Peanut Butter-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

I love cupcakes. The idea itself is genius. I would like a piece of cake that I can eat with my hands. Wherever, whenever. With a cupcake you are one paper wrapper away from a small indulgence. So, for the hell of it, I decided to open up one of my cupcake books and give this recipe a whirl (or rather, a swirl).

Peanut Butter-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes. From Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

Ingredients
Cupcakes
2/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
4 oz semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

Peanut Butter Filling
4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Put butter and chocolates in a heatproof bowl of a double boiler; stir until melted. Alternatively, microwave butter and chocolates in 10-15 second bursts, stirring in between, until melted. Cool slightly.

Whisk sugar into the chocolate mixture. Add eggs and whisk until mixture is smooth. Stir in vanilla. Add flour mixture and stir just until incorporated.


Prepare peanut butter filling by stirring together all ingredients until smooth. Spoon 2 tbsp chocolate batter into each paper liner, followed by 1 tbsp peanut butter filling. Repeat with another tbsp chocolate batter, and top with 1 tsp filling. Swirl top of cupcake batter and filling with a toothpick.

Bake until a cake tester inserted comes out clean, about 30-40 minutes. Transfer tin to a wire rack to cool completely.


There are two keys to making this recipe work. Firstly, remember that this is a chocolate cupcake filled with peanut butter, not a swirl cupcake. The difference is not much, but the peanut butter filling will not bake into a cake texture. Instead it stays pretty separate from the chocolate cake. Secondly, the directions are written in a very exacting Martha Stewart style. But if you follow them, you'll end up with a tasty end-product. If you're going to indulge, then chocolate and peanut butter is a great way to do it. While chocolate is always a good thing, adding peanut butter makes these cupcakes more sumptuous and rich. You may be glad you only have this mini-cake to eat per serving, because a full-sized cake of this sort would be a meal unto itself.

A Tale of Two Muffins: Orange-Peanut Butter & Carrot-Raisin

This month, I'm in charge of bringing breakfast for my lab-mates on Friday mornings. I like to break from the usual bagels or ho-hum store-bought coffee cakes, so last week I took a different route - homemade muffins. This is by no means groundbreaking, but it is rare that anyone makes anything with their own two hands for our TGIF meal. So just to make it extra special, I decided to make two muffins. One sumptuous, indulgent and surprising; one healthy, fresh and wholesome.


Orange-Peanut Butter Muffins
Makes 12 servings

Ingredients
1/4 cup canola oil
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup chunky peanut butter
1/4 cup orange marmalade
1 large egg
1 cup fresh orange juice
1.5 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a standard-sized, 12-cup muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray; set aside.

In an electric mixer, beat together the oil, honey, peanut butter, orange marmalade, egg, and orange juice.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Gently beat in flour mixture into PB-orange mixture just until incorporated.
Divide batter among greased muffin cups. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in muffin pan on wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and allow to cool completely.

These muffins turned out quite deliciously. The oil and peanut butter give the muffin a smooth, moist texture. The peanut butter and orange are in harmony on your tongue, neither pounding you over the head with their individual flavor, but instead both blending into the background. These could also make a great cupcake with any number of frostings (off the top of my head I could think of vanilla, peanut butter, orange, honey, cinnamon, or chocolate, but the possibilities are endless).


Carrot-Raisin Muffins
Makes 12 servings

Ingredients
1 cup flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 large carrot, peeled and shredded
1/2 cup raisins

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a standard-sized, 12-cup muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices.

Using a standing mixer, beat applesauce, oil and eggs. Add shredded carrot and raisins and beat mixture until well combined. Stir in flour mixture just until incorporated. Divide batter among 12 muffin cups (about 2/3 full). Bake about 15-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and allow to cool completely.

This may sound weird, but of these two muffins, the carrot-raisin were my favorite. Don't get me wrong. I'm a huge peanut butter fan. But when I think muffin, these beauties are what I imagine. The tops are rough and rugged, emphasizing the extra fiber from the whole wheat flour within. Instead of more oil, unsweetened applesauce makes the muffins moist. The carrot and raisin provide their own sweetness and nutrients to the mix. You could easily add some nuts or sunflower seeds to these. If you're so inclined, the addition of some rolled oats could make these into granola muffins. And for all of their nutritional good, they also play nice with your taste buds, imparting their fresh flavors.


