Just What I Needed! - Chocolate Pound Cake

February is here. This means random snow, random sunshine, Valentine's Day, and the ultimate: my birthday. Yes, it is a magical month. 

I decided this year's cake had to be just as magical. Also, it needed to be miniature for what I had in store. Yep, the ganache was about to drop in my kitchen. 

Recent trends in cake have shown a drippy styling of ganche over buttercream. I envision just the ganche, no buttercream, poured over a beautiful chocolate cake. This would be a lovely new version of the naked cakes that I love. 

Let me say again, I love naked cakes. My theory of frosting has always been inline with my theory about makeup: it should enhance but not overwhelm. Not that I wear makeup often but when I do it is simple and subtle. I frost in the same manner. 

This is probably why cupcakes and petit fours appeal to me. It is easy to keep it simple which lets you focus on the flavors and texture. Or rather, the simplicity makes you focus on the flavor.

I'm fine with either explanation. 

Anyway, back to my need of a birthday cake. It would be nude and dripping in chocolate! A dream we all have in some variation. 

I searched a few chocolate cake recipes in my cookbooks and on Pinterest. Mix the cocoa powder with oil; combine cocoa powder with flour, blend oil and sugar; oil and cocoa; cocoa and oil... 

Oil in cake bugs me. Unless the recipe is of a flavor that I feel comfortable substituting apple sauce, I avoid the oil cakes. Personal preference but I've always felt the oil cakes to be either heavy or dry.

Butter, now that supports good cake. Again, that's just one woman's opinion. 

Now, as to the chocolate: I want some solid flavor but not overly dense. Cocoa powder always seems to lack impact while melted chocolate tends to cloy. So, I thought a mix of both should be good.

Indeed it is! Chocolate Pound Cake: butter, cocoa power, melted chocolate. Now we're ready. 

The recipe did not disappoint. The cake was fluffy, moist, and flavorful. My spouse claimed it to be the best chocolate cake he's ever had. This is a recipe to hold on to for sure!

I wanted to chase my petit four fantasies with this as well. Petit fours have gained a new name in recent years: mini-cake. I've also seen them referred to as cakelets. This idea seems perfect: a whole cake to myself without all the guilt!



So out came the cookie cutter and my mini-cakes were born! 

 I sliced each one into two layers. Of course these little guys needed filling! For me, orange is a no brainer to pair with chocolate. So orange cream cheese filling was decided. 

While I piped my layer of filling and settled the top layer of cake, I had cream heating on the stove. I had no idea ganache was so simple! Just a half cup of cream heated to a boil then pour over two ounces of chopped chocolate. Let the heat sink into the chocolate for a couple minutes then stir. 

Wow! 

I tried adding orange peel zest to the cream in hopes of infusing the chocolate with the orange flavor. I think I need to try a slow, long simmer for that. Here's hoping for next time.

Chocolate chips were all I had on hand and the ganache turned out quite sweet. A pinch of salt did the trick and I had bittersweet ganache to pour over my cakes. 

This turned out phenomenal! Happy birthday to me!

NOTES: the cake recipe adds water to the cocoa before mixing with the melted chocolate. I want to try with milk next time to see the effect of the different liquids. 

TIPS: be sure you have plenty of parchment paper down to catch ganache that misses cake or drips over. Also, plenty of room to shift the rack so you can scoop said ganache back into the bowl and use it. Watch for cake crumbs that may have come off as the ganache dripped. You should chill the cake to avoid this but I was impatient.

When cutting cake down, first level it. I found a great Wilton video featuring Emily Tatek that shows the simplest approach. I then used the cookie cutter before layering but layering could be done first as well.

Bread: The Other Cake

There comes a point when you just have to wake up and realize "I could be doing more." By this I mean that I've hit the wall for buying things from the store that I can make myself. Plus, when I make it myself then I know exactly what I'm feeding my family.

The first step away from my love for cake will be bread.

Bread is a simple part of life that we all take for granted... at least until the dieting starts. Then it is all about how evil bread is and stay away from it! How dare bread add calories and carbohydrates to my day!!

I think bread gets a raw deal. Keep in mind: carbohydrates produce sugars within the body and you do need these sugars. Bread is a basic commodity made up of starch and basic sugars that are quite easily digested by the body and used to create the multiple forms of glucose that support our metabolism. 

