Challenge #13: Bittersweet Paris

I know I haven't been posting lately, but I honestly haven't had much time to bake or blog. Considering that I work silly hours, by the time I get home, I'm wiped and mostly just want to go to bed. If I do manage to get something baked, I'm usually still baking after midnight, which isn't as much fun as it sounds.

Most of my baking, these days, stems from celebrations. This one, in fact, was Canada Day and also my 1 year anniversary with my sweetheart.

I was trying to think of some sort of Canadian flavor I could make, but the best I could come up with was maple/bacon. And as much as I would like to try that one day, I wasn't really in the mood for it. After rifling through cookbooks for awhile, Adam asked how The Challenge was going. To be honest, I've veered away from it as of late due to a total flop recipe, which I didn't even bother to blog about. (boo to you Taste of Summer the Way It Used to Be - Peachy) I'm also getting to the weird flavors in the book and I know they'll be great for some random occasion, but that occasion hasn't come up yet.

Anyway, I digress. I grabbed out The Icing On The Cupcake and started flipping through it.

That's where I found Bittersweet Paris. I've been wanting to try this one for awhile and it lent itself well to making it lactose-free.

5 tbsp butter

1 cup coffee

1 cup buttermilk

2 eggs, room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup cake flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp finely ground salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350' F. Place 12-15 paper liners into cupcake trays.

Make the coffee. When it's ready, melt the butter into it. Whisk in the buttermilk (or in my case, almond milk). Set aside.

it separates, so you mix it back together from time to time.

Put the eggs and sugar in another bowl and mix on a low speed. Gradually add one at a time - flour, salt, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda. Mix until just combined.

Add the vanilla and coffee mixture. Mix until combined.

Pour batter into paper liners. Fill almost to the top.

Yes, it totally is just liquid. I was worried, but I decided to see if the recipe would work, so I popped them into the oven instead of giving up.

Look! They're rising!

Bake 15-20 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. I found it best that I bake them for 15 minutes, turn off the oven and leave them in there for another 10 minutes. It worked better that way. Otherwise, they were burnt on the outside and didn't cook enough in the middle.

Cool 5 minutes and then move to a baking rack.

Orange Frosting

1/2 cup (or 1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 egg yoke, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups sifted powdered sugar

1 tbsp orange juice

the zest of an orange.

Cream the butter with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add egg yoke and vanilla. Beat for 4 minutes.

Add orange juice and zest. Beat 1 minute. 

Add sugar (and food colouring, if you want) and beat until smooth.

This recipe didn't make a lot of icing and I had already drank the rest of my freshly squeezed orange juice, so we decided to make 2 different flavors of icing for the cupcakes. Instead of the orange juice, in the second batch, I added cherry and almond extract. 

They were both really good and went with the chocolate really well. I'm not sure which one I liked better.

As soon as they were iced, it was off to the Canada Day BBQ.

I didn't get a lot of feedback on them, simply, since everyone that showed up at the party brought dessert. I ended up taking a bunch of them back home with me, which was awesome, because we ate them for breakfast the next day. Yes, I'm classy like that :P

So, what do geeks do when they mix booze and sparklers?

Yup. We're pretty awesome.

Challenge #12: Tex-Mex Vanilla Cupcakes

This past weekend was an old friend of mine's birthday. As per usual, we called in the Calvary and headed over that way for a weekend of geekery. Yes, geekery. We played video games (Arkham City, Lego Star Wars, the new Goldeneye, The Force Unleashed), watched lots of Deadliest Warrior and a bunch of How It Should've Ended, and, of course, we RPG'd Star Wars (yes, tabletop).

We try and do this as often as we can, but it can go from meeting up once a month to once or twice a year, to even many years. These are some of the guys who taught me how to RPG and who got me into Star Wars and many other geeky pursuits. Without these guys, Bake Star Wars and Talk Star Wars wouldn't exist and I would be blogging about.... well... I probably wouldn't be.

The players have changed over the years, but one thing that remains the same is that I always bring baked goods. Usually I bring my famous chocolate chip cookies; or else cupcakes made from a box! *gasp!*

Since we haven't gamed in over a year or two, they haven't been around to experience the challenge.

Knowing that my birthday buddy loves Vanilla cupcakes, I decided to break out The Icing On The Cupcake and try one of the Vanilla recipes in the book. I decided to try making Tex-Mex Vanilla Cupcakes. 

Did you just turn up your nose? I'm asking because when I first saw the name of these, I totally did. I thought they were referring to putting taco seasoning in it and I thought that was gross. It's the reason I hadn't made them before now. Since there are only a few Vanilla recipes, I actually decided to read the ingredient list and that totally changed my mind and made me decide to try them out.

1/2 cup (or 1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs, room temperature

1 cup whole milk

2 cups sugar

3 cups sifted all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp finely ground salt, either sea or iodized

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Yup, it's a pretty standard vanilla cake recipe, but with cinnamon added in.

In this cupcakes-isode, we will be joined by my best friend Eric, whom I forced to wear my apron, so I could take this picture. He was a good sport and an excellent helper.

Preheat oven to 350' F. Place 24 paper liners into cupcake tray. In this case, we used Spiderman. Look at them in all their splendor! These were amazing! none of the colours faded while being baked! I was totally impressed. I got them from the Bulk Barn, but you can also order them here.

Cream the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.

Add oil. Mix another 2 minutes. Add one egg at a time, beating well after each egg.

In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

Combine milk and vanilla

Alternate between the flour mixture and milk mixture, add them to batter. Start and finish with the flour mixture.

Pour into cupcake liners, about 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of cupcake comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to baking rack.