As an aside, I want to mention my newest kitchen acquisition - the cupcake courier. I've seen various people carrying these and they really are a good idea. I bought mine from Amazon. Not only can it carry three dozen muffins or cupcakes in three stacked layers, but as you can see from the picture, it even separates the layers with enough room to decorate the cupcakes. In the past I've used the disposable foil bake-ware from the grocery store, but even then you often can't get all of your cupcakes in one tin. It does take up some extra storage space in my house, but it's well worth it.

Both of these muffins are delicious in their own particular ways. When it comes down to it, even without getting into food preferences, these two muffins offered my co-workers their own ways for starting their Friday. If you need that boost of sugar and feeling of luxury on your lengua to trick yourself into finishing the week, then there's a muffin for that. If you like to start your morning feeling healthy and empowered, there's a muffin for that. Now I just need to figure out how to make a muffin that can wash the dishes.

Food Truck Fiesta & Daisy Cakes

As a follow-up to my previous post on Indian Food on Wheels I looked into the origins of food trucks. Meals on wheels as we know them are the current incarnation of mobile foods. For instance, in the 1800s chuckwagons were part of wagon trains to feed cowboys and other workers out on the prairie. Chuckwagons may also have originated from the mobile kitchens in the battlefield. Later, in the twentieth century during the manufacturing boom, workers would line up at food trucks for sandwiches and burgers before going back on the line. Now in the next millennium, these food trucks are a new means of bringing food to the foodies.

Durham does very well in this new food fad. We have several trucks that move to different locations to serve up various vittles. And a couple of weeks ago, many of these trucks met up in one spot to circle the food wagons and unleash their culinary bounty en masse.


Among the vendors present were Daisy Cakes with their cupcakes and other sweets, Only Burger, Indian Food on Wheels, Bulkogi Korean food, a crepe truck, a comfort food truck, and a smoothie/coffee truck.


As you can see, the lines for this extravaganza were quite long. I waited in one line for about 20 minutes to get a cupcake, after which I gave up and went home. The trucks ran out of food in two hours, meaning this event was a monumental success for the vendors. But for the customers, it was not that great of an experience. The mercury was pushing 90 degrees F that day with very long lines.


The only fruit of my labor was a single red velvet cupcake from Daisy Cakes. The cake was moist with a just-sweet-enough cream cheese frosting on top. I'm disappointed that I don't have more to add about this food fest, but that may have to wait until the next food truck roundup.

Strawberry-Lime Cupcakes

With the close of strawberry season, this will be my last in this series of berry-inspired eats. I stumbled across this cupcake recipe a few years ago and knew I would make it some day because it combines some of my favorite flavors. I just had to wait for the right place (Durham) at the right time (the peak of berry season). When making a recipe that showcases a particular ingredient, you want to get it at its prime. So now this fruit treat has come to fruition.

Strawberry-Lime Cupcakes
Adapted from Food Network, makes 6 large cupcakes

Ingredients
Cupcakes
1.5 cup flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
Icing
1 1/3 cup powdered sugar
1.5 tbsp lime zest
2 tbsp lime juice
1 drop green food coloring
Assembly
6 strawberries, hulled
Mint

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a jumbo muffin tin with cooking spray. Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl.

Using a standing mixer or an electric beater, beat the eggs and sugar until light and foamy, about 2 minutes. While beating, gradually add the butter and vanilla. Turn mixer to slow and gradually add half the flour mixture. Mix in all of the milk, then the other half of the flour mixture. Divide batter evenly amongst muffin cups.

Bake cupcakes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.

To make the icing, whisk the powdered sugar, lime zest and lime juice in a medium bowl. You can add more lime juice if your icing is still too thick to spread. Mix in food coloring to make a pale green color.


Use a paring knife to cut a cone out of the center of the cupcake. Don't worry if it takes a couple of tries to get the hole big enough. Just be sure not to cut all the way through the cupcake. Insert one hulled strawberry into the opening.


Cover the strawberry with part of the cupcake that was removed. I took the cone of cake and cut off the top part to help hide the berry. This does not have to be that pretty or complete as you have icing to hide any imperfections.


Spread the icing over the tops of the cakes. Try to make it as even as possible. Garnish with mint leaves, if desired.


The end result is a large, delicious treat bearing a hidden surprise inside. I prefer to keep my baked goods a mystery, especially when they are stuffed with something and let tasters find it on their own. The cake itself is a simple white cake with good sweetness and vanilla flavor. The lime icing really brings it all together with a sweet-tartness to accentuate the berry and add interest to the cake without overwhelming it with too much sugar. If you use the mint, it adds an almost mojito like taste to the cupcake, which now makes me want to try making a mojito with strawberries muddled together with the mint. I would definitely make these if you want to wow some friends, family or coworkers. These cupcakes are an excellent coup de grace for what has been a delicious whirlwind of a strawberry season.

