π Day = Apple Pie Cupcakes

Happy π Day!

In celebration of March 14, I made a pie inspired Apple Pie Cupcake. I thought this was a cute idea, but it didn't turn out to be the most photogenic one. Beige frosting on beige cupcake with white wrapper on white background. If I thought ahead, I could have at least saved one of those deliciously green Granny Smith's to pop in the background for a boost of color. You will simply have to take my word for the fact they're quite tasty even though they look rather dull. 

Make Approx. 16.

Apple Juice reduction:

Boil down 1 cup of apple juice until thick and syrupy - approximately 2 tablespoons worth. Cool.

Basic Vanilla Cupcake:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup plain yogurt (or sour cream, or buttermilk)

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup oil

Preheat oven to 350˚. Line cupcake tins. 

In medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. In larger bowl, beginning with gently whisking eggs, mix together the rest of the wet ingredients. Mix dry into wet until blended. 

Filling:

1 tbs butter

2 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced. 

3 tbs brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and add apples. Once the apples start to sizzle, add a dash of water and cover with lid for about 5 minutes, or until apples are semi-translucent. Break apples up with a wooden spoon until only smaller chunks remain. Add brown sugar and stir until apples are coated and syrupy. Remove from heat. 

Frosting:

3/4 cups butter, room temperature

2-1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 tbs apple juice reduction

Whip butter until smoothly. Slowly add in powdered sugar until combined. Scrape sides of bowl before adding the apple juice reduction. Whip until smooth and creamy. I added a little dab of red and yellow food coloring to try and get the color a little more "baked pie crust" color, but should have done a little bit more. 

Once the cupcakes are cooled, remove centers of cupcakes using a melon baller (or any other tool you prefer). Fill cavity with apple sauce filling. Pipe a large dollop of frosting onto each cupcake. Using an offset spatula, smooth each dollop into a uniform mound, tapering at the sides. Using a small frosting tip, pipe curly cues around the edges of the cupcake, to make it look like a pie crust.  I tried putting little divots in the tops of each cupcake, similar to the venting holes you cut into pie crusts, but they didn't look very good, so I did without. I highly recommend using a different colored cupcake wrapper too. Gotta liven these up a bit. 

In any case, Happy Pi Day. I want to leave you with a little Pi story that I just learned about recently. Back in 1897, the Indiana legislature almost passed a bill to legally define pi as a rounded off 3.2. Their only saving grace was the presence of a Mathematics professor from Purdue who gave the Congress an impromptu math lesson on why that was impossible. Nice try! 

Guinness Cupcakes with Whiskey Mascarpone Frosting

Yeah, it's that time of year again. Guinness cupcakes are all over the place. And for good reason: they're tasty. The subtly bitter beer flavor pairs well with chocolate. But unlike the standard Irish Cream or plain cream cheese frosting, I thought I'd go over board this time.
Taking a tip from the Tiramisu cupcakes I make, (which I realize now I haven't actually posted), I opted for a whiskey "curd" that is then mixed with cream cheese and mascarpone to make a soft, rich and flavorful frosting that kicks buttercream's butt any day. Not that there's anything wrong with buttercream, but did you hear me say mascarpone? Can you ever beat that, really? Besides, you can pack in a lot more alcohol flavor in this way. ;-)

So here goes:

Whiskey Curd
Best to make this first as it needs time to cool.

• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup Whiskey of choice

In a heat proof bowl, whisk together egg and sugar until creamy. Heat over a saucepan of boiling water (don't let the bottom of the bowl touch the boiling water), whisking constantly for about 15-20 minutes (should get a little thick). Pour in whiskey and whisk until mixture is thick like pudding). Remove from heat (be careful of the steam) and pour into a cool dish. I just let mine sit out until I was ready to make the frosting, but you could cover closely with saran wrap and let cool in the fridge. It keeps for a couple days too, if you want to make it ahead.

