Chocolate Orange Cupcakes of Creamcheeesyness! A.K.A. Alex Cupcakes!

You may have noticed that I've named these cupcakes after a person called Alex.

This is because Alex is an amazing person who did something amazing for me - so amazing that there was absolutely no way I could thank her enough short of making her cupcakes and then naming them after her.  Which I like to think is somewhat of a high honor? 

(Although really, I'd do it for anyone if they asked me to... or even if they just mentioned that they enjoy cupcakes... yeah, I'm really just a compulsive cupcake giver.  There are worse things in this world to be.)

I know you're wondering now what exactly it was that Alex did to merit this delicious gift, but it is something SO incredibly sweet that honestly I can't describe it on this blog because, well, there are enough sweet things on here as it is.  But I will say that because of her, I was able to attend one of the best concerts of my entire life, and there I got to meet (and hug!) Jimmy Gnecco, of whom I have spoken before.  

It rocked.  And so does Alex.  And so do these cupcakes that bear her name.  

These are chocolate cupcakes with orange zest added to the batter, which brings a surprisingly powerful and fragrant orange flavor to them... after tasting these, I think I will be using orange zest much, much more often in my baking!  They are filled with a honey cream cheese mixture, and topped with a whipped chocolate orange ganache.  Soooooo goood!

Oh, and Alex loved them.  She said that they were gone after a day and even accused me of flavor altering wizardry, which I took as a compliment.  =)

So if you have someone you need to thank exuberantly, these cupcakes certainly do the trick!

For the cupcakes:

(adapted from this recipe)

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cup cake flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

zest of half an orange

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and line cupcake tins.

2. Cream the butter with the sugar and orange zest and beat until light and fluffy.

3. Add eggs one at a time, and then the vanilla, beating after each addition.

4. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder.  Add 1/3 of this mixture to the batter, and mix to combine.  Then add half of the milk, followed by another 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed by the last of the milk and then finishing with the last of the flour mixture.

5. Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 of the way full with batter, and bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.  

For the filling:

4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

2 tbsp honey

1 tbsp heavy cream

1. Beat together all 3 ingredients until smooth and well combined.

For the topping:

3/4 cup finely chopped semisweet chocolate

1 cup heavy cream

2 tsp grand marnier

1. Place the chopped chocolate in a mixing bowl.
2. Heat the cream until it begins to boil, then immediately remove from heat and pour over the chopped chocolate.
3. Let sit for a couple minutes, then whisk until smooth and mix in the grand marnier.
4. Cover and chill.
5. When the ganache is set, whip it with an electric mixer until it is a stiff, spreadable consistency.  

To assemble:

1. Once the cupcakes are cool, cut out a small bit from the center of each one.

2. Spoon the cream cheese mixture into the newly hollowed cupcake centers.

3. Pipe or spoon the ganache onto the cooled, filled cupcakes, and then they are finished and delicious!

Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies with Raspberry!!!!

So after all the flaming desserts at the beach, I was left in my apartment with a bad sunburn, leftover marshmallows, and a script hanging over my head that needed to be written.  

Since I had the script, I of course hadn't planned on baking anything but of course was suddenly very, very compelled to do so.  (I'm not the best at being a responsible student)  I looked around my kitchen and chocolate and marshmallows were really the only things I had, so I searched on the internet for chocolate marshmallow cookies.  I came across these lovelies at Stephanie's Kitchen, and had to have them.  And have them I promptly did.  Except I've never been fond of using that much confectioners sugar in frosting, so I used some leftover ganache I had sitting around instead of frosting.  Annnnd I added some raspberry jam as a little kicker underneath the marshmallows.  

Oooooh man they were sooo good - this was one of the rare occasions in my life where I end up eating more of something I baked than I give away to other people.  Yeah, I totally hoarded these cookies and they never even left my apartment.  My roommates had some...  hehehe.  

And here is the recipe, adapted from this one:

For the topping:

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate, chopped

1/4 cup bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1/3 cup heavy cream

To make the ganache, place the chopped chocolates in a small mixing bowl.  Heat the cream until it begins to simmer, and then pour the cream over the chocolate.  Let stand for a couple minutes, and then whisk until smooth.  Use on the cookies while still warm, or make beforehand and warm it up again before using.  

