Lemon Drop Delight

I think I fell in love with cupcakes fully and officially 5 or so years ago when I walked through the doors of the Seattle Ballard neighborhood Cupcake Royale for the first time.  At the insistence my cupcake-eating expert companion I tried the Lemon Drop cupcake and was transformed.  So good.  So light.  So like the taste of summertime and sweetness and angels and unicorns.  So lemony.  So yellow.  So important was this cupcake experience in my baking life, that this one simple little cupcake deserves to be credited for all the cupcake concoctions I've played with since.  My first task when I got home from that trip was to recreate this little treasure, to the best of my ability without copying, without cheating - but guided by instinct toward the lemony flavors that I love, I made my own version and have been making it regularly ever since.  The lemon flavor is simply achieved.  These cupcakes are really very easy to make and completely effortless to enjoy (for man or beast).

Lemon Drop Cupcakes      

Cake
3 C cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks unsalted butter
2 C sugar
4 eggs
1.5 tsp vanilla
1 C whole milk
Plus the zest of 3 lemons  

Beat butter till soft.  Add sugar and beat till light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add eggs one at a time.  Combine wet ingredients.  Combine dry ingredients.  Alternate adding wet and dry ingredients to the butter/sugar/eggs.  Add lemon zest at the end and mix till just incorporated.

Bake cupcakes at 350 for 18-20 minutes.   

Frosting
2 sticks unsalted butter
2 tsp vanilla
1-2 TB heavy cream
2 TB whole milk
3-4 Heaping TB lemon curd (i really like the American Spoon variety if I don't have any homemade)
4 C+ confectioners sugar 

Beat butter till soft and light, add vanilla.  Add a cup or 2 of confectioners sugar.  Add the milk or cream, then some more confectioners sugar, then the lemon curd.  Keep alternating ingredients until it reaches the desired constency (i.e. clinging nicely to the paddle when lifted out of the mixing bowl).  Add a drop or 2 of yellow food color if you need the visual stimuli.  Frost cakes and top with a lemon drop candy (La Vie Lemon are my absolute favorites, they come in such cute little round tins...).

I'm telling you, this is what cupcakes are all about.

Vegan for an Hour

Making cupcakes for M's sweet sister's wedding shower would have been cruel without an egg & dairy-free variety for Miss M the Yogi Vegan to enjoy.  I don't care how centered and balanced your life becomes, I quite believe you would forgo your high-minded principles if faced with the choice of being the only girl in the room not drunk on moist delicious chocolate cupcakes.  In order to spare my good friend a painful tumble off the wagon I made my first Vegan baked good of any kind.  In doing so, I compromised one or two of my own principles, namely that butter and dairy are two pillars of all things good in the universe, and was delightfully pleased, surprised and somewhat emboldened to expand my baking worldview just a little.  I'm stating it plain, though: There is absolutely no substitute for butter except more butter.  I do like a challenge, and baking without butter is a interesting little side trip down a gravel road for me, and sometimes those trips are just downright fun.  Thank you to the entertaining Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World for making me feel like I was embarking on a fantastic food adventure, even if it didn't involve butter (or bacon).

Vegan Cookies n' Cream Cupcakes

Cake
1.5 C all-purpose flour
1 C sugar
1/3 C dutch pressed cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 C vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp coconut extract
1 tsp distilled white vinegar
1 C warm water

Sift all dry ingredients together, including sugar & cocoa.  Mix all wet ingredients EXCEPT vinegar.  Pour oil in a mixing bowl, add about half of the dry ingredients and blend - alternate wet and dry ingredients until smooth.  Add vinegar at the end and mix.
Bake cupcakes at 350 for 18-20 minutes.
Seriously, that's it.  Wasn't that easy?  And it tastes good, too!

Frosting
4 oz vegan butter substitute (i.e. 1 "stick" of Earth Balance buttery..)
2 TB (roughly) Soy Creamer
1 tsp (plus a tiny splash for good measure, we are dealing w/soy products that need some extra flavor) Vanilla
1 TB (roughly) Karo Syrup - this makes it shiny, extra smooth
2.5 - 3 C confectioners sugar
9 crushed non-dairy chocolate sandwich cookies (Newman's Own recommended)

Whip butter substance till smooth, add vanilla, mix.  Add about half of the confectioners sugar, then add the creamer, then about half of the remaining confectioners sugar, then the Karo syrup, then more sugar until it's whippy and has the desired consistency.  Add crushed cookies at the end and mix till incorporated.  I frosted these the way I frost my cookie dough cupcakes, with an ice cream scoop.  Top w/a half (or whole!) cookie.