Pineapple Hibiscus Cupcakes

Another celebration in lab, so it's time for some small cup-sized delights. I perused my ever-growing collection of cupcake cookbooks for inspiration. Lo and behold, inside of Pamela Clark's Cupcakes I found what I was looking for - pineapple hibiscus cupcakes.

Pineapple Hibiscus Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes
Cupcakes
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1.5 cups self-rising flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 cups carrot, grated
3/4 cup crushed pineapple, drained
Flowers
1.5 tbsp sugar
1.5 tbsp water
12 slices of pineapple, wafer-thin
Frosting
2 tbsp butter, softened
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1 tsp lemon zest
1.5 cups powdered sugar


The main feature of these cupcakes are some amazingly beautiful "flowers" on top, and it does take some time to create these beauties. First step - dehydrate some pineapple. Mix sugar and water together in a small saucepan and place over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Brush both sides of pineapple slices with this syrup and place on a wire rack over a baking sheet. Bake at 250 degrees for 1 to 1.5 hours until the pineapple is dried and turning brown on the edges.


Immediately after removing the pineapple from the oven, crumble the slices and place them on an egg carton to dry completely. I let mine dry overnight and they were mostly fine, though they probably could have dried for longer to make sure they kept their shape.

For the cakes, combine oil, eggs, flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Add in carrot and crushed pineapple. Divide mixture among 12 baking cups and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack then remove from the muffin pan.

Meanwhile, prepare the frosting. Beat butter and cream cheese in a mixer until smooth and fluffy. Beat in lemon zest. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. Spread frosting on cakes and top with a pineapple flower.


Flavorwise, these cupcakes were delicious. The cake itself was not too sweet but had good flavors from the pineapple and carrot (plus having fruits and veggies makes these things healthy, right?). The frosting was the sweet counter to the cupcakes with a delightful lemon twist.


Between the cake and the frosting, these were good cupcakes, but the clincher was the flowers. People were genuinely amazed by the them and most thought they were real flowers upon first inspection. Plus, they tasted good with a fruit-leather texture. In the end, this recipe gave both an amazing visual but also delivered on taste.

Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes

This update is a little slow in coming, but I was proud of the results so here's my contribution to the St. Patrick's Day festivities: Guinness chocolate cupcakes with Bailey's Irish cream frosting.


I have wanted to use Guinness in a baking recipe for a couple of years, so when I saw this post from Le Petit Pierogi, I knew I had found my opportunity. She gives a good recipe on her page, so I won't bother to copy it here.


For decorating, I must first ask a holiday riddle: what is Christmas without the red?


The answer is St. Patrick's Day! I received some Christmas-themed sprinkles around the holidays and I thought I could repurpose them. I plucked out the red sprinkles to make a topping appropriate for this holiday.


The beer flavor mostly cooked out of the cupcakes. A couple people claimed they could taste it a bit, but for the most part the Guinness just accentuated the chocolate and kept the cakes moist. The frosting was a little more alcoholic. Even though only a few tablespoons of Irish cream go into the buttercream, the flavor is pretty intense. The pairing of chocolate and Irish cream, though, is marvelous. These little treats disappeared pretty quickly among my green-clad colleagues. So the next time you have a leftover stout, go ahead and throw it into a cake for a new Irish experience.

Champagne Cupcakes

I'm not much of a drinker. Though I'm a graduate of a top ten party school, I never majored in ethanol. So inevitable, with New Years coming through, I end up with a bottle of champagne in my possession. What's a boy to do? Lucky for me, I found the answer:

Champagne Cupcakes
From Gimmesomeoven, yields 21 cupcakes

Ingredients
-Cupcakes-
2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
1.5 cups sugar
2.75 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
0.75 cups champagne
6 large egg whites
-Frosting-
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3.25 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp champagne, at room temperature

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with paper cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. In another bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Blend the flour mixture into the butter-sugar mixture alternately with the champagne.