For the cookies:

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup softened butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup whole milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

about 15 marshmallows, halved

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.  

In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.  Add the egg, milk, and vanilla to this.  

Add flour mixture to this about 1/2 cup at a time until it is all incorporated.  

Drop heaping tablespoonfuls of dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spacing the drops about 2 inches apart.  

Bake cookies for 8 minutes or until firm.  Then, without fully removing them from the oven, quickly spoon some raspberry jam in the middle of each cookie, and follow the jam by pressing half a marshmallow into each cookie on top of it.  

Return to the oven and bake for 2 more minutes, or until the marshmallows are puffy and gooey.  

Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes.  Then remove from baking sheets and spoon the ganache over each cookie, making sure to completely cover the marshmallows.  

Make sure to eat a couple while they're still warm, because the marshmallows and ganache will be gooey and warm!!  Once you've had your fill of that, store them in the refrigerator and see how long they last...

Beachy Delicious

Are you intrigued by this burning donut of a plate?  

I could say something profound right now about how behind every spectacular dessert, there are spectacular burns and spectacular damage, but it wouldn't be true.  

The truth is simply this:  fire + girls + yummy things to cook on fire + things to destroy = severe banana induced burns.  

Shortly after this picture was taken, we poured coke over a towel to save it from burning.  We're smart girls.  =)  And shortly after that, we ate theeessseee burning babies of yum:

They're bananas that we stuffed with chocolate and marshmallow, wrapped in tin foil, and let sit in the embers of our campfire.  Kind of like banana s'mores, only not really.  

Seriously, these were sooo good, and I don't even like bananas.  I think this must be a really common camping dessert, because I remember that we always used to make these on our girl scout camping trips when I was a little girl.  I think they're so much fun to make, just for the fun of wrapping up your dessert, sticking it in a nice fire, and then getting to unwrap it and see what it's become!  And sooo delicious!  I did put a little bit of cinnamon on mine, though... shhh don't tell!

And speaking of cinnamon, allow me to introduce you to my all-time favorite campfire dessert:

It may not look like much, but after one bite, you'll be hooked like a yummy salmon fish.  

Of course, this is another treat from my childhood camping times.  I used to go to summer camp, and at camp we called these Dough Boys and ate them all the time.

It's very simple to make.  You get some pre-made biscuit dough and mold it around the end of a roasting stick so that it won't fall off.  Then you roast it until the outside is mostly crispy and golden-brown.  Think that sounds good?  Here comes the real good part...

Once they come off the fire, you roll them around in butter!!!!

And then you roll them around some more in cinnamon sugar!!!!!!!!!!

And after that you die, because once you have 1, you'll have to have 6, I swear.  

And that is what I did this past Sunday.  The day before our first day of classes was a day at the beach.  I got my first sunburn in ages and I made myself sick on doughboys.  What a perfect start to a semester.  =)

Daring Bakers Cake turned MACARON! weeee

What to do with leftover buttercream, preserves, nuts, and ganache?  

Seriously, this cake's leftovers were screaming macarons.  

So we get cashew macarons with peach preserves, cashew praline buttercream, and dark chocolate ganache with grand marnier.  Tastes just like the gateau.  But much more fun.

=)

Daring Bakers - Filbert (read: cashew) Gateau with Praline Buttercream!

This is what happens when Allison is reunited with an oven after two months of basically living in a hotel.  I like to think it was a magical reunion.  =)

I got back from Japan Wednesday night, when alll the other Daring Bakers were posting about this wonderful cake, brought to us by July's host, Chris of Mele Cotte, and all I could do was pass out in bed and dream about it since I had been up and riding planes for the previous 30 hours.  4 countries in 1 day, baby!!!!  But no cake to show for it... yet!

So naturally the first thing I did when I woke up yesterday was plan out my baking schedule for the next week.  I decided this cake should come first because, even though I missed the posting date, it's close enough that this can count as a late post rather than a skipped month... hopefully?  And also because my grandmother's birthday was in June, and I know she loves praline and chocolate, and she happens to be visiting us in Canada this week.  