Let me say that more simply: carbohydrates produce the glucose that motivates our metabolism.

So stop hating on bread. Or rather, hate on the highly processed and manufactured bread from the store. The excessive processing of the starches that are used to make bread combined with the additives and preservatives manufacturing companies use to make their bread taste good and keep for an extended period of time are the culprits of bread being deemed bad for us. This version of bread should be consumed in moderation - as in, not five times a day.

When bread is not processed beyond recognition, it is a simple list of ingredients: milk, butter, water and yeast, little bit of sugar, pinch of salt, flour. You can use whole wheat flour instead of all purpose or bread flour. You can also substitute brown sugar for granulated sugar (the reason you want to do this is because brown sugar is more nutritious since it is less processed). Another idea, if you want to go so far, is to get either whole oats or steel cut oats and grind them in a food processor. Add your oat flour to your wheat or white flour and you now have a grain bread.

Now, all that being said, let's circle back: I've decided to make my own bread. 

Before you continue rolling your eyes to the point that you pull a muscle, let me also say that I have made bread before. I know what I am getting into and honestly yeast does not scare me. Also, my family doesn't eat much bread so a very small loaf will easily last us a week without having the straggler pieces that end up moldy and tossed out. 

Given that I had decided this about a week before Super Bowl Sunday, I decided my first round of bread making would be Pretzel Rolls. For some reason, these sounded like a football snack and I thought they would be great for all beef hot dogs. By the way, I am fully aware of the irony in the intent to make my own bread to avoid processed crap yet I fill it with a hot dog. Leave it alone.

So, rolls are pretty standard bread fare in that you put the ingredients together, let it rise, knead, split off into rolls and let rise again. 

Baking Soda and Water Bath

Here's the fun part: to make it a "pretzel" you need to poach to dough ball in a baking soda bath. This was a new process for me and I have to say it did not disappoint!

While you are heating up the baking soda and water bath, the baking soda sizzles long before the water is really even hot. Before you know it, the pot sounds like it is full of seltzer! 

When the bath reaches a full boil, you are ready to poach dough. You'll leave the heat up so that you do not lose your full boil but I did drop mine back just a touch so it would maintain without boiling over.

The effect of the chemical reaction the baking soda brings to the dough is a change in the pH balance on the surface. The exterior of the dough changes and is more gelatinous in nature. This is how pretzels get their brown coloration. The chemical change also is the cause of the pretzel flavor and smell. (Thank you, Alton Brown.)

It is important to focus on this poaching process actually being a chemical reaction. Why? Because you need to be prepared for what is about to happen in your pot and be darn sure you have a large enough pot!

Poaching Dough Balls

I will admit, I walked a fine line with this one! Thank goodness the foam is rather stiff so it continued to grow up and not flow over the pot! This is a 5 quart pot with 1 3/4 quarts of water in it, in case you are curious. 

It was difficult not to lose sight of my little dough balls under all the foam. In between batches of dough balls (you do three at a time) I used my slotted spoon to scoop out some of the foam and transfer it to the sink.

The poaching process exudes a less than fantastic fragrance. Think of it as no different than scrubbing your sink with baking soda. If you have an over the range fan, I strongly suggest you have it set to high.

After the dough balls are poached for about 30 to 60 seconds, you put them on a baking sheet and gash them each a couple times with a serrated knife. This allows for the rolls to expand as they bake. The poached surface, being gelatinous in nature, is no longer very inclined to expand. 

Sprinkle with sea salt and away we go!

Special Notes

The amount of baking soda, the length of time poached and the length of time baked all affect the color of the pretzel. More is darker, less is lighter. 

Keep in mind, more baking soda or a longer poach will also affect the flavor.

These are best eaten the same day they are made. I mean that seriously! The second day they were very dense and the crust was tough.

After poaching, you can let the dough ball cool fully then set in the freezer on a parchment sheet. Once the dough is at least partially frozen, you can store however you want in the freezer. Take a couple out, thaw for about an hour before baking and enjoy!

There's Always One

You know the old saying "there's an a**hole in every group"? Hobbies are no different and in the realm of baking, candy is the unique individual that makes the most dedicated sweet-addict curse.

