Cupcakes

Entries Tagged as 'cupcakes'

Dark Chocolate Chunk Angel Food Cupcakes with Brandied Strawberries

4.20.2013

If you are a regular around here you may have noticed my usual ‘Searchable Saturday’ post missing these last two weeks. I am currently re-vamping that weekly column and will hopefully have it back in the coming weeks. To hold you over until it’s back, feel free to find my weekly inspirations over on Pinterest.

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I learned all my baking techniques backward. Instead of learning the basics right off the bat – I dove right into vegan baking after moving into my first kitchen. This means I can whip up a Vegan Chia Latte cupcake like no one’s business but often times still feel lost when trying to make a traditional cake…like one that involves 4 sticks of butter and 3 pounds of powdered sugar (do people actually put that much butter in a single recipe?!).

I’ve begun working backwards and am try to get a grasp on as many aspects of baking as possible (branching out from vegan and gluten free). So, while wondering through the bakery section of my co-op the other day, I realized I’ve never made angel food cake from scratch. It’s something that has always been so easily accessible to me going up that I never really gave a thought to where it came from. Perhaps from a box? Or from the grocery store bakery? But what about homemade – had I ever really had homemade angel food cake? I was beginning to doubt I had. And something needed to be done about it.

I began doing research (AKA searched google) and discovered my challenge for making angel food cake would be whipping the egg whites until ‘soft peaks formed‘. I had read that term before and only accomplished it one other time – when making The Butterscotch Roll Up Cake for this little blog’s birthday. I remember being SUPER intimidated by this term and watching many youtube videos before trying it myself. I had successfully accomplished making those ‘soft peaks’ but had pretty much steered clear of any recipe with this step in it since. However, the rest of making angel food cake seemed SO simple with its few ingredients and minimal steps that I knew I could shy away no longer.

In the end, the soft peaks term was nothing to fear. I used this handy visual guide from TheKitchn to make sure my egg whites were whipped properly and boom – the cupcakes turned out light and fluffy! Oh, and delicious. The chocolate chunks sank to the bottom because of the light batter but it made an amazing angel food sandwich – with dark chocolate on the bottom, boozy strawberries on top, and angel food cake in the center.

Dark Chocolate Chunk Angel Food Cupcakes with Brandied Strawberries

Brandied Strawberries:

1/2 pint strawberries, sliced
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 Tablespoon brandy

For the cupcakes:

3/4 cup powdered sugar, divided
1/2 cup all purpose flour
5 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 dark chocolate chunks (or regular chocolate chips)

For the frosting:

1/4 cup butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 Tablespoons milk

Slice the strawberries and place them in a bowl with the brown sugar and brandy. Cover and place in the fridge while you prepare everything else (try to let them sit in their for at least an hour).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and slightly grease a 12 muffin pan.

In a small bowl, combine the flour and 1/4 cup powdered sugar. Set aside.

Add the 5 egg whites to your stand mixer bowl and beat until foamy. Next, add the cream of tartar and salt and turn the mixer up to high. Gradually add in the remaining 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and then vanilla extract. Beat until soft peaks form.

Next, fold in the flour mixture in three additions. Try to keep the batter as light and fluffy as possible and doing it in three additions will help not to weigh it down. Keep folding until everything is incorporated.

Transfer batter to the prepared muffin tins and bake for 15 to 18 minutes. You can tell they are done if the center is browned and bounces back slightly when you touch it.

Remove from heat and transfer to a cooling rack (I’ve read that you should place them face down on the cooling rack so they don’t sink – I didn’t have a problem with them sinking but would recommend you do this step just in case).

To make the frosting: Use a mixer to beat the butter until creamy. Next, add in the powdered sugar and vanilla and continue beatings on medium speed. Add milk a tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency is reached.

Drain the strawberries of any excess sugar liquid (or reserve it to drizzle on top).Once the cupcakes are cooled, frost them and top with brandied strawberries.

Berry Brioche Muffins

4.09.2013

I love making bread. On any given rainy Sunday, you will most likely find me in the kitchen kneading up something delicious. Whether it’s beer bread or pumpernickel or cinnamon rolls will all depend on my mood. There is something I find soothing about watching the dough slowly rise. Or kneading the batter with your bare hands. Or feeling like you are conducting a science experiment in your kitchen. Or starting with a huge pile of flour and ending with a crusty ball of deliciousness. Whatever it is, it soothes me and I find myself turning to bread making in moments where I crave relaxation the most.