Cupcakes = Love

Missy & Nate's Wedding Cake(s)

A cupcake is born

Chocolate Chocolate w/Triple Dipped Malted Milk Ball

Angel food cake w/dollop of whippy fruit dip frosting & skewered w/a berry

Cupcakes in the Library!

Raspberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

Carrot-Ginger Cupcakes

Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes

Lemon Drop Cupcakes

Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes

Lemon Drop & Chocolate Chocolate

Raspberry Cheesecake, Carrot & Strawberry Shortcakes

Chocolate & Lilies

Chocolate Swirly Peanut Butter Pie

Hopkins - this one's for you.  I promise it's simple enough to make and very easy to dress up and enjoy.  As just about everyone who bakes and makes dessert would admit when pressed against the wall most creamy chilled pies require very little skill outside of being able to wield a mixer, measure a few things and plan far enough in advance to give them time to set and chill before serving.  However it gives you the little puff in your chest when you proudly serve your beautiful pie to friends and family who think you must have become a pastry chef since they saw you last.  It's a good trick for all involved.

The Recipe
Note, warning, attention!: Please read all the way through this recipe before making it. Please and thank you.

Crust:
1.5 C finely crushed (pulverized) chocolate graham crackers OR chocolate nilla wafers if you can find them
6 TB melted butter

Stir together till you have something that resembles crumby mud and press into a pie plate along the bottom and sides.
Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.
Let crust cool completely on a wire rack before filling it (this should take about an hour)
(Alternatively in a pinch you can skip the baking step and place the pie crust into the freezer for an hour or so before filling it.  I prefer the baking method though)
Easy enough, let's move on.

Peanut Butter Filling
1.5 C heavy whipping cream
1/4 C sugar
8 oz cream cheese
1 C crunchy or smooth peanut butter
1 C confectioners sugar

Whip cream & sugar together till stiff peaks form, set aside
In another bowl mix cream cheese, peanut butter and confectioners sugar together for about 2 minutes till totally combined.  Fold in whipped cream and mix until all is fluffy.  Spoon into cooled crust.
At this point, you could totally stop and have a tasty peanut butter pie.  But why?...When you can have a decadent chocolate swirled work of art?  You are a champ, you should go for it.

Chocolate Ganache
If you heeded the warning at the beginning of the recipe, you are now reading that you should make the chocolate ganache BEFORE you make the filling.  BEFORE.  No exceptions.  I'm giving you some chocolate ganache making advice and I'm also here to tell you I lied a little when I told you there was no skill involved.  This is the part that requires your full attention.  If you plan to multi-task your way through the recipe, go for it everywhere else, but not here.  Let me be your culinary zen master for a moment: Be Present.  Ganache is a slippery business.  Literally.  If neglected and allowed to boil and overheat, the liquids and fats will literally slip away from each other and you will be left with something resembling a shoreline oil spill in your pan and there will be nothing you can do to save it.  The good news is all you need to avoid a disaster from occurring is vigilance!  Attention.  Your eyes on the prize.  So why make the ganache before the rest?  It must be cooled down to room temp before it gets swirled into the peanut butter cream.  No exceptions here either.  Hot fats and cold fats do not get along.  When you do swirl your beautiful silky shiny ganache into the sweet fluffy peanut butter cream, let it be room temperature.  I suggest giving the ganache at least 1 full hour to cool down before it gets incorporated into the pie.  Now that I've sufficiently scared you.  Let's get to it. 

1/2 C heavy cream
4 oz good dark chocolate, chopped or broken into a few pieces

Over low-medium heat - heat the cream until it just begins to bubble.  Whisking occasionally. This will take just a few short minutes.  Don't let it boil and don't let it bubble for too long.  Just bubbling is where you want to be.  Reduce heat to very low right away and add in chocolate bits, stirring constantly to melt the chocolate into the cream. Whisk continually till chocolate is melted. When chocolate is incorporated - remove completely from heat.  The ganache should be shiny and silky looking the more you whisk it at this point.  Set aside to cool down, continuing to whisk every little while.  It will thicken just a little as it cools.