And I mean profusely. If you attempt this recipe, make the children leave the house, close the windows so the neighbors don't hear, and keep a small throw pillow nearby. What do you mean that's not why their called "throw pillows"?

Anyways, I have recently stumbled upon a few candy related pins that are just too darned tempting. I've had a candy cookbook for some years and once in a while I pick it up and fantasize. Then it always returns to its spot on the shelf.

However, when I found this caramel curl garnish recipe, I could be deterred no longer. The recipe was so simple to put together and the whole process just sounded like something I could do.

I strongly recommend if you intend to play with sugar, get the following tools: wooden spoon, candy thermometer, ceramic pot. When I say ceramic pot, I mean it very seriously. Candy can be very difficult and it is just so much easier to use a ceramic pot because there is no concern about how non-stick it is such as with other types of non-stick cookware. I also recommend to get a large pot. Even though this recipe is very small, sugar boils up before it cooks down. You will want the space.

Sugar fascinates me. I've seen television shows that follow the process of candy making but until you see it before your very eyes, there are just no words that will convince you of just how magical sugar is. That's not going to stop me trying, though.

Sugar has multiple stages: soft ball, hard ball, soft crack, hard crack. As you move through the stages, the transition of the sugar's state is more than just liquid and solid.

In the beginning, there was sugar, butter and syrup.


Before too very long, the sugar was boiling up. I know it still doesn't look like much in the pot, but having extra room helps when stirring.

Soon, the sugar moved past the soft ball and hard ball states. It thickened to a porridge like state then began to clump up. Stirring almost didn't happen.


Thankfully, this stage does not last long as the crack stages move in. The sugar finally begins to look like caramel as it reaches 300 degrees F.




This was the point when I took the pot off the heat source. The caramel was to cool to 200 degrees F before attempting to curl it around the greased up handle of my whisk.

This was also the point where the cussing began.

Using a fork, as per the recipe, I lifted a scoop of caramel and let it run down in a strand then stuck the whisk handle through the strand and twisted the handle. There is a timing to this technique that is just utter failure. The strands dripped at such a high pace that I couldn't get the whisk twirled in time. At a point, the handle had warmed up enough that the caramel just slid right off, no twirl whatsoever. 

@&$*&#!

 

Time out. Think. What about this can I change. 

I mess with the caramel while I think. Maybe the handle is too warm? Or too much additional grease from the caramel transferring to the handle? Did I miss anything in the recipe post...?

The caramel cools more and stiffens; thermometer reads about 120. I put it back on the burner on the lowest heat possible and wait for it to be pliable again. 

And that was all it took: let the caramel cool to below 200 then bring it back up. It is now denser and the strand drips slower, cools faster. Plus, I can wrap the strand of caramel around the whisk -  no twirl! Now we were in business! 

This was a fun recipe and I ended up with some really beautiful caramel garnishes. 

Tips:

 Hard crack is not literal; this caramel snaps easily! 

If you decide to stop half way through the caramel, wipe a piece of aluminum foil with grease and poor the remaining caramel on it to cool. You can either crack it up for pieces to eat or save it to reheat later. 

For clean-up: put all your tools in the pot with some water and let it boil about 10 minutes. All clean! 

These curls are very thin! If you plan to garnish cupcakes with them, do it just before serving or the moisture of the frosting may melt the curl. (I found this out the hard way and ended up with frosting that looked like it had been slashed by Wolverine.)

For storing: dust the curls lightly with powdered sugar, let set a couple minutes, then put in a tupperware. The powdered sugar will create a layer against the sticky of the caramel. 

Clouds Taste Like Marshmallows... Who Knew?

One of the early pins I found on Pinterest was for something called Cloud Frosting. I had read the recipe multiple times and I was just itching for the right cake to top it with. When I decided on the cake recipe, I then needed a reason.

Last weekend was my spouse's billiards team's annual "pool" party. Everyone gets together and the one teammate's house for brisket, ribs, beer, and, of course, some pool. Throughout the season, the guys on the team each pitch in an extra buck each week. This money sponsors the end of year party by paying for the 30 pounds of meat, assorted beer, and money left over to divvy up. Of course, the money is not divvied for long as everyone heads to the pool table to begin mini-tournaments. This year's mini-tournament was scotch-doubles 9-ball with teams drawn blind. I was surprised when the duo I was in went further than my spouse's! He is a much better player.