Guinness Cupcakes 
(I stole this recipe a while ago so am not even sure where from any more. Sorry blogosphere!)
Makes Approx. 12-15 cupcakes

• 1/2 cup Guinness
• 1/4 cup butter, sliced
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 1 cups superfine sugar
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 eggs
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 + teaspoons baking soda

Preheat over to 350˚. Line cupcake tins.
Heat Guinness and butter in a saucepan until butter has melted. Whisk in cocoa and then sugar. In a separate bowl, mix sour cream, egg, and vanilla. In a bigger bowl whisk together flour and baking soda. Gradually pour the Guinness mixture into flour bowl until just incorporated, then add sour cream mixture. (This is totally backwards from how the instructions were written, but it seemed to work fine).
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 way full (exactly 1/4 cup measure will do, btw, which is my preferred method for filling tins).
Bake for 20 minutes. Cool.

Whiskey Mascarpone Frosting
Once curd and cupcakes have cooled, make frosting. This will make more frosting than you have cupcakes for, but not quite twice as much (if you were to double the cupcake recipe).

• 4 oz. cream cheese
• 4 oz. mascarpone
• Whiskey curd 
• 1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar

Whip cream cheese and mascarpone together until smooth. Scrape sides of bowl, then add in curd gradually, making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl as you go. Once incorporated and fluffy, add in the powdered sugar, and whip until the mixture has firmed up slightly. It's going to be a pretty soft frosting, so don't try anything too fancy as far as decorating or piping. A dollop on top of the cupcake works nicely for me. You can add a more firm buttercream frosting on top if you want to get fancy with the St. Patty's Day pride.

Don't eat cupcakes and drive!
Just kidding, they're not that strong. But do enjoy!

Chocolate Malted Cupcakes

I wish I could have gotten around to this idea earlier. I thought I was coming up with something SO unique when I thought about making a malt ball cupcake. No such luck. The blogosphere has been exploding with malty recipes, so I'm just jumping on the band wagon with this one.

Taken almost verbatim from Pennies on the Platter, indirectly linked via a post by BrownEyedBaker, I whipped these up last night. Critique: Tasty, kind of light (in other words you could eat a bunch of them without noticing; be that a good or bad thing), but I'm not sure how "malty" they are. Subtle at best, but this could have just been a side effect from eating half the box of malt balls while baking, making the flavor of the cupcakes pale in comparison. Regardless, they were very tasty. The cupcake was moist, which fulfills basically 50% of my cupcake critique.

Chocolate Malted Cupcakes

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cups malted milk powder (original flavor)
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 large eggsre
• 1 cup sour crea
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting

• 2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup malted milk powder (original flavor)
• 3 tsp cocoa powder
• 5 cups confectioner sugar
• Chocolate Covered Malt Balls (such as Whoppers) to garnish (optional)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350˚F.  Line cupcake pans with liners.

In a large bowl, whisk attachment to blend the milk and malted milk powder.  Mix until the powder is dissolved.  In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, sugars, baking soda and salt.  Slowly add the flour mixture and the oil to the milk mixture until incorporated.  Add eggs one at a time until incorporated.  Stir in the sour cream and vanilla until just combined.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes.
Cool completely before frosting.

Make Frosting:
Whip the butter in bowl of an electric mixer on high speed for several minutes until very light and fluffy.  Stir in the malted milk powder and cocoa.  Whip on medium-high speed for 1 minute.  Slowly add the powdered sugar about 1/2 cup at a time. Mix until the frosting becomes thick enough for piping.

Pipe frosting on top of cupcakes and top with a chocolate covered malt ball.

Banana Nutella Cupcakes

So, I missed the National Nutella Day this year (for shame), February 5th. So, in an effort to make it up to everyone, I did make a Nutella recipe, in the spirit of participation.

I have had this one one on my mind for a while. Now, I'm not super crazy about banana flavored things, but I do have exceptions for things like banana Nutella crepes, banana bread/cake, and fresh banana sliced over bran flakes. But, if I had to choose, anything smothered in Nutella would "take the cake," so to speak. I had originally thought that a Nutella/ganache topping would have been a nice elaboration on the theme, but honestly, the cream I recalled having in my fridge when I went to the store for other groceries was apparently a week past deadline. In the end though, I think topping these with straight Nutella was the way to go anyway. The caramelized banana on top is also deglazed with a dab of Frangelico, to keep the theme across the board.

