Aug.
23


Recently I was browsing thru Sur la Table and came across Rose extract. Intriguing. On our honeymoon we frequented a nice champagne bar that served Rose Champagne. Not rosé champagne… but rose. Pretty much just a nice champagne poured over a pink rose petal… and a bit of rose syrup added in. The rose was delicate but distinct and to this day, DH remembers it well. So when I came across the small bottle of rose extract, I figured I had to buy it and see what I could come up with. Hmmm… could I find the right balance? Just the right item to showcase this wonderful extract. I mean, too much of it and it’s like eating grandma’s hand-soap… blecccch! But just the right amount? Ohhhh so lovely. DH’s daughter absent-mindedly grabbed one of these chiffon tea-cakes w/rose buttercream icing and asked “what kind of frosting is this – I think it’s the best ever”. Coming from a mood-swingy 15 year old, that’s quite a statement! LOL

The chiffon cake part is simply my boyfriend’s recipe for Chiffon Cupcakes which I baked in a square shape using this pan here

which I used for these lovelies, too. The method for making chiffon cake calls for separated eggs… the yolks blended in the batter and the whites whipped to stiff peaks then gently folded in. This makes for a very light cake with a distinct crumb.

In his recipe, my boyfriend (uhm… that’s Alton Brown, btw) mentions baking these cakes in ovenproof coffee mugs. Cute idea… but our coffee mugs are functional (read: unattractive). Instead I reached into the china cabinet and pulled out these cute little tea-cups from a china set I’ve had since I stashed it away in my closet as a googly-eyed teenager dreaming of marrying prince charming (which I did btw… I married the nerdy-boy who lived across the street growing up… he’s my prince charming… a total hack just like my boyfriend Alton Brown… yup… I have a thing for the nerdy-boys! LOL).

Were my tea-cups “ovenproof”? Heck I had no idea I just threw caution to the wind, loaded them with batter and baked ‘em in the oven. Came out pretty good too :)

For the rose buttercream icing, I wanted something silky smooth… something creamy… something unforgettably dreamy. While the base recipe is not available online this fantastic gem of a frosting recipe came from my boyfriend’s episode “Honey I Shrunk The Cake” which can be viewed here on YouTube (I tried imbedding a launchable link to it… didn’t work so the clickable link is the best I can do… hey… come on… no hating… cut a girl some slack… I tried… I did! I did!). Quite arguably it’s among the top two buttercream icing recipes I’ve ever tried. Fantastically good.  And with the addition of the rose extract, it beautifully complements the chiffon tea-cakes. (btw, click here for my #1 hands-down favorite buttercream icing)

Rose Buttercream Icing
Adapted from Alton Brown’s Buttercream

Ingredients

6 oz butter (at room temperature)
2 oz shortening (at room temperature)
1 egg (room temperature)
16oz confectioner’s sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp rose extract

 

Directions
Using a hand mixer (or in the bowl of a stand mixer) on high speed, combine butter & shortening until well blended.
Mix in the egg until well combined – about 2 minutes.
With the mixer on low begin to add the sugar in small amounts ensuring each addition is well blended before adding the next.
After the sugar is fully incorporated, add the vanilla and rose extracts.
Blend well on medium-high speed for 2-3 minutes until the frosting is light and fluffy.

Have a delicious day :)

 

Posted in alton brown, buttercream icing, cake, recipes | 11 Comments »

Aug.
19

Mega-Chocolate-Overload Cake

Posted by Em at: 7:01 am | 25 Comments

If you love cake… especially chocolate cake and truly think there’s no such thing as too much chocolate well keep reading cuz I have a cake for you…

It all started with DS having a birthday this past week. Being a serious chocolate lover he requested a chocolate cake. That’s all he cared about… that it was chocolate. But not just a regular chocolate cake. Oh no. He asked if I’d please make his cake and only use chocolate because that is his favorite.