I had my doubts about this cake before starting it... I wasn't really sure how all the flavors would work together, and while I know hazelnuts and chocolate to be a killer combination, the idea of hazelnut praline with apricot and chocolate was kind of rubbing me the wrong way.  So I decided to use cashews instead, since I had never used cashews in anything before, and I guess I was just in a cashew mood.  I am generally not a fan of apricots, and my mom had about 40 peaches in a huge basket in our kitchen that she was begging me to do something with... so I made a year's worth of peach preserves and used some of that for the cake!  And ooh it was peachy.   Also, my grandmother doesn't like rum, so I just used grand marnier and vanilla throughout.  However, in the peach preserves, I added some lychee liqueur and cinnamon.  

Every Friday, my dad's band comes over and they practice their rockin' music in our garage.  Lucky for my cake, today is Friday!  So it was eaten and well appreciated after band practice, and then was packed up in yogurt containers and sent off to the band members' wives.  

Everyone loved it, even my mom who always says she doesn't like buttercream (but who eats it every time I make it!).  I was actually surprised at how awesome it was!  I think I will definitely make this cake again in the future - definitely.  Cause it was prettty ridiculously wonderful.

So thanks Chris!  I don't think I would have made this cake normally after just looking at the recipe, but I'm so glad you gave me a reason to because it turned out to be incredible!!  YAY for Daring Bakers!!  

If you're interested in making this cake, get the recipe from the host's blog here!

Spicy Sorbet and Goodbye for Now!

I have some really good news, some mildly bad news, and some ridiculously delicious sorbet to share with you today...

Let's start with the good news - in two days, I'll be going to Tokyo where I'll be living for two months to intern at a TV station! Wooohooo!! I'm going to eat so much sushi that I may actually turn into a fish! A cute fish. A salmon, probably. But not for eating.

The mildly bad news is that I won't have a kitchen to bake in while I'm in Japan! Sadface... This means that while I'll probably do a few blog updates about the amazing food in Japan, this blog won't see any of my own baking projects until August.

Sorry to all the people who love desserts... but I promise I will make up for it by sharing some of the amazing Japanese foodage I encounter! And I'll still post my May Daring Baker's challenge on the post date - I've already baked my challenge and set blogger to post it at the appropriate time. Go me!

And now for some deliciousness!!!

It started because I wanted to make something delicious for my mom for mother's day. I ran through a lot of options... and shot down all of them because not only is my mom pretty picky about desserts, she's also lactose intolerant and a health freak. Then I remembered having seen the same thing on multiple blogs a while back - a few people all raving about dark chocolate sorbet. And when I say raving, I mean raving - Joy the Baker even said she wanted to bathe in hers! And then I thought about the sweet things that I know my mom really loves, and realized that two of her favorite things ever are any kind of fresh fruit and good dark chocolate.

So I went and bought a ton of fresh fruit, and then raided our chocolate stash to find that my mom hadn't touched the bar of spicy chili and cinnamon dark chocolate that I had bought last time I was in town. She proceeded to tell me that I should use it in the sorbet... so I said, "OK!" and the result was magic. I used regular dark chocolate for 3/4 of the chocolate called for in the recipe, and replaced the other 1/4 with the spicy stuff. I ended up with a sorbet that didn't taste spicy, or hot, but that was pleasantly warm. If warm isn't a term that makes sense to you when talking about sorbet... then just trust me that it was perfection. Everything I thought it would be and more. My mom even went so far as to say, "there's nothing better than this!" as she was licking the removable part of the ice cream maker! She especially loved the complexity I got from mixing two different chocolates, and I loved it too!

Here is the recipe I used - its a David Lebovitz recipe and I found it on Chocolate & Zucchini.


Spicy Dark Chocolate Sorbet


1 cup plus 2 tbsp water
1/3 cup packed cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/4 oz dark chocolate, finely chopped*
3/4 oz chili and cinnamon spicy dark chocolate, finely chopped*
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
a pinch of salt
fresh fruit (I used blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, and kiwis)
*you can change the ratio of chocolates for a sorbet that is more or less spicy, or you can just use 3 oz of the same chocolate. have fun!