This is also the reason I often times make the same cinnamon rolls or beer bread. When relaxing, I don’t want to have read through a 3 page recipe four times over. I want to be able to get lost in stirring and pound of my frustration through kneading. I had come across a brioche recipe in a Food Network cookbook a few months back and it was 5 pages long. FIVE. The ingredients list was extensive and there were several randevues with the mixer (sorry but I prefer the old fashion way. This both makes me lazy because I don’t want to clean the mixer and a BA because I knead the dough by hand). It left a bad taste in my mouth and made me write off sweet brioche as too much work.

That was until Pinterest told me last week that I could make brioche in a slow cooker. In a slow cooker, really? How hard could a slow cooker recipe be?! So that triggered lots of brioche research (AKA google searching) and I came across Artisan Bread in Five. It’s a wonderful resource for any breadmaker and lays out some of the best instructions on how to make delicious bread I’ve ever come across. I’ve only gawked at their blog but am very excited to try out some of their cookbooks as well. I can only imagine!

I suggest making the dough the night before so you can just let it rise for an hour in the muffins pan the next day and bake them right up. That will cut down on 2+ hours of rising time.

Berry Brioche Buns

Dough adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes

3/4 cup warm water
1/2 tablespoon yeast
1/2 tablespoon salt
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup honey
2 sticks of unsalted butter, melted
4 cups of all purpose flour
1/4 cup Mixed berries
1/4 sugar

Mix the yeast and warm water in a bowl. Let sit for five minutes or until it starts to foam. Add in the salt, eggs, honey, and butter. Add 4 cups of flour and mix with a spoon until incorporated. Cover with a clean dish towel and let rise for two hours.

After it has risen, chill the dough so that it is easier to work with. I let mine chill overnight but feel free to just let chill for an hour or so.

Grease a 12 muffin pan and divide the dough evenly between the tins. Cover with a clean dish towel and let rise for one hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Press a few berries into each muffin (make sure to really get them in there so they don’t pop out) and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 20 minutes or until the brioche is brown on top.

Remove from oven and let cool. Sprinkle with cocoa powder or powdered sugar.

DIY Delicious: DIY Buttermilk /// Oatmeal Buttermilk Pancakes

5.22.2012

This was originally posted on www.chivesgonewild.wordpress.com this morning. It’s a new blog that my good friend, Kristin, and I are collaborating on. Don’t worry – I’m not cheating on you, VV. It’s just a new outlet for me to express my thoughts on things outside of food…like DIY projects, shopping lists, decor suggestions, etc.

It’s still very new and in the experimental stage (we still don’t even have a bio made yet!) but feel free to go check it out if you have a few minutes!

Enjoy!

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Oddly enough, I’ve been using this trick for years for vegan baking but never really caught onto what I was actually doing. My introduction to vegan baking was in high school when I picked up Isa’s Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. Almost all of the cupcake recipes start with mixing a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar with a cup of almond milk and end with amazingly moist, flavorful cupcakes.

Anyhow, I cannot begin to tell you how many times I’ve bought the smallest possible carton of buttermilk, used half a cup, and then let it go bad in my fridge swearing to myself, I’ll use it up next time. It’s just one of those staples that I never go through in my house (and I bet a lot of you are the same way).

This led me to research about buttermilk substitutes…and discover great news from it! You can actually make buttermilk with 2 simple pantry (fridge) staples in less than 10 minutes! Wah? I almost feel upset about discovering this because of all the times I’ve wasted soooo. much. buttermilk.

Here’s how it goes:

DIY Buttermillk

1 cup of milk (any kind you like – whole will give you a closer texture but use soy if you like it vegan!)
1 Tablespoon vinegar

Mix together in a bowl and let sit for 5 minutes [this will cause the milk to "curdle"]. Mix into all your favorite buttermilk recipes and that’s it!

