cupcake madness

I met a friend down in VA last July and we stopped in at a sweet little bake shop wherein we partook of scrumpteous cupcakes that were golden cake with minty frosting. In a word, nummy. I go bonkers for mint stuff, particularly pepperminty stuff, not like the hard candies though, more like Andes Candies and Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream etc. Although, I have either heard of, or have an idea for (can't remember which at this point), white hot chocolate with crushed peppermint candies. I think there is a great possibility I could like that.

I digress. So my friend asked me if I would ever do my own version of those cupcakes, and I really thought I'd like to, but I can never find peppermint extract. Thankfully The Spice House (see link also at right of blog), carries a staggering array of spices, extracts and flavorings. I was able to order some just in time for my friend's baby shower this month. 

Try as I might though, I could not replicate the same kind of golden moist crumb and flavor that the cupcake at the bake shop had. I suspect it is somewhat because I use King Arthur Flour which is not bleached or bromated to make the texture extra fine and I won't use things like margarine ever - or even shortening if I can help it. After trying several versions, my family and I having to eat the "mistakes" (aww so sad! ;P ) I found an addictively delicious Chocolate mint chocolate chip cupcake. I found it on a blog called Cast Sugar hosted right here on Blogspot and it is from a book apparently named "How To Eat A Cupcake". Apropos, eh?

And thankfully for you dear reader, I will provide it here with my few changes at the end that made it more to my liking. Enjoy, and thank me with your mouth full later. :D

Ingredients:


1/4 c. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 c. granulated sugar
1/3 c. (2 oz.) unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped, melted
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp. peppermint extract
1/2 c. chocolate milk
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. (6 oz.) mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Insert liners into a medium cupcake pan.

In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Beat the melted chocolate into the butter mixture. Add the eggs, peppermint extract, and chocolate milk. Beat until creamy.

In a separate medium-sized bowl combine the flour and baking soda.
Add the dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture and beat until well blended (careful not to over-beat the batter). With a spatula, stir in the chocolate chips.
Fill the cupcake liners 2/3-3/4 full. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in pan.
Mint Buttercream:

3 c. confectioner's sugar + 3 Tbsp.
1 c. unsalted butter
1 Tbsp. milk
Pinch salt
1 tsp. mint extract
Green food coloring
In a small bowl using an electric mixer on low, beat together sugar, butter, milk, and salt until creamy. Increase speed to high and beat until light and fluffy. Add mint extract and a few drops of green food coloring, beating until frosting is smooth.
Spread icing on cooled cupcakes with a knife or transfer to a pastry bag and pipe over cupcakes.
 
***My Changes***
If you use KAF as I do, then you may consider using their special cake flour for this, for a finer texture. I intend to give that a go next time I make them as it has just recently become available in my local store.
 
Otherwise, my changes are mainly for the frosting. It was, I thought, insanely thick and kind of buttery - but in a bad way. Nobody wants to really feel like they're eating whipped butter on a cupcake, even though that's what it is. So here's how it went for me.
 
I did not have any regular white milk, so I used some of the chocolate milk I had left. The fact that the milk was chocolate did not do much to either the color or flavor in my opinion, as it was such a small amount added.
I made a double batch of frosting because I made a double batch of cupcakes, so I will relate the measurements to you for that size. This will allow Ample frosting for all of the cupcakes, and it is the kind of cupcake that needs ample frosting. (Have you ever heard of one that doesn't?? Maybe it's more like we need the ample frosting. Either way, just put some more on!)
 
1 LB of butter = 2 cups/4 sticks
I used 2 sticks salted and 2 were UNsalted.
I added one "shake" of salt from my shaker even though I had some salted butter in it already. Probably equal to a very small pinch?
 
4 TBS of milk
3 Tsp of peppermint extract (to help cut the butter's intensity and I liked the mint stronger tasting)
1 tsp of vanilla extract - gave it that lil extra somethin' somethin'
 
Omit green food coloring as I don't like the thought of adding something that might be unnatural to my food on purpose. I know I can't avoid it all, but I avoid what I can.
 