Whisk together the water, cocoa powder, and sugar in a saucepan.
Heat the mixture while continuing to whisk.
Once it comes to a boil, remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate.
Add the vanilla and salt.
Whisk until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.
Let cool, and then refrigerate until chilled.
Whisk the mixture once more right before using, and then churn using your ice cream maker.
Once the sorbet is ready, serve with the fresh fruit and enjoy!
=)




And with that, Allison's kitchen says "Bye for now, and I'll see you again in August!"


But don't worry, I'll still be around, even if my kitchen isn't. And don't forget to check back on May 28th for my Daring Baker's challenge!

Chocolate Raspberry Angel Pie

Meeeep it has been so long since my last post, hasn't it?  Oh well, such is the price I pay for being busy making films and preparing for the Summer.  I extend my sincere apologies for my absence to anyone I may have left in a sad, sugarless state.  I assure you, this pie is more than enough to bring anyone into a happy, happy, sugar-filled state!  

I have been on Spring Break this past week, and I spent much of it relaxing in an internet-less condo in the snowy mountains with three of my friends (one other female and two male).  Since there was no internet, and since the men spent every minute of every day practically glued to their video games, the other girl and I basically spent all of our time in the kitchen!  I made a dessert every night, she made breakfast every morning, and we rotated and collaborated on the dinners.  And when I wasn't in the kitchen, I was out taking snowy mountain pictures!  It was wonderful; it is very, very rare for me to have the leisure to spend so much time in the kitchen, so I made sure to take full advantage of it.  

And here is some of the fruit of my labors (leisures?)

The crust is meringue, the filling is chocolate raspberry, and the topping is rose flavored whipped cream.  My friends loved it, and the four of us ate almost the whole thing in just two days.  Which is saying a lot considering the enormous amount of other food the other girl and I were forcing everyone to eat daily!  

Here is the recipe, which I adapted from the amazing cookbook, Lost Desserts by Gail Monaghan.  This is the first recipe I have tried from this book, but from the looks of it I will definitely try more in the near future!  You'll find this pie in the book without the raspberry and rose, but with espresso and kahlua.  

Chocolate Raspberry Angel Pie (adapted from Lost Desserts)

For the meringue crust:

4 egg whites

pinch of salt

1 cup plus 2 tbsp granulated sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 275 F.

Butter a 9-inch springform pan, line the bottom with parchment paper, and butter the paper.

Beat the egg whites with the salt to soft peaks.  

Add the sugar gradually while continuing to beat.  Once all the sugar has been added, add the vanilla.  Beat on high speed to stiff peaks.  

Spread the meringue over the bottom and sides of the pan, building the sides about 2 inches high.

Bake for an hour and 15 minutes.  Let cool.

For the filling:

12 oz. chopped semisweet chocolate

pinch of salt

4 egg yolks

1 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup water

1 tsp raspberry extract

Gently heat the chocolate, salt, and water in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring constantly, until all the chocolate has melted.  

Remove from heat and whisk in the egg yolks, one at a time.  Add the raspberry extract.  Let cool completely.

Whip the cream until soft peaks form, and then fold into the cooled chocolate mixture.  

Spoon the mixture into the cooled meringue crust, cover and refrigerate until set (at least 4 hours).  

For the topping:

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp rose water

Fresh raspberries

When ready to serve the pie, whip the cream with the sugar and rose water until stiff peaks form.  

Carefully remove the pie from the pan, and spread the whipped cream over the top.  Garnish with fresh raspberries and serve.  

Chocolate, Hazelnut, and Kiwi... Best Breakfast Ever.

The best grocery shopping days are always the ones when I find good kiwi.  Yesterday was one of those days.  =)

Usually, when I come home with kiwi, I eat some of it right away straight with a spoon.  Sooo delicious.  And then for the next few days I'll have toast for breakfast, and I'll top the toast with nutella and kiwi slices.  It's an amazing way to start the day... and kiwi is healthy, right?

Yesterday I needed to bake cupcakes for my actors (I'm a film student, so I don't pay them with money haha), and I saw the kiwis, and I thought, "hey, if it's good on toast, it can be awesome on a cupcake!"  And it was.  Except I didn't have any nutella (because I thought I did when I was at the store and then once I got back I realized I was out and didn't have time to go back.... argh).  So I just added a ton of frangelico to everything, and I think it worked pretty well!