In another large bowl (make sure it's clean), beat egg whites until stiff peaks form (about 5 minutes). Fold one-third of the whites into batter to lighten it. Fold in remaining whites. Fill cupcake liners about two-thirds full.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

For the frosting, beat together butter and powdered sugar on low to blend, then on medium speed for two more minutes. Add vanilla extract and champagne, beating on medium for another minute. Add more champagne or milk, one tablespoon at a time, until the frosting is of the desired consistency. Frost the cupcakes to your liking and top with any other toppings (I used shaved chocolate bits).


These cupcakes were quite the surprise. The cake itself came out nearly perfectly. They were not too dense and the egg whites made them more delicate. The taste of champagne permeated the cake, but was in harmony with the other flavors. I personally thought the frosting was just okay. It was a little sugary for me and a little overwhelming for the cake. The end result was still good though with nice champagne notes.


Cooking with champagne is a great idea, as will be seen in my next post...

4th of July & Buttercream Flowers - 7/5/2009

Happy Independence Day, everyone! I hope everyone had a filling and safe 4th of July. I realized this year it's strange that on one of the days near the peak of the summer heat, we spend the day cooking in front of a grill and lighting fireworks. It seems we like to celebrate the birth of our nation by sweating all day long. Anyways, here's what I whipped up for a small gathering of my classmates.


As a simple appetizer, I made Muhammara. Instead of a perennial dip like spinach-artichoke or hummus, I chose the road less travelled which happens to run through Syria, the birthplace of this dip. It's primary constituents are roasted red peppers and walnuts with some cumin as the primary spice. The overall consistency is more like a thick paste, but it can be thinned down if need be. Not only is the dip easy, it's just different flavors that I think take your taste buds by surprise. So ditch the old dips and slip your chip into this tip and you'll be licking your lips.


I did not manage to take individual pictures of the main course and side items, but everything worth mentioning is on my plate (go figure). I like to run my parties as potlucks so I'm not left doing all of the cooking. This also prevents me from going overboard and preparing too much food for the occasion. So the main items to focus on are the burger and the cornbread. The pork burgers feature an apricot-chipotle mayonnaise that really livened up its flavor. The mayo has a sweetness balanced by a subtle, smokey heat that helps to counter the fattiness of the mayonnaise. If you prefer your pork well-done, be sure to not overcook it so that it becomes to dry. Not even mayonnaise can save it then.

These burgers met with critical acclaim, but the biggest smash of the main course was the cornbread. A little birdie gave me the idea, which I thought was absolutely genius: corn dog bread. Who doesn't love a corn dog? But who needs to go through the hassle of skewering and frying all those wieners when you can merely slip them into your favorite cornbread recipe? I love to keep everything a surprise, and this side item pretends to be normal cornbread until you cut into it. Then it's Crouching Hot Dog, Hidden Deliciousness comes to the forefront. I had to stop myself from eating the entire pan's-worth because it had all of my favorite elements of corn dogs, only in smaller pieces. I would definitely recommend this very simple twist on a fair food classic for pretty much any excuse you can find to make it. July 4th? Yes. Birthday? Sure. Monday? Why not?


Since the grill was already heated up, why not a grilled dessert. The great thing about fibrous fruits like pineapple and stonefruit is that they hold up well on a grill. Grill marks look great on almost everything, and they help to caramelize the sugars in the fruit. Plus warm pineapple puts cold pineapple to shame. On top of this great base is drizzled a diluted Nutella sauce, then dollops of a vanilla-infused mascarpone. You can also throw on some toasted hazelnuts to really finish it all off. Giada may not look it, but she knows her way around a dessert.


My favorite dessert, though, is this watermelon sorbet. I took Alton Brown's recipe and infused it with some Martha Stewart inspiration. While making the sorbet, I remembered some flavors she used on some fresh watermelon a few years back, so I dropped the vodka (I don't know why you'd really need it anyways since it would drop the melting temperature) and added some honey and a healthy dose of freshly grated ginger. The ginger kick helped give the watermelon a surprising bite so that it wasn't just sweet melon with more sugar then frozen. I attempted a nice display in a watermelon rind, but my scooping does need a little work. Presentation not withstanding, this sorbet was the runaway hit for our desserts without being too overbearing.


