Muffins for Mixing (mixing sound, that is...)

I mentioned before that I've been blog MIA this semester because of the film I was busy pouring every hour of my life into for 2 months. Well, that's pretty much over now, because its a class involving partnerships, where each partnership makes 2 films during the semester, and takes turns directing. So I directed the first one (ugh!) and am now working on the second one, which my partner is directing. It's still a ton of work and time, but it's much, much less stressful than directing.

The thing about these films is that we want them to be good. And we technically have the means to make them good. We get 1 week for pre-production, 3 weeks to shoot, 1 week to edit picture, and then 2 weeks to edit sound. That's a lot of time spent on one 5 minute film. And of course, we have professional actors who donate their time to us, a bunch of people who help out with the dirty work on set, and our professors and student assistants who are helping us with insane problems every step of the way.

By the time my film was nearly finished, I was so unbelievably grateful to everyone who had helped me along the way, that the least I could do was bake some of them a good breakfast on sound mix day! After our 2 weeks of building sound (we don't record production sound at all, so we have to build the whole soundtrack from scratch), there is one day during which 2 amazing sound mixers work from 8 in the morning to 6 at night, spending 2 hours with each of us, making sure that our sound is basically perfect and finally locking everything in and making us finished for good.

It's a long day, a stressful day, and a relieving day all at once, and my 2 hours happened to be the very first, starting at 8 AM. So naturally I brought breakfast, in the form of these delicious muffins!

Strawberry Lime Muffins

(adapted from this recipe)

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 cups uncooked oats

1 cup sugar

2 cups milk

1 cup butter, melted

2 eggs, beaten

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups sliced fresh strawberries

zest and juice from 3 small limes

1. Preheat oven to 425 F and line muffin tins with paper cups.

2. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, oats, sugar, and lime zest in a large mixing bowl.

3. Whisk together the milk, butter, eggs, vanilla, and lime juice in a separate mixing bowl.

4. Stir the milk mixture into the flour mixture until just combined.

5. Fold the strawberries into the batter.

6. Fill the prepared muffin cups about 2/3 of the way each.

7. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until golden and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. This makes about 24 muffins.

They are hot and delicious right out of the oven, but just as delicious at room temperature the next day! =)

Daring Bakers - Pizza Dough!!

Shhhhhhhh... my dough is sleeping.  Ok well actually it's resting... in the fridge... waiting to be made into pizza.  Proving that there will indeed be pizza on this blog within the next day.  And oh my, I have some intense plans for this dough.  This beauty sleep is welllll needed.  

So, I've been a pretty terrible blogger these past few months, and its all because of a film.  A film for which I spent 7 weeks eating nothing but bagels and cereal and sleeping no more than 4 or 5 hours a night.  

BUT I finally screened the finished thing this past Sunday, which means that I'll be bringing much deliciousness back to this blog in the coming months.  Starting here.  Starting tomorrow. With an amazing Daring Bakers' Challenge hosted by Rosa of Rosa's Yummy Yums.  

Update:

I have made 2 out of 4 pizzas, and they were INCREDIBLE.  Sorry for the awful pictures, though... I was in a crazy rush.

This pizza has on it a white wine cream sauce with shallots, zucchini, mozzarella, calamata olives, brie, and lots of garlic.  It was so good... completely gone in less than 10 minutes.  

And THIS pizza, for dessert, is covered in honey-sweetened mascarpone, fresh strawberries, and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.  Ridiculously delicious.

Looking forward to 2 more pizzas tomorrow!  =)

UPDATE #2:

I made the other 2 pizzas and took pictures of them, but my camera ran out of battery during the import to my computer, and the result of this was that they were deleted from the camera without being imported.... SO there is sadness and no more pizza pictures.  =(

But they were REALLLLLY delicious, so I shall describe them to you now.

One had a tomato sauce with balsamic vinegar, baby portobello mushrooms, ground beef, spinach, mozzarella, and more balsamic vinegar drizzled on top.  This was so ridiculously amazing, I ate 3 pieces in one sitting, and then had the rest as breakfast the next morning... cold and still amazing!  =)

And the last pizza was the most extravagant of all - tomato balsamic cream sauce, caramelized onions, mozzarella, corn, goat cheese, honey, and fresh basil.  Sooooooo good.  Every ingredient worked so perfectly with the others, and the basil was the absolute most perfect finish ever.  So yeah, wonderful wonderful it was.