These are chocolate hazelnut cupcakes, topped with whipped milk chocolate hazelnut ganache, and kiwis.

For the cupcakes:

(adapted from this recipe)

2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup cocoa powder

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup frangelico liqueur

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in one mixing bowl. Combine the milk, buttermilk, oil, eggs, and liqueur in another bowl.  Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the milk mixture into it.  Mix until combined.  

Pour the batter into lined muffin tins, filling the cups 3/4 of the way.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean and the tops spring back when touched.  

Makes about 25 cupcakes.

For the ganache:

1 cup chopped chocolate  (I used about 3/4 milk and 1/4 bittersweet)

1 cup heavy cream

3 tbsp frangelico liqueur

Heat the cream in a saucepan until it begins to simmer.  Pour over the chopped chocolate.  Wait for a few minutes, and then whisk the mixture until it is smooth.  Mix in the frangelico.  Cover and chill until set.  This takes a long time, but I put mine in the freezer since I was in a hurry.  So, in the freezer, it took about 2 hours.  

Once it is set, whip it until it is light and fluffy.  Immediately spoon, pipe, or spread over cooled cupcakes.

Slice up some kiwi and put it on top, and it's ready to eat!  YAY!

Daring Bakers - French Bread!

I am now officially a Daring Baker!  Go me!  And I am so happy to be one right now because this month's challenge was truly wonderful.  It was hosted by Mary (Breadchick!) of The Sour Dough and Sara of I Like to Cook, and they had us bake (daringly!) Julia Child's French Bread!

When I saw that this was to be my first challenge, I admit that I was freaking intimidated.  I had never made any kind of bread or baked anything with yeast before!  Oh my...  what to do?  But I was determined to conquer the bread, and I decided to get in on the chat that Breadchick was hosting where I could make my bread with the company and support of a few other Daring Bakers.  This proved to be a good idea when at around 7:30 in the morning I was frantically typing something like, "Oh no!!  I just realized my yeast is instant!!  Aaaahhhhh!!!"  to which the wonderful Breadchick responded with a big "Don't worry," which is exactly what I needed to hear in my panicky and half-asleep state.  

So I got my yeast working, my bread rising, and enjoyed my yeasty smelling apartment while chatting with the other bakers.  It was way fun, and a happy way to spend the day!  

Luckily, I had no other problems until it came time to unmold my batards after their third rise.  As you can tell from the picture above, one of my batards completely deflated in the unmolding stage.  But I learned from this and was more gentle when handling the other two.  I made three, but only two are pictured because my roommate and I ate a whole batard before I could take the pictures!  Ahhh we were too hungry.

Even though my bread wasn't perfect (and one batard was pretty flat), my roommate and I enjoyed it immensely.  Yeah... we pretty much ate it all in one night... 

And this is how we ate it, because it has always been my favorite way to eat French Bread.  We sliced the bread into thin slices, buttered them lightly, and toasted them in a pan.

Then I made some hot chocolate (with the chocolate you saw in the first picture that was posing with the bread), and we dipped the toasted bread in the chocolate.  We ate this for dinner on Sunday night, but it really makes an awesome breakfast, if you can wait until morning!

I am so glad that this was my first Daring Bakers challenge, because I think it really forced me to experience what the group is all about.  While there are many things I have never tried to bake before, bread has always been kind of the big thing that I just didn't do.  I don't really know why, but I've just never felt compelled to bake bread before.  This probably would have continued for a pretty long time had it not been for this challenge.  

So, Mary and Sara, thank you so much for this challenge; I can honestly say that I have grown as a baker because of it, and that's awesome!  Oh and even more thanks to Mary for hosting the chat on Sunday; it was so helpful and I had fun chat-baking!  =)

If you want to make this bread, check out the recipe here.  It's long, but definitely worth it!

Also, check out the Daring Bakers Blogroll to see what all those other bakers made!

Chocolate, Rum, and Mango... Cupcakes.

