The Hostess With The Mostest

Oh boy, busy busy month February is. I think every weekend this month, I've been busy with something. Today is the first day I've had some down time in awhile so I'm trying to use this as an opportunity to get some much needed work done, including this blog.


I do have some news, but I can't decide if it's good or bad yet. I recently met with an admissions adviser at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) in San Francisco about possibly enrolling in their merchandise marketing program. I know, crazy, huh? And for those who have known me for at least the past few years, I'm just as shocked as you are. The adviser was very helpful and very well informed, but with all the information to digest, I left the building semi-nauseated by it all. Long story short, I think the program sounds excellent and the support and networking the school offers to their students is very desirable but I'll have to think about each pro and con thoroughly. And on top of all of that, if I want to pay the current tuition before the increase, I have to be accepted into the school by May 1st. No pressure, right?


Anyway... can you guess where I got the inspiration for these cupcakes? This might sound cheesy (but admittedly, probably not more than the title for this post), but I got the idea for these after I opened up my pantry and saw a box of the familiar chocolate cupcakes with the white squiggle on top and the overly sweet cream centers. And, fun fact: the "cream" used to fill the cupcakes is actually made with Crisco, not real cream. Yum. My version of the famous sweet treat is filled with vanilla mousse and raspberry preserves. A pretty tasty combination when combined with the rich chocolate cake and chocolate ganache on top, if I do say so myself. 


The Ingredients (makes about 2 dozen):
For the cupcakes:
-recipe can be found here
For the filling:
-2 tsp vanilla extract
-2/3 cup sugar
-2 egg whites
-1 cup heavy cream
- raspberry preserves
For the frosting:
-3 cups bittersweet chocolate chips
-1 cup heavy cream
-1 1/2 tbsp corn starch


The Directions:
1. Start with the filling first. Whip the heavy cream, vanilla and half of the sugar until soft peaks form. Set aside.
2. Beat the egg whites until foamy. Then add the rest of the sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.
3. Carefully fold the egg mixture into the whipped cream until combined. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours to allow the mousse to firm up (I made this the night before making the cupcakes).
4. Bake the cupcakes as directed.
5. Once the cupcakes are cool, core out the middle, being careful to keep the cores intact as you will need them to close up the hole later. Set aside.
6. Put a layer of raspberry preserves into each cupcake and follow with a spoonful of vanilla mousse. Replace the tops of the cupcakes to prepare for the ganache frosting.
7. Dissolve the corn starch into the heavy cream first to avoid clumping. Then, in a double boiler, melt the chocolate chips and heavy cream together and stir until smooth.
8. Apply a layer of the ganache on top of each cupcake and allow to cool completely before serving or decorating.
9. Consume and enjoy!

August's Cupcake Of The Month: S'mores

Happy early National S'mores Day! Yup, you read right. There's a National S'mores Day and it falls on August 10th.


To celebrate this classic campfire treat, these cupcakes were made with graham cracker crumbs, filled with rich chocolate ganache and then topped with a marshmallow-type frosting. And because I wanted to make the cake even more graham cracker-y, I substituted some of the sugar with honey as well. I'm very happy with the results, even though my cake didn't come out tasting exactly like the crackers. But that was mostly due to my laziness. My house already had a box of graham crackers but they had a dusting of cinnamon so instead of going out and purchasing a new box of crackers that I knew I probably won't eat, I used what I had on hand instead. My friends told me the flavor of the cake almost resembled carrot cake, but it still went well with the melted chocolate filling and fluffy marshmallow frosting.


Unfortunately, I didn't take any process pictures for this recipe either. I recently got a new camera and it's one of those big fancy ones and, frankly, it just takes too much time for me to set everything up all pretty like. Especially when I have things that are time sensitive. I know, I know, excuses. But everything in this recipe is pretty straightforward. There aren't any steps that are advanced nor things that I haven't done before, just a lot of making sure things don't burn.


So anyway, make these cupcakes and invite your friends over to celebrate National S'mores Day! Or save all the cupcakes for yourself and let your friends enjoy the treat the old fashioned way instead. I won't tell.

The Ingredients (makes 1 dozen):
For the cupcakes:

-1 cup graham cracker crumbs

-1/2 cup flour

-1 1/2 tsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/3 cup butter
-1/4 cup honey
-1/4 cup sugar
-1 tsp vanilla
-2 eggs
-1/3 cup milk
For the filling:

-3/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

-1/4 cup heavy cream

For the frosting:

-3 egg whites

-1/2 cup sugar

-torch (optional)


The Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line your muffin/cupcake pan.
2. Combine the cracker crumbs, flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.
3. Cream the butter, honey and sugar. Mix in the vanilla then add the eggs one at a time.
4. Add 1/3 of the dry mixture to the wet, then 1/2 of the milk, another 1/3 of the dry, etc. until you run out of both. Mix and scrape between each addition!
5. Fill cups and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Rotate pans halfway through baking to ensure even baking. Allow to cool completely before filling and frosting.
6. While cupcakes are cooling, melt the chocolate chips and heavy cream together in a double boiler.