Anyways, I was excited to attack my Cherry-Almond cupcake recipe and top it with this mysterious Cloud Frosting.

Basic start, as with most, is my lovely vanilla cake. A good dose of finely chopped maraschino cherries and almond extract instead of vanilla will quickly convert them.

 I love these candied fruits despite everything becoming sticky and the risk of stain at a moment's notice. When dealing with maraschino cherries, I recommend starting there and then clean up your surfaces and tools immediately. Only then, move on to the cake.

Unfortunately, somewhere along the lines I did not account for the additional moisture. I either needed to counterbalance within the batter or bake them slightly longer. I ended up with cakes a little sunken in on top as a result but luckily there was no sticking to the paper cups. I hate that!

The addition of the almond extract and maraschino cherries was a subtle change to the cake. The almond flavor was very gentle within the cake and the little cherry chunks were a snappy little burst of flavor.

These little dolls were all set to the side to cool. I stretched my hands and turned to the mixer. It was time to venture to the clouds and see what I'd find.

What I found was what a baker's dreams are made of. Well, this baker's dreams anyway.

The ingredients went through a staged process with some hand whisking over simmering water on the stove until warm and frothy. Then transferred to the mixer to run until, as usual, stiff peaks form.

And boy did they! At first, I would glance in the bowl as I passed by, cleaning the kitchen while my clouds formed. The frothy soup seemed to not be doing much initially. It took a good 10 minutes before I started to notice a whipped cream sort of style being created in the bowl. By 15 minutes, I could tell there was density to the cream. These clouds were about ready to float.

At about 18, maybe 20, minutes I stopped the mixer and lifted the arm. The bowl did not want to relinquish what the whisk still cradled. Wow. I have never seen whipped cream like this before!

After a taste, I realized why. I hadn't made whipped cream. Oh no. I had just made my childhood love: marshmallow fluff. And I had made a LOT OF IT. 2 cups of sugar and 6 egg whites go a long way to filling up a Kitchenaid bowl!

My tastebuds were a whirl as I could not stop snatching little tastes of the fluff. I felt like a kid in the kitchen while mom is baking; waiting until her back is turned to grab a pastry bag or adjust the line up of cupcakes then, quick as lightning, dip a finger across the beater for a sweet taste of fluff! This was amazing and I could not wait to combine one of these little beauties and dive in.

As it so happened, I did wait but mainly because I saw how beautiful they were and I just had to have some time to enjoy the view before I enjoyed the flavors.

I looked at my pastry tips and was tempted to us the 12, a simple round tip, but decided that was just too plain. Besides, I intended to go a step beyond frosting them with fluff and drizzle them with cherry juice, sprinkle with chopped almonds. The 21 tip caught my eye next and after a couple of tested techniques, and spousal input, I had my plan in place.

Cherry-Almond with Marshmallow Fluff: A++ Cupcake. After the fluff sits in the fridge a couple hours it gets a slight film layer to it as if it truly were made from marshmallows. I suspect this recipe actually is a basis for making marshmallows. Perhaps something I will need to look into...

Also, the fluff recipe makes a lot; way more than needed for two dozen cupcakes. I have found that it freezes well and it makes a wonderful dip for Granny Smith apple slices!

Beer Me, You Sweet Thing!

There are just far too many amazing recipes that involve alcohol in some way: beer can chicken, Jack Daniel's BBQ, rum cake. It's a beautiful thing. Cupcakes just makes since to be a part of this genre.

I was intrigued by the concept of a beer cupcake with the frosting serving as the slice of fruit. Our 12-year-old was torn between being intrigued and pure shock. "Real beer? Like what you and dad drink. In the cupcake??"

Well yes, but the alcohol bakes off. No need to card him before he has one.

The recipe suggested either Corona and lime (not in this house) or Blue Moon and orange (wheat beer; now that's a winner.) The Blue Moon ended up being substituted for my new favorite beer: Longboard by Kona Brewing. This is about the smoothest wheat beer I have yet to encounter and I could not wait to combine it with my favorite form of food: cupcakes.

To be honest, while I was measuring out ingredients and lining them up on the counter I was glad I chose to measure out the beer first. There was more than one or two pauses to contemplate the recipe and "taste check" the beer.