Putting it together
Hey, you have your crust!
You have your filling!
You have your fancy ganache!
When you have filled the crust with the whipped peanut butter filling dot the top of the pie all over with the ganache.  Take knife and drag it through the chocolate & filling to create the lovely swirl pattern across the whole top of the pie.  This really is the fun part, and the rewarding part because you know your work is done.  Chill the pie for at least 2 hours (or overnight) before serving.

To really, really impress upon your friends and family that your culinary artfulness knows no bounds, serve with another batch of fresh whipped cream (just like you made before w/ a little sugar) and some roasted salted peanuts.

Great Balls of Cookie Dough

Why it's taken 3 months to post again, I can't be sure.  There has been a flurry of baking in those months.  Cookies, raspberry swirl, lemon drop, chocolate chocolate, red velvet, Guinness & Baily's, vanilla minty, chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes, pies, scones.  So needless to say, I am bursting to share.  I've debated about whether or not I should lead up to or with this one, but I'm going for the gusto.  The Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcake is one of the more notorious concoctions in my recipe book.  It started as a challenge (thank you Dixon) and turned out to be a dessert showstopper, not to mention a diet derailer as it manages to combine the dual tastiness and caloric content of a cookie and a cupcake into one sugary handheld package.  It's not for the sweet toothed faint of heart.  I do believe I have witnessed eyes rolling clean into the back of the heads of a few eaters after the first bite.  If this sounds good to you then here's the secret and the sauce:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes
First thing you need to do is make & freeze the cookie dough:
Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 C unsalted butter
1 C sugar
1/2 C brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 C unbleached all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
12 oz chocolate chips

Whisk together flour, salt & soda.
Cream butter, sugars, eggs, vanilla till light and fluffy.
Beat dry ingredients into creamed mixture.
Add chocolate chips till just incorporated.
Wrap dough securely in plastic wrap and freeze for at least 1-2 hours.

Cake
3 C cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 sticks butter
1 1/4 C sugar
3/4 C brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 C milk
1.5 C chocolate chips

Beat butter till soft
Add sugar and beat till light and fluffy
Add eggs 1@a time
Combine wet ingredients
Combine dry ingredients
Alternate adding into mix, ending w/dry
Add chocolate chips till just incorporated
Spoon into paper lined cupcake tin 2/3 full
Bake 350/20-25 mins. (dep on oven & tins)
Let cool completely before frosting

Frosting (i.e. the best part)
2 sticks unsalted butter
1.5 tsp vanilla
about 1/4 cup whole milk (or part whole milk part heavy cream)
6-8 C confectioners sugar
about 1.5 C of cookie dough (be sure to reserve at least 1/3 of the cookie dough you made for the top of the cupcake)

Beat butter till smooth & add vanilla
Slowly add confectioner's sugar about 1/2 C at a time adding small amounts of milk/cream after each cup of sugar
When frosting appears smooth and stable begin adding small wads (yes, I said wads) of cookie dough a little at a time
Continue to alternate confectioner's sugar, milk & cookie dough until the frosting reaches desired consistency.  (Desired consistency to me usually means the frosting should stick fairly stiffly to the paddle of the mixer when it is lifted out of the bowl)

Putting it all together
Because everyone knows there is nothing fancy let alone dignified about eating cookie dough, I want this cupcake to pay homage to the way we generally consume it: in great heaping spoonfuls or stolen balls of dough before they have the chance to fulfill their destiny as a cookie.  So, to frost this cake I simply take an ice cream scoop and plop a generous glob on top of the cake & round it out a little with a frosting knife.  No piping or fanciness required.  Then I place a small ball or button of dough on top of the cupcake.  This bit is generally consumed immediately upon the eater taking possession of the cupcake followed by some sort of expletive regarding their secret passion for cookie dough.