AWESOME CHALLENGE!  Go Daring Bakers!  =)

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.  =)

Honey Soufflés with Pomegranate Glaze

Breakfast?  Indeed.

I totally made this on a whim, which means that the recipe below is less of a real recipe and more of a "what I did."  But it worked!  And it was soo delicious.  The tartness of the glaze went perfectly with the smooth, intense sweetness of the honey.  If I made this again I would probably change some things in the soufflé recipe, for experimental and perfectionist purposes, but to be honest it was really delicious as it was!

Pomegranate Glaze

1/2 cup pomegranate juice

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp lemon juice

Combine all 3 ingredients in a small saucepan, and heat over medium high heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture reduces.  Take off the heat and set aside.  You may need to warm up the glaze again before serving, to get it to a pour-able consistency.  

Honey Soufflé

1/4 cup honey

1 egg yolk

1 egg white

1 tbsp flour

1 tsp granulated sugar

pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 425 F.  Butter and sugar 4 ramekins, and prepare a water bath.  

In one mixing bowl, whisk together the honey and the egg yolk, and then mix in the flour.

In another bowl, whip the egg white with a pinch of salt until you get soft peaks.  Add the granulated sugar and continue whipping until you get stiff peaks. 

Add a little bit of the whipped egg whites to the honey mixture to lighten it.  Then fold the honey mixture into the rest of the egg whites, carefully, just until no streaks are left.  

Pour the batter into the four ramekins, filling them about halfway.  Place the ramekins in the water bath and into the oven.  

Immediately lower the temperature to 400 F.  Bake for 10 minutes at this temperature.

Lower the temperature to 350 F and bake for another 10 minutes.  

Lower the temperature to 300 F and bake for another 10 minutes.  

Then turn the oven off, and leave in the oven with the door closed for 15 to 20 minutes.

When they come out of the oven, invert the soufflés onto plates and drizzle them with the pomegranate glaze.

Daring Bakers - Opera Cake

Cake Love.

=)

What a wonderful month this was - apart from the bliss of being in Japan, this has been my favorite Daring Baker`s challenge so far!  It was hosted by our wonderful co-founders, Lis and Ivonne, as well as Fran of Apples Peaches Pumpkin Pie and Shea of Whiskful, and they chose to have us make Opera Cake!  This is a cake that is traditionally made with chocolate and coffee, but the hosts specified that we keep the cakes light in color and flavor.  Apart from that, the flavors and decorations and all that were up to us!  And oh... what that led to... a ton of amazing and very unique cakes!  

I was so excited to make this that I couldn`t decide on what flavors to use, so I kind of just gave in to my indecisiveness and made two.  And what a delicious indecision it was...

I made the first cake with a pistachio jaconde, a vanilla and lemon buttercream, a strawberry lemon syrup, a strawberry glaze, fresh strawberries in the layers, and chopped pistachios on top.   

The syrup for the buttercream looked so cool when it was boiling that I had to take a picture...

I had been wanting to try pistachios and strawberries together for a long time, and thought this was a perfect opportunity because of the nut based cake and... strawberry season!  Also, I wanted to use a fruit glaze instead of white chocolate because my mom is one of those white chocolate haters, and I was actually at home and baking for my parents when I made this.  

But of course, I love white chocolate, and of course, there was another flavor combination that I have been wanting to try forever that works so perfectly with this cake.  Yes, it's green tea and white chocolate...  I think a ton of other people have done this, too... as well they should, because it is seriously amazing.  And what can I say, I made this the day before I left for Japan, so it was probably the Japan excitement that made me do it.  (mmm Japan excitement is a glorious thing!)

I did an almond and green tea jaconde, a white chocolate and green tea buttercream, a vanilla and jasmine syrup, and the white chocolate mousse and glaze. I actually finished this cake 2 minutes before bolting out of the door to catch my flight to Japan, so I was only able to taste one bite of it, but it was an amazing bite! The green tea went perfectly with the white chocolate, and the jasmine gave the whole thing a wonderful flowery essence underneath the big flavors.

mmmm green tea buttercream.... amazing.  