On a different note, cake class this week was how to make frosting flowers. Pictured above are a plain, simple swirl, a daffodil (my best was still not very realistic), a rose, a sunflower, and a hyacinth with leaves. My favorite were the hyacinth since they were the easiest to make, yet the most amazing to look at. The lesson learned for this class was you really need the right equipment (i.e. piping tips) to make just the right shapes for each of the flowers. The wrong size tip can make the difference of making a flower that looks like a nice representation of nature using frosting versus one that could be a flower placed on top of the cupcake. For those, like me, who care almost equally about flavor as about decoration, the cupcakes this week were from Shelly Kaldunski's book, Cupcakes. Half were gingerbread (with fresh ginger) and half were mocha, and all were topped with a vanilla-white chocolate buttercream. I thought they tasted good, and apparently my lab did too because they disappeared in less than 24 hours. Sweet.

From Hungary to Japan and Back to Germany - 4.13.09

Last week my cooking had a decidedly international flair. Let's start on our whirlwind tour:


First stop is Hungary for some goulash. There's nothing like slow-cooking some beef to make it nicely tender and full of flavor. Some of you may be familiar with a recipe involving some macaroni and ground beef, but this is a decidedly more sophisticated version. First you brown about a pound and a half of cubed beef in a pan, then remove it from the pan. Cook 3 chopped onions and 1 green bell pepper until they are softened, stirring in some garlic afterwards, followed by 2T tomato paste and 2T flour, cooking for another minute. Return the beef to the pot and add 1c beef stock, 1 bay leaf, 3T parsley, 1T paprika, 1t salt, and 1/4t pepper. Let the mixture cook on low heat for 2.5 hours. Remove the lid and simmer for another 15 minutes to thicken the sauce. Serve on top of egg noodles with a dollop of sour cream. The veggies and paprkia give this dish a slightly sweet nature to pair with the tomato-based sauce that makes the beef delicious. The sour cream serves to add some tang and a little richness to the sauce.


Next, a quick and easy seafood dish with some Asian flavors. First you dry and season some large sea scallops, then sear them in a hot pan. After they are seared, remove them from the pan and brush with some hoisin. Wipe out the skillet and add a full bag of baby spinach, 3 sliced scallions and 1c chopped cilantro, cooking until wilted. After removing from the pan, drizzle some sesame oil on top of the greens. Serve the scallops on top of the greens and enjoy. The flavors of this dish are simple, bold and enjoyable. The hoisin, which by itself can be overwhelmingly sweet, makes a nice glaze for the scallops. And if you are iron deficient, an entire bag of spinach cooked down to 4 servings will do the trick.


A graduate student in my lab had her final defense a couple weeks ago. She's a big fan of coconut, so I made these delightful confections: German sweet chocolate cupcakes. The cupcakes are very light, helped out by a dose of sour cream in the batter. After baking, the cupcakes are split and the butter-sugar-pecan-coconut filling is put in the middle and on top. I thought these tasted pretty good, and most everyone else who had one agreed. My lab is going to love me for using them as an excuse to bring in goodies (for Easter I brought in Cadbury cream eggs and jelly beans, mostly so I could eat just one).

Carnitine Cupcakes - 04/21/08

On Monday, I attended my last team meeting with my current research group. I made this wonderful treat for everyone to enjoy.


The cupcakes are basic vanilla cupcakes inside of cupcake wrappers. I had a little difficulty getting them out of the cupcake pan, but it was okay in the end. They also deflated a little bit, so I'm glad I planned the next couple of steps. I prepared a cream cheese frosting for on top. I split the frosting in half, and added grenadine to one half. Grenadine is made from pomegranates and has a nice cherry flavor. It is used in many mixed drinks, including my childhood favorite, Shirley Temples. I piped the grenadine frosting into the cupcakes. No need to empty them out or anything. These cupcakes were light enough that the filling fit just perfectly. Then, to cover up the evidence, I spread the plain frosting on top. That way, the filling remained a surprise.

My research group studies carnitine, a molecule involved with fat metabolism. I wrote the single-letter abbreviation for the elements in carnitine using some decorative frosting. After transport, I assembled a mock-up of the molecule with the cupcakes and cut Twizzlers for the chemical bonds. For the chemists reading this, I admit I did leave off the hydrogen atoms save the one in the hydroxyl group, mostly because the hydrogens would have made the molecule too hard to assemble and I needed 12 cupcakes to feed the entire team. The team raved over the design and flavor of these cupcakes that were, in reality, quite easy to put together. Some people even asked me to make their wedding cakes (quite a tall order I don't want to undertake). It just goes to show you that a little extra effort goes a long way.