7. Using a paring knife or a melon baller, cut/scoop out the centers of the cupcakes and fill with the chocolate filling.
8. Beat the egg whites and sugar until stiff peaks form.
9. Frost the cupcakes and slightly toast the top. You can use a torch if you have one or you can set the cupcakes under the broiler for a few minutes. If you're using the oven, make sure you watch it!
10. Consume and enjoy!

February's Cupcake Of The Month - Chocolate And Chambord

Some exciting things have been happening for my blog these past couple of months. My last post was featured on foodgawker and tastespotting and because of that, I've gained  a handful of new followers, more exposure (the blog's even been StumbleUpon-ed... I thought that was pretty awesome), more traffic, and most recently, a sponsored giveaway by CSNstores.com.


Everyone's feedback on my blog and on my baked goods has been overwhelming and I'm so very thankful for it all. It's helping me find more inspiration to keep up baking and blogging. So thank you to all of you that have read my posts, are "following" me, and are supporting me in this, especially my testers who have willingly offered their taste buds up for my cause.


The Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
-1 cup unsalted butter, softened
-1 cup water
-3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
-2 cups flour
-2 cups sugar
-1 1/2 tsp baking soda
-1/2 tsp salt
-2 eggs
-1/2 cup sour cream

For the ganache:

-3 cups bittersweet chocolate chips

-1 cup heavy cream

-1 1/2 tbsp corn starch

-[at least] 50 mL Chambord

The Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line your cupcake pan(s).
2. Bring the butter and water to a simmer and then whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

 

3. Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl and set aside.

There's only so much one can do to make all-white ingredients look exciting together

4. Beat eggs and sour cream together until combined.

5. Gradually add the cocoa mixture to the eggs, constantly mixing so that you don't scramble the eggs.

6. Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet.

7. Fill cupcake cups (I filled them somewhere between 1/2 to 2/3 of the way up) and bake for about 12 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Rotate halfway through to ensure even baking. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

8. Over a double boiler (or a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water) melt the chocolate chips, heavy cream and corn starch together. Once mixture is smooth, take it off the heat and stir in the liqueur until combined. Set aside and allow to cool so that it can thicken up.

You want your ganache to be completely smooth, not like the picture above

Note: I added 50 mL of the Chambord but felt that there wasn't enough of that raspberry flavor I was looking for, so I would suggest adding more a little at a time until the desired taste. Or maybe even a raspberry flavored filling would help. I plan on making a filling the next time I make these and if it works out, I will update this post with the filling's recipe.

9. Once your cupcakes are cool, frost them with a pastry bag, plastic baggie, dip the cupcakes, or do what I did and just spread the frosting on with a spoon (if you spoon and spread them, you'll probably only need a half of the ganache recipe). 
Tip: If you're frosting with a bag, you should wait until the the ganache is firm enough, or else it'll just run all over the place.
10. Consume and enjoy!

Don't worry, his ganache-stache was from before adding the liqueur.

Cream Puffs Filled With Chocolate Ganache and Whipped Cream

I must say, I’m quite happy with the results. In the past, I’ve had puffs unpuff and flatten within 15 minutes after taking them out of the oven. Not exactly what you want when you need to make a hundred cream puffs by the next night. But this recipe is basically fool proof, even someone who has never baked from scratch would be able to pull off these pretty puffs.


If you usually use foil or nonstick spray to bake with on cookie sheets, I would suggest using parchment paper (NOT the same as wax paper) or a silicon mat for this (sans the nonstick spray) just cause the puffs tend to really stick to foil. I know the silicon mats can get pretty expensive but if you bake as much as I do, they’re definitely a great investment (plus, there’s less to throw away!)


The ganache and the whipped cream are pretty straightforward as well. The only thing is I forgot to set my bowl of ganache on top of a towel or something to keep it warm after I melted the chocolate and I had set it right on top of my cold counter so the ganache cooled down a lot faster than I had anticipated and made it a little more difficult to do a pretty drizzle of chocolate on top of the finished cream puffs.




The Ingredients:
For the puffs:
-1 cup all purpose flour, sifted
-1/2 cup butter
-1 cup water
-1/4 tsp salt
-4 eggs
For the whipped cream:
-2 cups heavy whipping cream
-3 tbsp powdered sugar
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-2 tsp corn starch
For the chocolate ganache:
-2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
-1 tbsp light corn syrup
-6 oz. dark chocolate, chopped


The Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Heat the butter and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
3 Add the flour and salt and beat until the dough pulls away from the pan. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
4. Beat in eggs one at a time, making sure each egg is well incorporated.
5. Spoon the dough onto your baking sheet, keeping them at least 2 inches apart. If you’re feeling fancy, you can pipe them out instead and you’ll probably end up with even prettier puffs. 
6. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the puffs are solid and dry to the touch. Allow to cool completely before filling.
7. Whip the cream, sugar, vanilla and corn starch at high speed until you have your desired stiffness. Store in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve.
8. When you’re ready to serve, slice the puffs in half like a sandwich.
9. Using a double boiler (or a heat safe bowl over a pot of simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water), melt the chocolate into the corn syrup and cream. Continually stir until everything is melted and smooth. Do this right before serving.
10. Fill the bottoms of the puffs with the ganache and top it with whipped cream.
11. Serve and consume!