I am finally back from what seems like an eternity of not baking, though it's really only been about two weeks.  But they were the saddest two weeks I've had in a very long time - how can I be happy when nothing is coming out of my oven?  I even went through Valentine's Day and my own birthday with nothing to show for the occasions except some very loud and frequent coughing.  Yeah, I caught the flu.  And HOW can I bake when I know I won't be able to give any of my sweets away, for fear that they might get people sick?  I can't.  

I am happy to say that today was the first day in about two weeks that I have been both healthy enough and free enough to bake anything, and that I took full advantage of it!  I thought for a while about what I should bake, and I decided that I needed something with rum and chocolate.  Because after such a long period of sadness, let's face it - a girl really just needs some rum and chocolate.  And I had a couple mangos in my fridge that were aching to be eaten, so I figured I'd incorporate mango somehow, because mango+rum=mmmm.  

And then I realized that the Cupcake Hero theme this month was liquor, and that I had not yet missed the deadline (it's today, oh my!).  For those of you who don't know, this event is hosted by Laurie of Quirky Cupcake; every month, she picks a new ingredient that must be incorporated into cupcakes!  How awesome.  

So it seems that these Chocolate Rum Mango Cupcakes were destined to come out of my kitchen today!  =)

And they were pretty much amazing.  The cake part is chocolate and rum, and it is soaked in a mango rum glaze.  They are topped with whipped cream, fresh mango slices, and a bit of cocoa powder.  These were wonderful because the cake was fudgy and dense without being overly sweet, and the mango rum glaze gave it the extra sweetness and powerful rum flavor that it needed!  The whipped cream and fresh mango added something refreshing to every bite, without being overly rich.  Ahhhh I am so happy I can finally bake again... I gave these all away today, watched people enjoy them, and remembered why I love being not sick!!

For the cupcakes (adapted from this recipe on epicurious)

4 oz semisweet chocolate

8 oz bittersweet chocolate

3/4 c butter

8 tbsp rum

8 eggs, separated

3/4 cups granulated sugar

4 tbsp flour

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Chop the chocolate into small pieces, and melt it in a saucepan with the butter and the rum.  

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the 1/2 cup of the sugar.  Then add the chocolate rum mixture and mix well.  Add the flour and salt and mix until incorporated.

In another mixing bowl, whip the egg whites to soft peaks.  Add the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar, and continue to whip the whites to stiff peaks.  Fold the whites into the rest of the batter until no streaks remain.

Pour the batter into lined muffin tins, filling each cup about 3/4 of the way to the top.  bake in preheated oven for about 10 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  They'll shrink once you take them out of the oven, so be mentally prepared for that!  

Once they have cooled, use a fork to make lots of holes in them so that the glaze can soak through.

For the glaze:

3/4 cup butter

3/4 cup rum

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup mango pulp

Combine butter, sugar, mango pulp, and 1/2 cup of the rum in a saucepan, and heat until the butter is melted and the sugar dissolved.  Then mix in the remaining 1/4 cup of rum and immediately remove from the heat (so the alcohol doesn't cook off - it's stronger that way!).  

Spoon the glaze over the cupcakes, allowing it to soak in.  

For the topping:

1 cup heavy cream

1 tbsp granulated sugar

Fresh mango slices

cocoa powder

Whip the cream and sugar in a mixing bowl until peaks form.  Spoon the cream over the cupcakes.  Top with fresh mango slices.  Sprinkle some cocoa powder on top, and enjoy!

These are best eaten at room temperature, but should be stored in the refrigerator.  

Triple-Caramel Cupcakes

I am a baker who loves to be exploited.  As much as I love eating sweets, I would be lying if I claimed that this is the reason I love to bake.  I'm not quite sure why, but the two greatest reasons why I love to bake are: 1. Creating desserts is somehow comforting and exciting, so I do it to escape from my other life when it is being neither comfortable nor exciting.  2.  I love feeding people, knowing that they are eating something delicious, and watching them enjoy it.  These two reasons are so prominent that it seems that nowadays I rarely end up consuming more than a taste of anything that comes out of my kitchen.  And I am completely OK with that!  So when my roommate told me that she had a "job" for me, and that it involved baking something for her brother's pre-wedding party (the bridesmaids were all supposed to bring desserts), I couldn't have been more excited!  A chance to feed people I had never even met= Fun times.  
I suppose I was just aching to melt some sugar (an especially comforting activity) because I created these triple-caramel cupcakes.  The cupcake batter has a caramel syrup incorporated in it, which provides the cake with extra moisture as well as the caramel flavor.  I filled and frosted the cupcakes with a chocolate-caramel ganache, which has a slightly chewier texture than regular ganache, as well as a deep, rich caramel flavor underneath the chocolate.  And because my then double caramel cupcakes didn't look like they had any caramel in them at all, I decided to garnish with some simple hard caramel.  