I came up with an idea: a chocolate cake with chocolate pudding between the layers, chocolate buttercream frosting on the top layer, then bathed in chocolate ganache and decorated in more chocolate buttercream. Wow – that’s mega-chocolate-overload in my book… but he LOVED IT and everyone else raved about it too. My mother raved. My mother-in-law raved. Friends, neighbors, my hair dresser and both presidential candidates all raved about this cake. Okay, so I’m fibbing about the presidential candidates but I betcha if they tasted it they would! I even got one comment that this cake would be a sure-fired cure for PMS ;-)

Honestly – the concept just came to me and it was a snap to carry out.

The chocolate cake? I used the recipe on the back of the Hershey’s Cocoa Powder box.
The chocolate pudding? I used a milk chocolate version of Dorie’s chocolate pudding which has been posted here
The chocolate buttercream? I used a milk chocolate version of the chocolate buttercream I posted about here
The chocolate ganache? I used the recipe posted here

Bake it. Slice it. Fill it. Frost it. Bathe it. Decorate it. See there… not very hard at all :) You can do it – I know you can. I’ve given you the recipes… and the techniques are straight forward and found throughout my blog. Go for it. Who knows, the presidential candidates might rave about your cake too =)

Have a delicious day!

 

Posted in Chocolate, Dorie Greenspan, buttercream icing, cake, recipes | 25 Comments »

Jul.
30


This month’s Daring Bakers challenge was the Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercreme from Great Cakes by Carol Walter. Not being a fan of hazelnuts, chocolate, orange and apricot this recipe initially had me scratching my head. But the end result is FANTASTIC! The components all meld together in a symphony of flavors that’s hard to beat!

As I’ve come to expect from a Daring Bakers challenge, this month’s recipe is full of a variety of different elements that all come together in phenomenal way. After I initially read thru the recipe… my first thought was “holy mother of pearl, what have I gotten myself into THIS time?!?!?!?”… and then I realized that’s the same thought I have every month when I read the DB challenge! LOL

Making the gateau starts with toasting hazelnuts and combining them with a bit of flour in the food processor. Egg yolks and whites get whipped separately, then combined with the flour and some butter added at the end. This makes the gateau batter which is poured into a cake pan and baked.

This month’s challenge gave me an opportunity to make swiss buttercreme for the very first time. I’d been a bit apprehensive about it before since it’s more involved than traditional buttercream. For Swiss, egg whites are whipped in the bowl of a stand mixer just to the point before soft peaks begin to form. The bowl is then set on top of a saucepan containing boiling water (taking care so that the bowl does not touch the water), sugar is added and using an electric hand mixer the egg whites are whipped to the consistency of thick whipped marshmallows and a temp of about 120F. The bowl is removed from the heat and the whipped egg white / sugar mixture is slowly added to previously creamed butter along with vanilla extract and Grand Marnier for orange flavor. I gotta keep it real and be honest here so I’ll tell ya the end result is so amazing that after tasting a more than generous amount for “quality control” purposes, my knees buckled, the earth moved and I needed a cigarette ;-) I will definitely make swiss buttercreme again and again and again. The method used in this recipe worked out beautifully!

To make the praline paste slowly melt sugar in a heavy skillet until it turns a golden caramel color, add toasted hazelnuts, stir until the nuts are all coated, turn it out onto parchment paper and allow it to harden into a brittle. Then break up the pieces of brittle and pulse them in the food processor… I had to add a few teaspoons of water but it became praline paste!

I reserved some of the buttercreme to use for decorating the finished cake. The remainder of it was combined with the praline paste to become praline buttercreme which was used between the layers of the gateau.

Additional elements in this cake include an orange-flavored simple syrup (made with Grand Marnier), an apricot glaze and chocolate ganache (which I made using a combination of Ghirardelli bittersweet and semi-sweet chocolate)

Once you’ve gotten all the various parts made, it’s time to assemble the cake :) The gateau is sliced into three layers; each layer is brushed with the tasty orange-flavored simple syrup… the bottom two layers are smothered in delicious praline buttercreme, the stacked tower is covered in the apricot glaze… and then… the entire cake is bathed in a pourable chocolate ganache.