Coconut Buttercream

6 egg yolks

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into small pieces

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup sweetened coconut milk

2 pounds (or 2 cups) flaked unsweetened coconut *

Beat the egg yolks with an electric mixer until pale yellow, about 5 minutes.

Heat sugar and corn syrup in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to full boil without stirring. Cook until mixture reaches soft ball stage(?) or 238' F.

Pour the mixture into a buttered measuring cup to halt the cooking.

Gradually add the corn syrup mixture into the egg yolks, being careful not to cook the yolks. Add vanilla and coconut milk.

In a separate bowl, cream butter with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the corn syrup mixture to the butter mixture. Blend until smooth and creamy.

Fold in coconut flakes (*or if you don't want coconut flakes, add a cup of sifted icing sugar and a tbsp of coconut extract instead; which is totally what I did.)

Frost cooled cupcakes.

These, as most cupcakes , went really fast. well, after I told everyone that Tex-Mex meant cinnamon.

All and all, it was a fantastic weekend and I can't wait to do it again (and try out another Vanilla recipe)

Challenge #11: Take A Bite Out Of Frustration Spice Cupcakes

I had a bachelorette party to go to last weekend. My boyfriend's cousin is getting married at the end of the month and we wanted to celebrate. Well, you know how I celebrate; I make cupcakes! 

I grabbed out my book The Icing On The Cupcake and poured through the recipes that I haven't tried yet. There are some great recipes, which you have probably read about, but of course, I wanted to try something new for the challenge. I was going to make a different recipe, but we didn't have any rum, so I decided to go with Taking A Bite Out Of Frustration Spice Cupcakes.

1 egg, room tempurature

1/2 cup (or one stick) unsalted butter, room tempurature

1 cup sour milk*

1 cup brown sugar

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp potato starch (corn starch)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

1 cup raisens

1/2 cup nuts, pieces or chopped (I used chopped walnuts)

2 cups chocolate chips, semi-sweet

*To make sour milk, add 1 tbsp lemon juice or distilled vinegar to milk and let sit for 15 mins.

Preheat the oven to 350'. Place 18 paper liners into cupcake trays. Cream butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3-5 mins. Add egg and beat for another 2 mins.

Add sour milk and beat until smooth.

Whisk flour, potato starch, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves together.

Add flour mixture to batter. Mix until combined.

(I don't like raisins, so I decided to only put them in half)

Fold chocolate chips and nuts into batter

 After filling half the liners, I added 1/2 of the raisins to the rest of the batter.

Pour batter into paper liners. Fill 3/4 of the way to the top. Bake 15-20 mins, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. (try not to poke a chocolate chip or you'll waste a toothpick)

Cool for 5 mins and then place on a baking rack.

Sugar glaze

2 cups powdered sugar

2-4 tbsp orange juice

1 tbsp butter, room temperature

Pour powdered sugar into a bowl. Gradually add orange juice until glaze reaches a pourable but not too thin consistency. Cream butter into glaze. 

I find glazes to be a little lame, and this was no exception. There was no flavor and no chance of making the cupcakes look pretty, so I changed it up a little. I added more butter (about 2 Tbsp) and some orange extract. It gave it more of a buttercream consistency and it didn't taste like powdered sugar anymore. Plus, it make the cupcakes look much more fancy.

Everyone loved them! There was even some hording going on, as people tried to hide them to take home to their families. That's how I like my cupcakes; hordable :)

The chocolate chips and nuts were a nice touch to this recipe. It really inhanced the spices. I will totally make these again.

Challenge #10: Going Nuts For Coconut

Remember when I made those pineapple cupcakes for that small dinner party I had? Well this past weekend, there was a surprise party for one of those guests. Because my cupcakes have always gone over well at things like parties and I get lots of great feedback, I decided to break out The Icing On The Cupcake and try another challenge. This time Going Nuts For Coconut aka coconut cupcakes.

3/4 pound (or 3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups sugar

5 eggs, room temperature

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp coconut extract

3 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tbsp potato starch (corn starch)

1/2 tsp finely ground salt

1 cup coconut milk

14 oz sweetened, shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 325'. Place 24 paper liners in cupcake tray.

Cream butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat another 2 minutes.

Add vanilla and coconut extracts. Whisk flour, potato starch, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Alternating the flour mixture and coconut milk, add them to batter. Start and end with the flour mixture.

Can I just say that coconut milk might be my new favorite thing ever? Seriously, mix some into a glass of milk! Yummy!

Fold in coconut.

Pour batter into paper liners. Fill 3/4 of the way to the top. Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes and then place on a baking rack.

American Buttercream

3/4 pound (or 3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 pound of cream cheese, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp coconut extract

1 1/2 pounds (3 cups) icing sugar, sifted

Cream butter, cream cheese and extracts together with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. 

(Figure out how many cups make up a pound by changing pounds into oz and oz into tsp and then tsp into cups. Them congratulate yourself for still being good at math)

Add the sugar and mix until smooth.

 

 

 Frost cupcakes

You may notice that the icing is really white. I added White-White Icing Colour to really brighten up the cupcakes. Just mix it into the icing like you would any food colouring for instant results.

I'm not a huge fan of coconut, but these might be my new favorite recipe. The cupcakes are light and fluffy and the coconut is very understated. The American Buttercream icing is to die for! It's not quite as sweet as a regular buttercream and not as dense as a regular cream cheese frosting, plus the coconut flavour is fantastic!

Usually when I take cupcakes to a party there are at least a few cupcakes left over at the end of the night; not so with these. People didn't eat just one, some had multiple! They were that good. People kept coming up to me all night and telling me how great they were! YAY!

I will totally make these again in the future.