For the cupcakes (adapted from recipes on cooks.com):

3 c sifted cake flour

1 c + 1/2 c granulated sugar

1 c milk

2/3 c butter, softened

1/2 c boiling water

2 egg whites

2 egg yolks

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 F.

To make the caramel syrup, melt 1/2 c granulated sugar in a small saucepan. Once it becomes dark amber in color, slowly add the boiling water, and stir to combine.  Cook this mixture for 1-2 minutes, and then set aside to cool.  

Cream the butter in a large mixing bowl, adding the sugar gradually and beating until fluffy.  Add the egg yolks one at a time, and then the vanilla extract, beating after each addition.  Mix in the caramel syrup once it has cooled.  

Sift the flour together with the salt and baking powder, and then add to the cake batter gradually, alternating with the milk.  

Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form and then fold into the rest of the batter.

Pour batter into lined muffin tins, filling each cup 3/4 of the way to the top.  Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until golden and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  

Makes about 24 regular-sized cupcakes.

For the filling/frosting:

12 oz bittersweet chocolate

2 c heavy cream

1 1/4 c sugar

4 tbsp butter

Chop the chocolate into small pieces, put in a mixing bowl, and set aside.  

Slowly heat the cream and butter together in a small saucepan.  Meanwhile, melt the sugar in another saucepan and cook until it is dark amber in color.  Slowly add the heated cream and butter to the caramel, and stir until well combined.  

Immediately pour the caramel mixture over the chopped chocolate.  Let sit for 1 or 2 minutes, and then whisk until all the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.  

Chill in the refrigerator to set, and microwave to re-melt.  I filled the cupcakes using a pastry bag and chilled ganache.  Then I topped them by spooning melted ganache over them.  

For garnish, melt 1/4 c sugar, and then drizzle it on tin foil or parchment paper.  Once it is hardened, peel it off and arrange it on top of the cupcakes.  yummmm =)

Chocolate Cinnamon Flourless Cakes

Last night it was -32 C outside... that's really cold.  So cold that I stayed at home all night and was craving something hot and chocolatey.  I love these cakes because that's exactly what they are, except they're much more filling and satisfying than drinking hot chocolate.  They are flourless, so they're good for low-carb eaters (if you can ignore all the sugar), but that's not why I make them.  I like the flourless cakes because they seem, to me, somewhere in between brownies and custard.  I eat them when they are hot and they melt in my mouth like a soft custard would, but they are as dense and rich as a brownie or cake.  To make them even better, I add a ton of cinnamon to the mix - it deepens the flavor of the chocolate, and who doesn't love cinnamon?

So here is the recipe; I adapted it from this one for gluten free flourless chocolate cake.

8 oz chocolate (I used part semisweet chips and part 75% dark)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup boiling water

1/2 cup melted butter

1 tbsp cocoa powder

4 eggs

1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

3 tsp cinnamon + extra for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 F and butter 10 5 oz. ramekins.  

Chop up the chocolate into small pieces, and combine in a large mixing bowl with the sugars.  Add the boiling water, and whisk until all the chocolate is melted and sugar is dissolved.  Add the cocoa powder, vanilla extract, and 3 tsp cinnamon.  Then add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  

Pour the mixture into the ramekins, filling them up about halfway.  Place on a large baking sheet, making sure that none of the ramekins touch each other and that they are evenly spaced. Bake for 30 - 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  The cakes will more than double in size when they are in the oven, but will deflate once you take them out.  

Sprinkle the tops with cinnamon and serve them warm.  Leftovers can be stored, covered, in the refrigerator,  and reheated in the microwave when ready to eat.