I used fresh oranges for decorating since both the buttercreme and simple syrup were orange flavored. Orange peel was curled around a straw to form curls (my wonderful DH did this part)… and orange slices were candied using the method described in this post here.

My biggest disappointment with the whole thing is that the candied orange slices didn’t have the “wow” factor I had hoped. I think it’s because they’re placed on the chocolate ganache. Perhaps against a light color they’d have more of a visual impact. But that one thing has nothing at all to do with the recipe… just my choice of decorations. Other than that, I’m super pleased with this month’s challenge and I learned new skills that I’ll be able to use in other applications. My sister, who dislikes nuts of all kinds said the flavor of this cake was just great… my DH said it was fantastic and helped himself to more than his fair share. Not that I can say anything because I certainly consumed quite a bit of this cake myself :) The orange syrup kept everything very moist and all of the flavors came together in a wonderful symphony of amazing taste. A lot of work? Yes, I won’t lie, it sure was quite labor intensive but this is something I never would have attempted had it not been for the Daring Bakers!

Thanks to this month’s host Chris of Mele Cotte – you can find the full recipe on her site. Please be sure to check out how the other Daring Bakers interpreted this month’s challenge.

Have a delicious day!

Posted in buttercream icing, cake, daring bakers | 26 Comments »

Jun.
26


I’ve made a lot of cupcakes in the past 6 months. Dark chocolate cupcakes… milk chocolate cupcakes… marble cupcakes… red velvet cupcakes… lemon cupcakes… tropical cupcakes… “shirley temple” cupcakes… and classic, traditional vanilla cupcakes too.

To me, being able to bake a really good vanilla cupcake matters. When I get a new baking book one of the very first things I make from it is a simple vanilla cake recipe. Luckily most of my baking books have at least one ;-) A few weeks ago I picked up the book Hello Cupcake! and of course had to try out their vanilla cupcake recipe :)

While the book is full of creative, imaginative and fun decorating ideas, they also have recipes. And not just “from scratch” recipes but also recipes for jazzing up box cake mix as well… in case you want to go that route. What I tried was their “from scratch” recipe and I was underwhelmed with the results as I found them to be dry. Did I overbake them? Perhaps. But in my own defense, I made full-size, not mini, cupcakes and I took them out after only 15 minutes of baking. My rule is to never open the oven in the first 15 minutes. Does my rule need to be adjusted? I thought it was possible. Luckily I’d only made one tray as a test – so I made the other tray (this time with a few mini chocolate chips in the batter and I’ll blog those at some point I’m sure! LOL) and baked only 13 minutes but still too dry for me.

I should mention that I included vanilla bean in the batter. I don’t think that caused these cupcakes to be dry – but anything’s possible.

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes
adapted from “Hello, Cupcake”
2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean pod
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350F
Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.
Combine the milk, oil and vanilla extract in a small bowl. Scrape the insides of one vanilla bean pod into the same bowl.
In another medium bowl, using a stand or electric mixer on medium speed, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add 1/3 of the flour mixture… combine just until blended
Add 1/2 of the milk mixture… combine just until blended
Add 1/2 of the remaining flour mixture… combine just until blended
Add the remaining milk mixture… combine just until blended
Add the remaining flour mixture and combine just until blended. Ensure the entire mixture is blended.
Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full… as written the recipe states to bake 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Be very careful of the bake time – check them at the 10 minute mark to be safe – do not overbake these or they will be dry.
Remove from oven and cool on wire rack for 10 minutes… then remove from pan and place on wire rack until cooled completely

Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting
This is very simple. Use my favorite buttercream icing recipe posted here and to it add the scraped inside of two vanilla bean pods. If you choose to scale the buttercream recipe in half, use one vanilla bean pod instead of two.