The only concerning part of the recipe was the combining of the milk and beer prior to addition to the batter. I held off on the combining part as I suspected curdling. This was a good technique because half way through adding the beer-milk, which was done in alternating amounts with the flour, curdling did begin. I'm just glad I use soy milk.

Let's take a moment and hop back to the start of this shindig: creaming the butter and sugar.

Maybe it is a little gross or maybe it is a baker thing, but I am in love with creamed butter and sugar. The slightly savory taste of butter in a silken fluffed form, sweetened by the sugar - that's what heaven is made of. Seriously, I believe that.

My spouse recently made this bit of heaven better, which I did not think could happen. While at our local bulk supply store, he happened upon a 10 pound bag of sugar that was labeled as containing no-GMOs. Yes, we are one of those families. Better yet, the non-GMO sugar happened to be raw cane sugar.

I have never tasted something so pure and clean as butter creamed with raw cane sugar. This was delightful and I can honestly tell the difference in the taste of the cakes as I did use the raw sugar in a batch of vanilla cakes. Amazing.

 So together went my ingredients and the batter was scooped into a pastry bag then squished into the little cups, ready to bake.

The kid wandered back and forth between me in the kitchen and his father in the living room. When you are twelve it can be difficult to decide between baking and spray painting the wheels for the family RC truck. Good thing the living room, kitchen and back porch are all contained within 10 feet as this makes keeping up with both activities much easier.

One of the moments contributed to the cupcakes coincided with the mostly cooled cupcakes getting a second dose of beer via soaking. He stopped to watch me poke the last couple of cupcakes with a toothpick and then, when I picked up the measuring cup and brush, asked "What's that? Is that more beer? You're not brushing them with beer. Are you? No, I don't believe you. You're messing with me."

I'd never. Except if it were entertaining.

Yes, I truly was brushing the cakes with a beer soak. Then they cooled and settled while I whipped up some lovely lime buttercream. I felt inspired to be colorful so the buttercream got a couple dollops of color gel and then a sprinkling of green sugar.

I will say, these were really good. The beer flavor was not there, only the wheat-ness as a smooth hang-about flavor. The lime was a bright contrast. This recipe is a keeper!

I do recommend keeping the beer and milk separated as long as possible. I made this recipe twice, once with Blue Moon and once with Longboard. The Blue Moon round I did combine early but did not look for curdling. I did notice the cake was a bit more dense though.

When soaking cupcakes, be sure to provide as many holes as possible to allow for maximum impact. Soak heavily! You will be surprised by how little this process affects the moisture of the cake but how much it will assist the flavor. Be sure to let the cakes cook thoroughly to aid the soaking.

With a Lime Twist

I have not so patiently waited for a certain fruit to be in season. For the past couple of months a recipe for Key Lime Cupcakes has lain in wait. Finally, I discovered the box set out at the grocery store for the lovely little green devils and only one bag remained.

Pie runs a close second on my favorite desserts list. Mainly, meringue or pudding style pies are what I love. Apple pie is great, but give me Lemon Meringue or Key Lime and I'm in sweet tooth bliss.

This being the first cake tribute to pie that I have ever done, I felt compelled to truly understand what I was representing. I found a well-written article here. I believe I was just as surprised as the author to learn the pie's recipe originates with condensed milk arriving in the Keys.

Here's what I took from the origin story: Key Lime Pie is a celebration of change as well as a unique platform for self expression. What a fabulous tale to attempt to translate via cupcakes.

First, I needed to deal with the little limes.  In case you're unfamiliar, key limes are smaller than your ordinary limes used to chase tequila and not as tart. My obstacle for this recipe? Juice and zest. You ever try to zest something about the size of a cherry tomato?

And to those that have read previous postings: yes, I got some of my pinky knuckle but I don't think it made it all the way into the zest.

Juicing was a bit easier although still tough. It takes quite a few of these little buggers to get 2 tablespoons of juice. Thank goodness for the awesome countertop juicer I found online!

Next was the matter of a chocolate crumble base for the cake. The recipe called for chocolate cookies crumbled up. Unfortunately, the grocery store had every type of cookie but the one I needed. I did, however, find chocolate graham crackers! Good old fashioned sandwich bag and rolling pin never fails to produce marvelous crumbles.