To make up for the loss of color, I added a sprinkle of mini chocolate chips on top after piping it out of my powdered sugar bag (store packaging = FREE piping bag, always a good thing). They turned out pretty cute inspite of my lack of a steady hand. That just means I need to practice on some more cupcakes. ::wink wink:: Well, maybe in the not too close future anyway.
 
 

Cookie Cravings

I don't know about you but I'm ready for some cool fall weather and days filled with the nummy smells of goodies baking in the oven. So when a 70ish degree day finally came by as a break in the blistering summer, I seized upon it with gusto. I've already begun making a list for this winter of desserts that I have never made before, some more challenging than others, some just sound sooo tasty. The first one I decided to do is the "$250 Dollar Cookie". Simple enough, but it was a HUGE batch making 112 cookies. I had to transfer the batter to one of those large tapered steel kitchen bowls that are like 1 and 1/2 feet across the top and use that with my stand mixer very carefully.  Here is the picture of the Urband Legend and recipe which was printed in a newspaper some years back among other places.

My only changes were that I had a few extra nuts, like 1/4 cup and added them along with an extra tsp of vanilla. I only had unsalted butter, so in addition to the 1 tsp of table salt, I added 1 tsp of Kosher Salt to make up for it. I liked it, as it added a nice salty nip here and there along with the chocolate morsels. I used walnuts as my nut choice, but I don't feel they stood up very well to the oatyness. I can't decide what nut would and I will have to think about that a bit, any suggestions are welcome. I found that the cookies were better the next day as well, and freeze nicely.
I managed to get exactly 112 cookies as the recipe suggested, by using a 1 & 3/8ths inch disher/ice cream scoop. They didn't spread a lot on me, so I managed to cram 16 onto my air bake cookie sheets and they just barely touched here and there, which was good because they took 15 minutes per sheet in my LP fired oven. They are a crisp texture, best had with a nice cup of milk but don't let not having milk stop you. Enjoy the tasty picture.

Faux Pas Surprise

*UPDATE and new pics through out: Yes you can indeed go straight from hot pasty sludge (picture number three) straight through to making the sauce without spreading and cooling it first.*

I'm sure we've all done it. I've done it lots of times. It can occasionally be salvaged, but most of the time you just lay them to rest in a little hole in a corner of the yard somewhere. Oh..you don't? That must be only me then.

What am I speaking of you ask? Why, kitchen flubs and faux pas of course - mistakes! Mine usually spring from forgetting an ingredient, or thinking I could remember a technique I hadn't seen or done in a while or just messing up from cooking when too tired. This particular time, I didn't have a lot of ingredients and substituting took a lot more measuring than I expected which distracted me from remembering basic dessert chemistry. And I was tired and it was late. Whammy all the way around.

My failed fudge - rather than going to the recipe-whoopsie-graveyard out back (this is where stuff like curdled cream soups and things go) managed to gain redemption in the form of fudge SAUCE. And what an awesome sauce it is..er was (I think there's like a tablespoon left). I think I will actually repeat this flub and make it a bonafide recipe instead. The results were outstanding and tasty and I will share them here with you dear readers.

It all started with needing to rid myself of old canned ingredients before the expiration date, the majority of which was sweetened condensed milk.  So here's your ingredient list.

1 Can sweetened condensed milk 14oz
8 1oz pieces Bakers UNsweetened Chocolate (aka Baking Chocolate)
12 TBS Hershey's Cocoa Powder (equal to 3/4 cup)
4 TBS oil (I used extra virgin olive oil)
12 TBS granulated sugar (also equal to 3/4 cup)
2 Tsp Vanilla Extract (use the real stuff!)
1/4 to 1/2 Cup approx, water
1/4 Cup approx whole milk

Place the chocolate, cocoa, oil, and sugar into a heat safe bowl and on top of a sauce pan with some water in it to devise a makeshift double boiler, or use your own if you have one. Don't burn yourselves.