If you’ve made these cupcakes before using the Hello Cupcake! recipe, please let me know if yours were dry as well. I certainly don’t want to think poorly of it if the dry result was because of me. If you give this recipe a try, I’d love to know your results too. I had high expectations that these cupcakes just didn’t live up to. Oh well, at least the icing was fantastic ;-)

Have a delicious day!

Posted in buttercream icing, cupcakes, recipes, vanilla | 8 Comments »

Jun.
19


If baking is something you want to do… often… and well… it’s essential to find your “go to” recipes. Having them in your repertoire is the first step to making your baking life easier and less time consuming. Never underestimate the power of a good basic cake recipe… and a good basic frosting recipe too :)

For me, the recipe for Dorie’s Perfect Party Cake (DPPC) has proven time and time again to be the best basic cake recipe I have in my baking arsenal. I’ve shared it with you guys in in this post and I’ve heard from so many of you that it is indeed the perfect basic cake recipe.

I used it here for lemon cupcakes that I topped with cream cheese icing

I used it for the orange cupcakes and raspberry cupcakes pictured below (as well as the first/cover photo)…

But it started here when I baked it as the recipe was written for one of our Daring Bakers challenges (the pic is from when I re-did the recipe, not the original time)

The recipe itself is so incredibly versatile that I recommend it every time I get asked if I have a good basic cake recipe. I’ve made it more often than I can count and I don’t have pictures of each time. DJ’s son “graduated” from 5th grade yesterday and I’m going to use the recipe again for the cake I’m making for his party this weekend. Some of you have read the recipe and told me “but I don’t want to make a *lemon* cake”. Okay fine… omit the lemon zest in the batter and you have a basic white cake… a VERY GOOD basic white cake :) The point is that by having a good basic cake recipe, you can add extracts/flavorings and colors (like I did with the orange cupcakes and raspberry cupcakes posted a couple of times above) and play around with it and customize it to your liking. Heck, add chocolate chips or pistachios if they float your boat. As long as you have a good solid consistently performing basic cake reicpe, you’ve opened up a world of possibilities!

Dorie also has a really great Cocoa Buttermilk cake recipe too… it’s in her book Baking From My Home To Yours (available thru Amazon.com at an amazing STEAL of a price!). I used it to make these cupcakes pictured below…

And I’ve already pointed you guys to my absolute favorite buttercream icing in this tutorial of how to make it. I wish I could take credit for creating that recipe… but it’s just something I came across one time and found it to be so perfect that I recommend it anytime someone asks “do you have a good buttercream icing recipe”. Same rule applies here about having a good basic recipe and being able to add to it. I’ve added lemon zest to it (paired it with the DPPC recipe) and created these…

… paired it with the DPPC recipe and just colored the icing to create these…

… added cocoa powder to it and created chocolate buttercream… added peanut butter to it and created peanut butter buttercream… added mint extract and icing color to it and made mint buttercream as well


But these are my no-brainer, go-to, consistent performers. You probably have others in your toolkit that are perfect for you. I’ve found that if you don’t have great basic recipes, you end up in a never-ending-cycle of time-consuming experiments… sometimes at the expense of your guests taste buds.

I recently made three dozen cupcakes for a pot-luck dinner and instead of using my tried and true DPPC recipe, I decided to try something new. In a word… no good. They were dry and lacked flavor – redeemed solely by the beauty of the frosting. But beautiful and delicious frosting can only hide so much and more than half the cupcakes were untouched. Sure didn’t make me feel very good but I learned a valuable lesson… to trust what had proven itself worthy of being called my go-to white cake recipe… to trust in Dorie’s Perfect Party Cake :)

If you’re going to invest the time and money (hey, ingredients aren’t cheap! LOL) to make something from scratch, you owe it to yourself (and your guests) to make it look **and** taste good too. So invest the time and find your great basic recipes… then trust them :)

Have a delicious day!

Posted in Chocolate, buttercream icing, cupcakes, fruit, lemon, peppermint, recipes, vanilla | 4 Comments »

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