Finally, with chocolate crumbles in the cups, I am ready to mix my batter and pipe it into the cups. I recently got the mixer bowl cover that provides for an easy way to add ingredients without spilling on the counter. The shield around the remaining areas of the bowl help keep any overly exuberant flour from poofing out and away. What a wonderful add-on; I'm sad I waited so long to get it! 

I love substitutions. Where applicable, I prefer to find healthy substitutions such as applesauce instead of oil. In this recipe, buttermilk was called for. Normally I would add some lemon juice to soy milk and be on my merry way. This time, however, I used plain yogurt as my substitute. I thought this would bring an added depth to the cake.  

Let me just say real quick: I was incorrect about the yogurt. Far too thick a substitute! The cake was super dense - although still tasted great. Also, yes, those are pepperoni slices on the counter; no, they are not for this recipe. I got hungry after all the zesting and juicing!

The recipe calls for a buttercream frosting flavored with more key lime juice. I decided I wanted cream cheese frosting. I love how smooth and silky it is. For some unspoken reason, I felt a lavender-pink a nice contrast to the flavor. This was a fun little treat.

Scramblers - Cupcake Style

It's been stated by more people than just me that savory flavors come to my kitchen to die. This is a slight exaggeration although not by much. If I had to claim savory specialties, the focus would be between soups and Mexican food such as tacos and enchiladas.

A close third place would be breakfast.

A few nights back I had made tacos and we still had leftovers. This included tortillas and I was inspired to create a new breakfast in our house based on ideas I had viewed on Pinterest (check out my repins).

Our 12-year-old wandered into the kitchen while I was pulling out tortillas, egg, and cheese. I had bacon in the microwave and was spreading hash browns out on a cookie sheet. One look at the cupcake pan sitting on the counter and I hear a "What are you making?" 

I didn't really have an answer so instead I just explained my game plan. Before I knew it I had a cheerleader and an assistant. He was very excited for this idea of what I eventually have decided to refer to as scrambler cups.

So my sidekick managed the bacon while I spread a couple tortillas out on the counter. I grabbed a plastic cup from the cupboard and, turning it upside down, I used it to cut circles out of the tortillas. I wasn't sure how filling this was going to be so I didn't try too hard to maximize the tortillas and ended up with 6 circles. Spread some Crisco into the cupcake pan and press the tortillas in: cups ready to go! 

I set my assistant to crumbling up our bacon. The only drawback to a young assistant is he keeps wandering off. I'm not super offended; after all, his dad was working on prepping the tires for their RC truck to be spray painted after breakfast. There's bound to be wandering when food competes with hobby.

My hash browns were going wonderfully! I hate doing hash browns in a skillet because they seem to take forever unless you do it just right. I'm not even sure what made me decide doing them in the oven was the way to go, but thank goodness for that! I had tossed the frozen little pieces of potatoes in some vegetable oil, pepper, and salt prior to spreading them on the cookie sheet. This was fabulous and, spoiler alert, we ended up with the best hash browns any of us had ever had: crispy but not overly oily. Perfect!

The only drawback was the tinfoil. I used a spatula to try and "toss" the hash browns to ensure even crisping. The tinfoil tended to tear and move around a little much. Next time, I'm just going to put them right onto the cookie sheet.

Back to the tortilla cups, I filled each with egg whisked with milk before my kitchen partner added bacon crumbles and cheese. We exchanged the cupcake pan with the cookie sheet. I had the oven at 450 for the hash browns and now turned it down to 350. 

After about 10 minutes, the egg mix has seemed to setup but was not cooked all the way through. I removed the pan to top with a little more cheese and the hash browns. Back in the oven for about 5 minutes or until they looked puffed, similar to cupcakes.

This was fantastic, pretty quick and easy. My boys both decided this is the new breakfast in our house.

Five Star Recipe!

Tip: make sure there is plenty of Crisco in the base of the cupcake pan and the cups will pop right out using a butter knife along the side. 

Serving: 2 was enough for me but I usually eat light. The boys both said they wanted one more scrambler cup and maybe a side of sausage with a slice of toast.

Suggestion: Think of this as an omelette and add veggies such as green peppers and onions.