Red Velvet Cupcakes for Love

I received a card in the mail today with this quote "Life is a pure flame, and we live by an invisible sun within us." -Sir Thomas Brown
Is it possible to set the world on fire with really delicous cupcakes?  Maybe not.  But maybe, just maybe that really delicious cupcake gives a big enough overdose of joy at the precise moment that a person would have given into something dark and painful or angry.  Maybe the happy neurons firing in the cupcake eater's brain squash a single impulse to frown and replace it with a big cakey frosting trimmed grin at the precise moment when someone crosses paths with the cake eater and the cake eater's smile becomes their new companion's smile.....and so on.    It's not so far fetched to believe that even single moments of joy have immeasurable value.  And since it's Valentine's day, and the flame of love and life burns a little brighter, my offering to Cupid is this deep crimson gorgeous treasure - practically an heirloom recipe who's spark has been igniting the dessert palates of many a smiling southerner for generations.

Red Velvet Cakes

Source: Ruth Parker
Temp: 350˚

Time: 18-20 mins depending on type & number of pans



Ingredients:



½ C shortening

1 ½ C sugar

2 eggs

1 C buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

2 ½ C cake flour

1 tsp salt

2 TB dutch pressed cocoa

2 oz red food coloring

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp white vinegar



Directions:



Cream shortening, sugar and vanilla add eggs one at a time. Make a paste of food color and cocoa, add and mix till blended. Sift flour & salt together. Alternate adding dry ingredients and buttermilk. Add vinegar and baking soda into cake batter at the end, mix well.

Fill lined cupcake cups 2/3 full. Bake 18-20 minutes at 350˚

Cool completely before frosting.



Cream Cheese Frosting

Whip 8oz cream cheese with 1 stick of butter (both at room temperature). Add 1tsp vanilla and blend. Slowly alternate confectioners sugar (roughly 3 cups for the whole batch of frosting) and about 3 TB whole milk or 2 TB heavy cream. Mix until desired consistency is reached.

Frost cakes!

Refrigerate cupcakes if they last longer than 24 hours.

Red Red Raspberry

In honor of Valentines day, but mostly because I love it when baking projects fit into some sort of theme, I'm undertaking 2 "red" baking projects this weekend.  The first, Cream Cheese Raspberry Muffins have been baked, sampled (savored...devoured, really), photographed and the light, sweet glittery aroma of sugar and raspberry is lingering in every room.  Tomorrow's project will be Red Velvet Cupcakes, probably one of my all-time favorite cakes for their beautiful crimson color, ridiculously moist texture and kinda quirky chocolaty, but not quite chocolate flavor.  I love using this recipe because it comes from a dear old family friend of my Grandmother's named Ruth Parker, whom I used to visit when I spent summer weeks at my grandparents house as a child.  More on the red velvets later, I'm debating whether or not to go back for a second raspberry muffin, but I'll try to make it through the post first.  This recipe is adapted from the marvelous Magnolia Bakery recipe.  My version adds fresh raspberries and therefore a little extra flour plus I've added a little almond into the mix, which I think sends these muffins off into the realm of the cosmically delicious.  But then, I might be a little biased.

Cream Cheese Raspberry Muffins

Temp: 350˚


Time: 30 minutes depending on type of pan & oven



Ingredients:



1 stick unsalted butter

8 oz soft cream cheese

1 C sugar

2 lg eggs

½ tsp vanilla

¼ tsp almond extract



1 ¾ C + 2 TBSP all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt



¼ C milk



1 C raspberries (fresh or frozen)



About ½ C raspberry preserves

¼ C almond slivers

Powdered sugar for dusting


Directions:
Sift together dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, soda & salt

Beat butter, cream cheese & sugar till smooth and whippy

Add eggs 1 at a time

Add vanilla and almond extracts, incorporate

Alternate adding dry ingredients and milk, starting with dry

Fold in raspberries till just mixed



Line muffin tin with liners. Fill each muffin cup 2/3 full.

Spoon 1 tsp raspberry preserves on top of batter & swirl

Sprinkle a few almond slivers over each cup
Bake for about 30 mins at 350˚, cake will be slightly spongy
Let muffins set 10 – 15 minutes outside of oven & sprinkle with confectioners sugar.

Then I dare you to try to eat just one.