Bring water to a nice steamy simmer and let the residual heat melt everything slowly together. Give it an impatient stir occasionally like I did. Once the chocolate and everything is all gritty and pasty and you're feeling disgusted that it took so long (especially if you used a Pyrex glass bowl instead of metal) it will look like this:

Now open your can of SWEET MILK and scrape it all into the bowl. Just before this point you'll want a sheet pan or something nearby, already buttered so the stuff will release when you get ready to take it out. You can turn off your burner now. Mix the sweet milk into the chocolate pasty stuff and watch it tighten up fast. When it's nearly mixed entirely, don't forget to put in your 2 TSP VANILLA EXTRACT. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl so everything is combined.  It will look like this:

Use a pot holder whilst you move the now tight and still gritty chocolate "fudge" to the sheet pan. Smooth it out flat - don't worry about getting it perfect. Throw that into the freezer for a while until it sets up - probably ten minutes or stick it in the fridge for closer to 20, just so it's all stiff and nothing pasty anymore. At this point you can nibble on a cold corner of the failed fudge and wishfully sigh about how it would've made such nice fudge if you'd remembered to melt the sugar first. Or you can wrap it up in some plastic wrap and leave it in the fridge over night while you consider your future options.

I assume if you just go straight to making sauce out of it, that it will work fine, but I don't really know because I left mine in the fridge over night. I will try to make it straight through in the future though. (*See update at top of post*)

Whatever you decide, you should put the firm failed fudge (say that three times fast) back into the double boiler, heat on simmer, let it start to get warmish at the edges, looking like it could melt back into a gritty paste if you gave it some time, then add your WATER a little at a time and begin stirring. You may not need to use all of the water to get it where you need it. I must admit I didn't measure at the time.

The sugar crystals should disappear and it should be glossy and puddingy but a little thicker than pudding, which is when you put your WHOLE milk in and give it another stir. My friends, you have just made the most fabulous chocolate fudge sauce you will ever put your spoon, fingers, or lips to.

You should have a consistency that will mostly dribble off of a spoon onto a scoop of vanilla ice cream but requires you to stick the spoon in your mouth to get the rest. If you don't, then add a touch more milk or water, probably a TSP at a time so you don't over do it. If you go with the milk, it will result in a richer end product. When chilled it has a fairly "Nutella" like look, but a touch firmer. I bet it would be awesome as a spread come to think of it.

When you want to reheat it, just do it passively in a warm bowl or something. I was toasting pecans in an iron skillet and when done, I just sat a bowl in the still warm (not hot! you'll break your bowl!) skillet and let the natural heat of the iron warm the bowl and sauce. I am kinda dangerous and turned the flame on lowest for about 1 minute or less to bump up the speed a little. I can't recommend you do stuff like that because you could forget and shatter your bowl and ruin your fudge sauce. Umm.. and put out an eye maybe.

The Lost Recipe

Usually, anyone who grows up around their parents has many and various stories of "when I was young" thrust upon their eardrums at regular intervals until none of them are new any more and they begin to repeat. Myself, I am no stranger to these and have heard ample amounts remembering most of them by heart. Some I have grown accustomed to enduring because they simply can't be helped, and others I tend to say "yes yes, you told me this before", because *I* can't be helped.

However, there's always a story or two that you don't mind and you wish had more details. One such story is of my Mother's parents running a restaurant in the early 50's. My Mom recalls how things were, the sounds, the smells, the cooking, the customers. She has been repeating this along with a strong desire to reclaim the lost recipe of a particular cake my Grandmother used to make and sell out of, on a daily basis. This is an infamous cake in our house and she fairly makes our mouths water to hear of its deliciousness. It was called something like "A Chocolate Mocha Layer Cake with Custard Filling".  Having her tell us the whole ordeal of watching her Mother make it for the umpteenthmillionth time, I couldn't take it any longer. I decided to take things into my own hands.

Since then I have been on the search for a recipe that seems to resemble what she remembers Grandma putting together, but she was such a young girl, it's hard for her to say. While the custard filling between the layers is undeniable, the cake and frosting are up in the air.

The custard was a deep yellow, cooked with cornstarch and made with a genuine vanilla bean.