I said that this was my favorite Daring Baker's challenge to date, and that's because I feel like I have accomplished so much with it!  I made both cakes without any problems, they tasted amazing, and I think they are pretty much the most aesthetically pleasing things to ever come out of my kitchen (I'm always so bad at making stuff pretty...).   

Plus, I had never even heard of an opera cake before this challenge, so it opened my eyes to a piece of pastry I had never before known, and I always love it when that happens!  It's happening every day I'm here in Japan, by the way. =)

So thank you, wonderful hosts, for another fantastic Daring Baker's challenge!  I loved it, and I look forward to seeing everyone's cakes!

If you want to try your hand at opera cake, see here for the recipe!

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!

Strawberry White Chocolate Mocha Macarons

So, one day a couple months ago, I ran into my friend Amy as we were both on our way and running late for the same class. She offered me gum, and while I don't normally enjoy gum, this was strawberry gum, and it's hard to pass up any kind of strawberry sweetness that's being offered to me... So I accepted, and began to chew it just as we walked through the cinema courtyard (where they have a small coffee stand). I paused, "Why does this gum taste like coffee??" Amy looked at me like I was insane. The conversation that followed was something like this:

"omg it does taste like coffee!"

"I'm pretty sure there's no coffee in the gum."

"mmmmm strawberry and coffee..."

"that sounds disgusting."

"I am now inspired to make cookies."

But I didn't actually make the cookies... I had this idea that white chocolate would be a good cohesive flavor for the strawberries and coffee, and it took me forever to procure decent white chocolate. And I got caught up in other things to bake... but these were always lurking in the back of my mind. So when I went to the grocery store last week and saw a ton of beautiful strawberries under a sign that said 69c/lb, I knew exactly what I had to do.

I have made macarons before, with much success, but this was my first time making plain shells. The macarons I have made in the past have always been chocolate or pistachio. So I tried a recipe that I had not used before, and was very happy with it! The shells baked perfectly, and any macaron baker will know that perfectly baking shells equals love. You can find the recipe here at à la cuisine.

As for the filling... it ended up a product of much improvisation, when I couldn't for the life of me get my white chocolate ganache to set. I wanted to have a coffee buttercream and incorporate the strawberries into a white chocolate ganache, and then just have both fillings in each macaron. But apparently strawberries equal liquidy ganache? I even tried this twice, reducing the cream content to barely anything the second time, and the ganache still would not set. Soooo I kind of just dumped it all into the buttercream (half expecting a disaster) and danced around happily when it all came together and tasted lovely. The result of this was delicious filling and a ridiculous Frankenstein recipe for it. But here is the recipe, nonetheless.

Strawberry White Chocolate Mocha Buttercream Filling

1 cup chopped white chocolate

1/2 cup heavy cream

4 medium/large strawberries

1 tsp granulated sugar

2 egg whites

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup butter

3/4 tsp instant coffee granules

3 tsp water

Whisk the egg whites with the 1/2 cup sugar over a pan of simmering water until they are warm and the sugar has dissolved.

Beat until stiff peaks form.

Add the butter a tablespoon at a time, beating after each addition. Continue to beat until buttercream is smooth.

Dissolve the coffee in 3 tsp water, and gradually beat this into the buttercream.

Dice the strawberries, sprinkle the tsp of sugar over them, and toss to combine. Set aside.

Heat the cream in a saucepan. When it reaches the simmering point, pour it over the white chocolate. Let sit for a minute or so, and then whisk to combine. When the mixture is smooth, stir in the strawberries. Cover and refrigerate, and hope that it will set up like ganache is supposed to. When it doesn't do this, chuck it in the buttercream (gradually), and beat it in until the mixture is uniform and smooth.

Pipe the filling into the cookies and refrigerate overnight. Let the cookies come to room temperature before serving.

And see how beautiful those strawberries were? This is what I had for breakfast. Me and my toast with nutella and fruit.... =)

Daring Bakers - Dorie's Perfect Party Cake

March brought me my second challenge as a Daring Baker... in the form of CAKE!

