesome is that. I want one for myself. It has literally nothing to do with food at all except that it resembles food, but seriously, I'd wear it. Nothing like being proud of being a giant dork, right? Okay, okay, I probably wouldn't really wear it. But I still like to imagine I might.

And this is just blinkin' fantastic:



So there's my random post for the week. Eye candy. Win.

Mint Kiss Cupcakes

While I'm going back on recipes that I've already made, this is one I made around Christmas for my sister-in-law to take to an event she was attending.

The cake itself is a simple sponge, and everyone seems to like it (I got it from my friend Jackie, so credit is given where credit is due) and it's nearly as fast to make as a mix. Plus it tastes 100 times better. She calls it shortcake, I call it sponge, take your pick.

Cake

-8 egg yolks
-4 egg whites
-1 1/2 c. sugar
-4 tbsp. milk
-1 tsp vanilla
-1 c. flour
-1/2 tsp salt

Mix all the ingredients except egg whites. For this particular recipe, save 2 of the extra 4 egg whites, you will need them.

Beat egg whites to soft peaks, fold in.

Spoon into a paper lined cupcake tray, fill each up about 2/3 full. This recipe will make 12-14 cupcakes.

Bake at 350*F for 14-16 minutes, let cool in the pan about 5 minutes and then transfer to cooling racks.

Prepare butter-cream (find the recipe here), substitute mint extract for vanilla.

Meanwhile with the remaining egg whites, you can make these:

Candy Cane Kisses

For red-and-green-striped kisses, add 2 stripes of green food colouring beside red stripes.

2 egg whites
Pinch cream of tartar
1/4 tsp peppermint extract
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Red paste food colouring

In bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until soft peaks form; beat in peppermint extract. Gradually beat in sugar until stiff, glossy peaks form.

Fit pastry bag with 1/4-inch (5 mm) plain tip. Using small, clean paintbrush or cotton swab, brush inside of bag with 2 stripes of red food colouring opposite each other.

Spoon meringue into bag. Pipe 1-inch (2.5 cm) kisses, about 1 inch apart, onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Bake in 200 F oven until dry, about 1.5 hours. Turn off oven; let stand in oven for 30 minutes. Transfer to racks, cool.

Finally -

When the cupcakes have cooled, frost them with prepared mint butter-cream. Place one of the candy cane kisses on each one in the center. Garnish with shaved chocolate or chocolate chips if you want, I used chocolate chips on these...

And this is how they turned out:

Yes my table is always a mess when I'm done. They did turn out very well, they were a bit of work (and my piping leaves something to be desired, or my kisses would've been prettier), but I think worth the work and overall a good dessert.

"Give me the cupcake and nobody gets hurt..."

Curiouser and curiouser.

Woman goes 'ballistic' over lack of cupcakes

A woman in South Wales ravaged a bakery upon learning they were out of her favourite cupcakes, according to British media reports.

The shop's owner, Sally Dodd, 43, told the U.K. Daily Mail the woman threw herself on the floor "ranting and raving" when she found out they were out of the popular "sweet tooth fairy" cupcakes.

"The woman went absolutely ballistic when she was told we didn't have the cupcake flavour she wanted," Dodd told the British tabloid. "She didn't even wait for us to tell her that if she waited we could bake some fresh cupcakes for her."

The woman reportedly ran around the counter, grabbed Dodd by the hair, and proceeded to smash all the glass display units, causing more than in $600 damage.

"You expect a certain amount of risk running a bar or a pub but not in a cupcake shop," said Dodd.

Police are hoping video surveillance footage will help them find the culprit.

Linksies

Okay, the first thought I had upon reading this was, "Jackie was in South Wales? I didn't even know..." which I say, of course, solely for Jackie's benefit because nobody else knows who she is. But she is my bestest friend and fellow sugar freak, so best be respectin'.

Honestly though, how bizarre. It reminds me a bit of the old "What would you do for a Klondike Bar" ads, I mean, Man with mic: "What would YOU do for this cupcake?" Lady (while foaming a little at the mouth): "Sir, I would physically attack a baker and smash her displays..." "....we don't have to run that one, right?"

Wow. People.

Make cupcakes, not war! And not war over cupcakes, or even physical assault raps over cupcakes! Hello!! I'm all for promoting peace and happiness through cake.

Apple Cake

Back in February when my baby turned 5, I mostly cried and lamented the fact that my baby wasn't a "baby" anymore. But aside from that, and more relevant to my theme, I asked him what kind of cake he wanted. It has become my own tradition to never buy a birthday cake, instead I make one that's very customized to what the birthday boy/gal wants - I consider it part of my gift to them, and I guess it's become a matter of pride to me.

My youngest boy (I really can't say baby anymore, sigh) is an apple fiend. I mean, he can eat 5 or 6 a day if I let him. Nothing makes him happier than when he says "Can I have a snack?" and I say "Go get an apple." So I should've seen this coming. He insisted on an apple cake. Not a cake shaped like an apple, a cake that tastes like apple. And I was determined to give it to him.

When I scoured the web, I found one of two things. Either a) cakes shaped like apples, or b) apple coffee cakes. Nothing suitable for decorating, to be sure. So I had to make up a recipe, or rather, tweak a recipe a bit, to get some apple flavour in there and I have to say it was a huge hit. Everyone loved it, especially the birthday boy. When I asked him if he liked it, he squealed "It tastes like APPLE!"

And so, I'm going to pass on the recipe for anyone else who wants to use it.

Apple Cake

2 1/4 cups cake flour (all purpose can be used, I didn't have cake flour)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup powdered apple cider mix (or 3 individual pouches)
3/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup milk
3 eggs
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp rum extract (or 1 tsp rum)

Butter-cream frosting
Apple jelly

Preheat oven to 375*F. Prepare pans; first grease and then flour two 9-inch round cake pans.

Into a large mixing bowl, measure all ingredients except frosting and jelly.

With mixer at low speed, beat until well mixed, scraping bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase speed to medium; beat 5 minutes, occasionally scraping the bowl.

Pour batter into prepared cake pans, smoothing the top with rubber spatula. Cut through the batter with a knife to remove any air bubbles.

Bake layers for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted deep into the center comes out clean.

Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely on racks.

Butter-Cream Frosting

1 16-ounce package confectioner's sugar
6 tbsp butter or margerine, softened (I find butter works better)
3 to 4 tbsp milk or half-and-half
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt

Note - I often use salted butter even though it's not called for, and then I don't add any extra salt. I also don't use this recipe, or any recipe, but my method is not precise so I figured I'd dig one up for this purpose.

In a large bowl with a spoon or with a mixer at medium speed, beat all ingredients until very smooth, adding more milk as necessary to make the icing a good spreading consistancy.

Extra note - if you are using a mixer, add the sugar to the wet ingredients slowly. If you put a mixer into a bowl full of an entire package of powdered sugar, there will be a powder explosion.

So - once the cakes are cool, cut and level as needed. Spread a thin layer of butter-cream over the top of each layer. Cover this with 3 or 4 tbsp of apple jelly on the bottom layer, then invert the other layer so that the jelly is sandwiched in between the butter-cream. The remaining frosting can be used to cover and decorate.

On my cake, I used fondant so I used the butter-cream for a crumb layer, then covered in fondant, then used a bit of buttercream for decorating. In that sort of instance you would defininately not need as much as the recipe calls for, but this does keep fairly well in the fridge for a week or two if you plan to bake again.

This is how my cake turned out:

I wish I'd thought to get pictures of the inside once it was cut. C'est la vie, next time.