Banana Cupcake with chopped Hazelnuts
Adapted from Eat My Cupcake
Makes approximately 12

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup ripe mashed bananas (1 banana)
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup butter, softened at room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 large eggs
• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/3 cup finely chopped, roasted hazelnuts 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Line cupcake tin with paper liners.
3. In a medium sized bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt. 
4. Mix nuts into flour mixture and then set aside.
5. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar.
6. Beat in egg until incorporated, then stir in vanilla.
7. Stir in banana mixture.
8. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk.
9. Pour batter into prepared tin in oven for 20 minutes.
10. Remove from oven and place directly into the freezer for 45 minutes. This will make the cake very moist. (I missed this step this time (my freezer is PACKED), but I felt as though it worked in previous attempts).

Once cupcakes are cool, smother a generous dollop of Nutella on top of each. Next, make caramelized bananas (these instructions are pretty rough - your own judgement will be required for measurements):

Slice 1 banana into 12 thick slices. In a small frying pan, melt a tablespoon or so of butter. Fry banana slices for 1-2 minutes each side, then sprinkle with a tablespoon or so of brown sugar. Swish it around a bit and let the banana brown a bit, then drizzle a tablespoon or so of Frangelico over them. Flip them until nicely browned on both sides and swimming in syrup. Place one banana slice carefully on top of each cupcake. Be careful when transplanting, as the bananas will fall apart after being cooked. 

Happy belated Nutella day! 

Samoa™ Cupcakes

I wish I could say that this cupcake flavor was inspired by the recent news of the Girl Scout cookie cut-backs. But alas, even though I think I'm a bit early for Girl Scout cookie season (at least I haven't seen any troops outside the grocery stores yet), but I had those delicious Samoa cookies on my mind. I don't really know why the Samoa's (or "Caramel De-lights") ended up at the top of my favorite GS cookie list considering I don't generally go for coconut goodies, but maybe the marriage with caramel and chocolate is just too much to resist.

I tried the traditional cookie recipe for this last year and absolutely loved it, and figured it could use the cupcake make-over routine. Not that the cookie needs improvement, it's just always fun to play with the flavors in a different form. The cupcake rendition does have an added frosting layer which you won't find in the cookie, but the cupcake doesn't have a crunchy cookie either. In any case, I think it's quite tasty. I chose a chocolate cupcake base to keep the flavors rich (but it might be good with a vanilla cupcake too), topped with a carmel buttercream, toasted coconut flakes, caramel swirl, and then a bittersweet ganache. So far, everyone who tried this one was very enthusiastic about it.

Makes approximately 18 cupcakes.

Preheat oven to 350˚. Line cupcake tins.

Toast 1 cup of sweetened coconut on a sheet pan for approximately 15 minutes, making sure to mix around the coconut every 5 minutes so to get the most even toasting. Set aside to cool.

Make Caramel Sauce (taken from Ina Garten):

This makes about 1-3/4 cups. You really only need about 1/4 cup for the cupcakes, but you can keep the rest refrigerated for a couple months (but I'm sure you could find reasons to use it up before then).

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla 

Mix the water and sugar in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cover and cook over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat and boil uncovered until the sugar turns a medium brown, about 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. Watch it carefully at the end, as it will go from caramel to burnt very quickly. Stand back to avoid splattering, and gradually add the cream and the seeds scraped from the vanilla extract. Simmer until the caramel dissolves and the sauce is smooth and thick, about 2 minutes. Serve warm, or add another 1/4 cup of heavy cream and serve room temperature.

Make Chocolate cupcake:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6 tbs butter 
• 1/3 c cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup milk

Mix flour, baking soda, powder and salt together in a medium sized bowl. In separate, heat proof bowl, melt butter in microwave (45-60 seconds). Mix in cocoa powder until mixture is paste-like and add in vanilla until smooth. Whisk in sugar, then eggs, one at a time until incorporated.
Mix water and milk together in small bowl. Alternating between flour and water mixtures, add each to the chocolate mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Mix until just incorporated. Fill cupcake tins and bake for 20 minutes. Let cool.

Make Caramel buttercream:

• 1-1/2 sticks butter, room temperature
• 2-1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tsp milk
• 3 tbs caramel sauce

Whip butter until smooth. Slowly add in powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. Once incorporated, add in milk and caramel sauce until mixture is light and fluffy. Scrape down sides of bowl as necessary.