Ahahaha I heart cake. And we were allowed to make a ton of modifications with regards to flavor and such - fun times. The original recipe was a lemon flavored cake with lemon flavored buttercream and raspberry jam. Many of the Daring Bakers chose to make the recipe as it was written, and all of their cakes looked delicious, so I'm sure I'll try it that way sometime in the future.

But when I made the cake, I had a ton of blueberries lying around and no raspberry jam! I actually consume a pretty inhuman amount of raspberry jam daily, so naturally my jar was nearing empty on cake baking day... So, out came the blueberries. And because there were blueberries, I really just couldn't resist adding cinnamon.

Well, it doesn't look much like any of the refined, beautiful party cakes that the other Daring Bakers made... First, I didn't exactly have a 'party' to bake for, so I halved the recipe. Hence, 2 layers instead of 4. Also, I kind of ran out of buttercream (next time I'll make a double recipe) halfway through. But, when you have as much blueberry amazingness as I did, who needs frosting on top of a cake? Not me. I just poured and poured and poured with the blueberries. Yum.

Apart from not having enough buttercream, I was pretty impressed with this recipe - the cake was nice and fluffy and was good at soaking up blueberry juice (hehe), and the buttercream was divine (lemony and cinnamon-y oh my!). This turned out to be a nice breakfast cake, actually... yeah, I had some for breakfast 3 mornings in a row. So, next time I have an actual party to bake for, I'm excited to try the unadulterated recipe and see how it turns out! It was a wonderful challenge from a wonderful hostess, Morven! Check out her blog for the recipe!

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!

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.  

Guava Chiffon Sushi Cake

I love to bake things specifically for other people.  Everyone has unique preferences in flavor, some of them unexpected, and they make for wonderful baking inspiration most of the time!  By talking to people and asking them what flavors they like, I am often inspired to combine flavors in ways I never would have thought to do before, usually with satisfying results.  

So I look at birthdays as the perfect opportunities to single out peoples' tastes and provide them with desserts that they will love and appreciate more than anyone else would.  

Yesterday was the birthday of a good friend of mine who is from Hawaii.  When I asked her what flavors she liked, she said outright that the best cake she had ever had was Guava Chiffon.  This cake is a specialty of Hawaii and I had never tasted or heard of it before she mentioned it.  But after making it, I was so glad that she had requested it, because SERIOUSLY this is the best cake I have ever made.  But then I do love guava more than is probably healthy...

In any case, this cake is honestly so good that the pictures can't do it even a tiny bit of justice.  All the textures, flavors, and levels of sweetness are just perfect.  When the birthday girl tasted it, she declared that no one else could have any, and stuck an ominous note on it to mark it as hers, and certain death for anyone who tried to eat any.  So I think that means it was a success!

So the cake consists of two layers of light, guava flavored chiffon cake.  The dark red-orange in between the layers and on top of the cake is a kind of strong guava sauce, and the white frosting is cream cheese whipped cream.  It has the tangy flavor of cream cheese frosting but is less sweet and has the fluffy airiness of whipped cream.  The black on the sides of the cake is crushed oreos, which I only added for appearance purposes - I wanted to make the cake look like sushi.  (The birthday girl and I are learning Japanese together, so a sushi cake seemed appropriate)  

So, I apologize in advance for the messiness of this recipe.  I was kind of improvising most of the time, and when it came time to make the filling and frosting, I found out the hard way that I did not in fact have an extra bag of granulated sugar in my cupboard.  Oh no!  So lots of sugary improvisation went down.  But hey, the results were pretty amazing, and that's what matters, right?

Guava Chiffon Cake (very loosely based on this recipe)

For the cake:

12 egg whites

2 1/2 cups cake flour

3 cups sugar

7 egg yolks

1 cup guava pulp

2/3 cup oil

1/4 cup water

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp lemon zest

red food coloring

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a very large mixing bowl, combine the egg yolks, guava pulp, oil, water, vanilla, lemon zest, and food coloring.  I used 7 drops of coloring, but you can use more or less depending on how pink you want the cake.  Beat until the mixture is well blended.  

In another bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and 2 cups of the sugar.  Then add this mixture gradually to the egg and guava mixture, mixing until well combined.  