Devil's Food & Rose Cupcakes - 3/12/08

I bought a new cookbook from Williams-Sonoma titled "Cupcakes." The recipes make very delicious and visually pleasing cupcakes in an effort to get rid of the idea that all cupcakes are super sweet and blandly flavored. I enlisted the help of my friend, Christian, who encouraged me to make this into more of a photo journal through our afternoon of baking. We decided to make a batch of devil's food cupcakes and a batch of rose-flavored cupcakes.


The rose cupcakes contain rose water, an ingredient that can also be used in baklava (a delicious Greek dessert with honey and nuts). The rose petals themselves are apparently edible, but I'm not sure about commercially grown roses. We chose this color because it was very vibrant and we thought it would give the cupcakes a nice "pop" of extra color.


The cupcakes themselves cooked up very nicely. As you can see, the chocolate ones rose more than the rose-flavored ones. The rose-flavored ones contained a stick of butter split between them. The chocolate ones, on the other hand, called for half as much. We substituted apple sauce for the butter in the chocolate ones to cut out some fat.


For chocolate, it's hard to beat Ghirardelli. The recipe for the frosting of the devil's food cupcakes called for 8 ounces of semisweet, but I thought it would be better to use 4 ounces of semisweet and 4 ounces of bittersweet (60% cacao).


To chop the chocolate, it is easiest to use a serrated knife and let the teeth press down into the chocolate. No need to saw back and forth. Just press the knife through the chocolate at about 1/2 inch intervals to break up the chocolate into small pieces.


The easiest way to make a ganache or chocolate icing is to pour boiling cream over chopped chocolate. Bring the cream (and in this case cream with some salt and light corn syrup mixed in) to a full boil and pour it into a bowl containing the chopped chocolate. Allow this to sit for about 1 minute to start softening the chocolate. Then start mixing it together with a spatula or wooden spoon. Start with small circles in the center of the mixture and slowly work your way outward. Your overall goal is a rich, dark sauce with a smooth consistency. If you see small chocolate bits still floating around, keep stirring to make a full emulsion.


The rose cupcakes have some rose water in the cupcake and a lot more in the icing (made with confectioners' sugar and milk). On top are mostly rose petals and raspberries. the cupcakes only come up about 3/4 of the way up the cup, leaving room for the icing to sit.


The devil's food cupcakes are topped with a decent layer of the ganache. Then an edible flower dusted with sugar is placed on top for extra elegance.


This is the final product with some extra showy presentation thanks to Christian. These cupcakes came out quite nicely and they tasted as nice as they look. If you want a fun way to spend an afternoon, plan out a meal/dessert with a friend and carry it out. It was fun to balance the science of baking with the art of food presentation.

Halloween Birthday Party - 10/26/2007

My roommate's birthday is next week, so we had a get-together for her last night. There were some recipes I wanted to make to both pander to her tastes and show a little Halloween spirit.




First are Wicked Cupcakes, a recipe from Food Network. In the online pictures, the cupcakes were a bit cleaner and more intricately decorated, but I think mine looked just fine. They are chocolate cupcakes with a peanut butter and cream cheese frosting to make the head. The hats are Oreo wafers and their features are made with various candies. The birthday girl ended up helping me with these, so I do have to thank her for that.


Next was a chocolate fondue. I am not posting pictures of the fondue itself, since I think most people can imagine a pot of chocolate. Above are all of the "dippins" that I put out: pineapple, strawberries, pretzels, oreos, and bananas. The fondue was flavored with a hazelnut liqueur, but I could not taste it too much. Also, I think the heat source was too hot because the chocolate started to burn and separate. But it is really hard to ruin the taste of chocolate so people were eating it anyways. Not pictured is a frozen pound cake that I cubed which was quite delicious with the fondue.


The last dish I am showing is my own creation: S'mores Pie. I first baked a graham cracker crust. For the filling, I melted together chocolate chips, whipping cream and marshmallows. The filling ended up setting up very densely and it was almost like fudge, but it was pretty good. For decoration, I put dollops of whipped cream for each slice topped with homemade marshmallows. The marshmallows are a bit more slippery than normal marshmallows and they tend to melt more than they brown over an open flame, but they tasted just about right. For a final touch, I sprinkled the top with graham cracker crumbs and shaved chocolate.

I attempted to make a pumpkin panna cotta, but they did not set up fully in the ghost and pumpkin molds I had, so I did not take a picture. That recipe still needs a little tweaking before it is blog-worthy. Once most everyone arrived, I also started cooking midnight breakfast: pina colada pancakes (pancakes with pineapple and coconut), bacon and eggs benedict. It was an extremely stuffing night, but it was a lot of fun.