Make Chocolate Ganache:

• 3 oz heavy cream
• 6 oz bittersweet chocolate (or milk, if that's your preference), chopped uniformly
• 1 tbs butter

In a microwave safe bowl, heat chocolate for approx. 20 seconds and set aside. In another microwave safe bowl, put butter in cream and heat in microwave for 45 seconds, or until it just reaches a boil. Pour hot cream mixture over chocolate and let set for a minute, then whisk together until all the chocolate has melted and is smooth. 

Assemble cupcakes. Using a piping gun or bag, frost the cupcakes. No need for making it pretty, since the next step is rolling the frosted cupcakes in the toasted coconut. Then drizzle caramel sauce over the coconut followed by a drizzling of ganache. 

Enjoy.

Cupcake Bouquets

Traditionally, I'm not a very traditional Valentine's Day celebrator. So it's probably ironic, or just Ferengi, that I am offering a fun alternative to the usual Valentine's Day gift.

I cannot take credit for the idea, but kudos to my buddy Carol for seeing the idea posted and sending it my way. Per a quick google search, it has been done many times before, and in a few different ways, but the one I finally settled upon was an 18 mini cupcake bouquet, neatly nestled into a flower pot.

I'm offering these treats up for $30 each. If you're local (read: I don't deliver), let me know if you want to order a batch for your sweetie this Valentine's day. Shoot, they might even share with you, but I make no promises.

New Year, New Recipes, New Contests

Hey there! Apologies, as the holidays engulfed me. I was happily baking away this whole time, and you had no idea!

Well, a quick recap, if possible, the holiday tins were a hit and easier to manage this year thanks to a little more organizing, pre-planning, and my fabulous Sous-Chef, Blair. There were also a bunch of parties to attend and host, which required goodies, not to mention the holidays themselves. A heavenly array of treats to devour.

But all mixed in with that was the ever-present recipe contest hosted by Scharffenberger and TuttiFoodie. Having been given notice about this contest a good 3 months ago, I can't say it was poorly warned, but with all the other stuff I just mentioned, this contest fell to the bottom of the pile... until last week, that is. To be fair, I had been thinking about it since October, if that counts.

So the deal: Big prize for the winning recipe which will be judged by some cupcake experts as such: "creativity and whether the recipe represents a spirit of adventure (35%), taste of finished recipe (35%), ease of preparation (20%) and appearance (10%)." Creativity does pertain somewhat to their list of "adventure ingredients: "stout beer (oatmeal, chocolate, imperial or any other stout); ricotta; buttermilk; coconut butter, coconut milk or coconut cream; saffron; molasses (light, dark or blackstrap); adzuki bean; fresh beet; sweetened condensed milk; fresh or whole dried chili pepper; bee pollen; meyer lemon; almond flour; and Sumatra coffee bean." In the end (the end being today at midnight), I submitted 5 recipes, some more adventurous than others, of which I will gladly post... if I win, that is. No point in giving you guys failure recipes!

But so you're in the know, and maybe have some feedback on what you think sounds like a winning recipe, the submissions were:

Beet Velvet Cupcakes with Mascarpone Cream Cheese Frosting - using beet & buttermilk (first photo)

Raspberry Truffle Cupcakes with Sweetened Ricotta Frosting - using Beet & Ricotta (I only took a couple bad photos of this one, so... maybe just use your imagination)

Black & Tan Cupcakes with Stout Ricotta Frosting - using Stout, Molasses & Ricotta (2nd photo)

Chocolate Tiramisu Cupcakes with Marsala Mascarpone Frosting - using Almond flour & Sumatra coffee (photos on main website)

Chocolate & Almond Mochi Cupcakes with Adzuki Ganache - using Almond flour, sweetened condensed milk & adzuki beans (3rd photo)

I actually taste-tested all of these before submitting (well, minus the Chocolate Tiramisu, because it's the same recipe I use all the time...er... well, with one small exception, but I'm sure it's fine...) so I can at least stand by them. I think the Beet Velvet is the most delicious, but like most red velvet cupcakes, they are more of a vehicle for the cream cheese frosting, so am not sure it should count. Otherwise, I enjoyed the flavors and textures of the Black & Tan (I used Harp lager for the "tan" portion of the batter), and the Mochi cupcake probably qualifies as the most adventurous, but it is different - the rice flour lends itself to a more chewy texture and the adzuki beans are somewhat granular, so yeah, the texture: it's a bit different.

Winners won't be notified 'til almost March, so hang in there for news. If you hear nothing, assume the worst ;-)