In another large bowl, whip the egg whites to soft peaks.  Then gradually add the remaining 1 cup of sugar, continuing to whip until stiff peaks form.  Fold the egg whites into the cake batter until no streaks remain.  

Divide the batter evenly between 3 ungreased 9 inch round cake pans, and bake for 25 minutes.  To cool, leave the cake in the pans, and place them upside down on a wire rack.  When the cakes are completely cool, slide a knife around the edges of the pans to loosen the cakes, and then  they should come out easily.  

For the filling:

2 cups guava pulp

1 3/4 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

Whisk all the ingredients together in a saucepan, and then bring to a boil.  Cook for 5 - 10 minutes, or until the mixture thickens to a good, saucy, spreadable consistency.  Remove from heat and let cool completely before putting on cake.  

For the frosting:

3 cups heavy whipping cream

18 oz cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp gelatin

3 tbsp cold water

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla extract

Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water, and place this container in warm water so that the gelatin can dissolve.  Once the gelatin is dissolved, let it cool to room temperature.  

Meanwhile, whip the heavy cream in a large mixing bowl until soft peaks form.  Add the gelatin, and continue to whip until the cream has stiffened.  

In another bowl, combine the cream cheese, sugars, salt, and vanilla extract, and beat until smooth and creamy.  

Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.  Now frost that cake!  

You may have noticed that the recipe makes three cake layers, but that my cake pictures only include two.  Well, I intended to make a triple layer cake, but then I couldn't fit all three layers into my cake carrier!  So here's what I did with the layer that got left out:

And THIS one stayed in my fridge!  =)

Raspberry and White Chocolate Pastry Flowers

I recently decided that it would be a good idea to learn how to make puff pastry.  Because of all the hype around making puff pastry, and because I was sure they must sell it pre-made in stores for a good reason, I was rather terrified to make my own.  But I thought about it, and I researched it, and I thought of all the great things I could do if I could whip up puff pastry whenever I felt like it, and I decided that I should just go ahead and attempt to make it immediately.  Coincidentally, it was already about 8 PM on New Years Eve.  So at the stroke of the new year, I was in my kitchen, happily rolling out and folding puff pastry dough!  It didn't go perfectly, but luckily all the problems I ran into were easily fixed; my first batch had melted butter leaking out, as well as considerable pastry shrinkage.  So I let the dough rest longer and I turned the oven heat up, and my second batch baked perfectly.  And now I can happily say that I have conquered puff pastry!  

Afterwards, I just had to decide what to do with all my pastries...  Well, I had a ton of raspberries in my freezer, and I was out of raspberry jam anyways, so I made some jam and filled the pastries with it.  I thought they needed a touch of something sweeter than the jam, so I made a white chocolate ganache and piped it all over them.  mmm.  Sadly, I gave most of them to my neighbors, since I am currently the only one in my house who can eat sweets.  But I ate quite a few of them right after they were finished... they aren't too sweet so you can eat a good many in one sitting!  Here is the recipe:

Puff pastry (I used this recipe)

Preheat oven to 420 F.  

Use a cookie cutter to cut shapes out of the dough.  I used a flower shape, but many shapes would work for this.  Use a knife or a smaller cookie cutter to score a circle on each pastry.  Arrange 1 inch apart on a baking sheet, and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until puffed and golden.  Then use a knife to remove the inside circles created on the pastries from the scoring.  

Raspberry Jam

2 cups raspberries (frozen or fresh)

1 scant cup sugar

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ceylon cinnamon (if you use regular, use less of it)

Mash up the raspberries in a small saucepan, and bring to a boil.  Boil for 1 or 2 minutes, and then gradually add in the sugar.  Add the spices once the sugar is incorporated, and continue to boil, stirring constantly, until the mixture begins to thicken.  Take off of the heat, and let cool a few minutes before pouring into the pastry shells.  

White Chocolate Ganache 

1 cup finely chopped white chocolate

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Place the chopped chocolate in a small bowl.  Heat the cream in a small saucepan until it begins to boil, and then pour it over the white chocolate.  Let sit for 1 or 2 minutes, and then whisk until all the chocolate is melted and incorporated into the cream.  Mix in the vanilla extract, and then refrigerate until it is a good consistency to be piped.  Using a very small round tip, pipe over the pastries in a decorative manner.  =)