The cake was two layers, believed to have been a butter cake, not oil, made with unsweetened bakers chocolate, not cocoa. She remembers seeing Grandma make coffee for some part of it, but not sure if it was for the cake or the frosting. It is also possible that she whipped her egg whites and folded them into the batter because she remembers seeing cream of tartar out (which helps stabilize egg whites when whipped). Additionally it may have been made with buttermilk.

The frosting was a definite buttercream as the cake had to be refrigerated or it would melt. She doesn't remember seeing cocoa powder used at any point and thinks that maybe semi-sweet squares were used in the frosting. I am inclined to think that the coffee was for the frosting which is what made it all Mocha.

Sounds delish, right? Well! I intend to get to the bottom of this, even if I have to bake 100 different cakes over time. Heh Heh Heh. Any clues or suggestions would be helpful. And yes, you can have some cake too.

Hot Chocolate Bzz Bzz Bzz

Originally I bought the chocolate for a cocktail I thought I wanted to try. It looked tasty in the picture and sounded good. It tasted like pencil lead. I do not think I am a cocktail sort of girl. So here's all this lovely chocolate. It tastes pretty bad too, at 85% Cocoa content. ::cringe:: I am a milk chocolate lover, in spite of the much acclaimed health benefits of the darker delight. I tried a piece. I smacked it around in my mouth, relishing its silky melting texture on my tongue. And yet, by my expression, you'd never guess there was anything good about it. My nose wrinkled, my eyebrows knitted together in nothing other than sheer endurance. If I was a child with no concept of how healthy or how expensive it was, I'd have spat it out on the spot with an "Ew!".

Suffice it to say, that was the last time I was going to have it "raw". Now, don't get me wrong. I have worked to expand my taste buds beyond the HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) laden offerings of the mass market food industry. I have heard that people appreciate "bitter" notes in their food and I have taken that with a grain of salt, and given it a try myself.  But I just Cannot DO deeply darkly chocolate by itself. And thank goodness, You can't make me, either. :P

What I can do, however, is make something out of it. It started a few weeks ago with the first big snow. I had never made hot chocolate from a bar before, but I knew it had to be pretty good, better than just cocoa powder. Or even worse, cocoa Mix. Bleh! Since then, I have been tossing some variations about on the ingredients list, but it generally remains the same items. I have a tendency to add by the pinch or dash and what not until it tastes right. But, thankfully for you, I think I have narrowed down the measurements pretty close to what I find myself putting in most of the time. And so, I unleash onto the world:

LJ's Buzzin' Hot Chocolate
Serves 4

Approx 20 minutes

4 Cups Milk 2% or better (I use Horizon organic)

1/2 C Water

2/3 C Sugar

3.5oz Bar of 85% Dark Chocolate (such as Green & Black's Organic)

1/4 C + 2Tbs Cocoa Powder

1/2 tsp Kosher Salt

2 tsp freeze dried coffee

1 & 1/2 tsp Real vanilla extract
Optional:
Marshmallows
Whipped Cream
Mix water and sugar together in 2Qt pot. Get it good and hot (don't boil), stirring until sugar dissolves.
Smash or break chocolate bar into smaller pieces (whack it with a hammer before opening wrapper) and melt into the sugar water, whisking regularly to avoid scorching.
Once smooth, whisk in cocoa powder, salt and coffee.
Whisk until all lumps are gone. If having trouble, add about a 1/4 cup of the milk and whisk again.
Slowly add remaining milk, whisking all the while.
Turn heat to medium-low and cover pot with lid.
Allow to heat slowly, do not boil, whisk occasionally.
Once steamy, remove from heat and whisk in vanilla.
Pour into your favorite mug, add copious amounts of marshmallows and whipped cream and prepare for a lovely chocolate buzz.

We have gone waaaay out and had this with s'mores, which you may or may not want to do. This is what restaurant hot chocolate that you pay a buck fifty for should taste like, but you know they just use paper bag mixes because it all gathers in the bottom of the cup and the rest tastes like dish water. Should this resemble any other hot chocolate recipe, I can't help it because it's all a coincidence.