And…by favorite…I mean recipes like the following:

Perfect to 2

1 large egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 Tablespoon butter, melted
dash of vanilla
1 cup flour (+ more if the batter is too runny)
`1/2 cup oats
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
dash of cinnamon
dash of nutmeg

Sliced strawberries

1/2 cup pecans, crushed
2 Tablespoons maple syrup

Combine the wet ingredients in a small bowl and mix together. In a large bowl, add in all the dry ingredients and mix until well incorporated. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet into it. Fold the dry into the wet until a thick batter forms. If the batter is too thin for your liking, add a bit more flour.

In a large skillet, melt a dollop of butter or oil over medium heat. Use a 1/2 cup measure as a scooper. Scoop batter onto the skillet and put two to three pancakes on at a time. Cook for two to three minutes on each side (will depend on how hot your skillet is). Repeat with the rest of the batter.

In a small saucepan, place the pecans and saute for 5 minutes on low. Next, add in 2 Tablespoons of maple syrup. Cook on low until all the syrup has stuck to the pecans.

Enjoy the pancakes lathered with maple pecans, sliced strawberries, butter, and lots of maple syrup!

Eat while sipping on your favorite coffee and watching some morning cartoon classics.

Mini Chocolate Chip Pancake Muffins

3.13.2012

It’s amazing how productive and relaxed you feel when you don’t have hours of homework nagging at your schedule. I woke up this morning with the intentions of doing nothing but whatever I wanted to and it was marvelous.

I whip these up in about 20 minutes while sipping on coffee and listening to an old ‘Bob Dylan’ record. It was such a simple pleasure and it was wonderful to have the house to myself for once (I have four roommates..). These little muffins are SOOO easy that they can even be prepared while still half asleep and without any stress.

I seriously thought they were fantastic by themselves but feel free to dip them in maple syrup if you’re feeling extra indulgent. Also, they are absolutely fabulous when still warm and the chocolate melts in your mouth but feel free to stick them in an air tight container and munch down over a few days.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the dry ingredients. Once well incorporated, make a well in the center of the mixture and pour in all of your wet ingredients (minus the chocolate chips). Use a whisk to whisk together the wet ingredients (it’s okay if a little of the dry mixture gets incorporated) then use a spatula to fold the dry into the wet until a thick batter forms.

Fold in the chocolate chips. Grease two miniature cupcake pans and fill each about half full (these little guys rise a lot!). You should end up with about 24.

Cook for 9 to 10 minutes or until you can stick a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean (they won’t brown on the top).

Enjoy with syrup and a big mug of french press coffee. And perhaps your favorite lazy morning cartoons (Scooby Doo!) or a Dylan vinyl.

Gingerbread Muffins with Cream Cheese Icing

12.12.2011

To celebrate finishing my first exam of finals week, I dedicated my afternoon to baking festive goods and listening to Christmas Elvis albums. And damn, it was perfect. There is something about baking that is just so relaxing and it was a perfect ending to three straight days of studying.

Anyways, If you haven’t been able to tell yet, I seem to have this weird thing for cupcakes/muffins. Something about how they are in miniature form and easy to take on the go gets me everytime. I guess what I am trying to say is that I do realize that 1/3 of my posts are about cupcake and muffins but they always turn out so damn good that I can’t help it!

On another note, I found the original recipe for this muffin in Homemade by Yvette Van Boven which is a ridiculously inspiring cookbook. She does the most amazing photography in this book which makes me want to recreate everything in it (which I hope to, at least admit, to do over Christmas break).

Anyways, this recipe has the perfect balance because the muffin itself isn’t super sweet which is why the tangy cream cheese icing compliments it perfectly. I’d recommend this recipe for some type of breakfast or to go with your afternoon tea. It’s simple, easy if you’re in a hurry in the morning, and goes perfectly with tea or coffee. Plus, these taste straight up like christmas so how could they possibly be bad?

Gingerbread Muffins

4 oz. Butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp all spice seasoning
1/4 cup milk

Icing:

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cup confectioner sugar
1 squirt of lemon juice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl and wet ones in a small. Grease a muffin tin or fill with liners. Fill liners about 2/3 full and stick in the oven. Cook for 15 t0 18 minutes.

While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the icing! Just mix all the ingredients together and lather over the muffins. Sprinkle cinnamon or allspice on top of each cupcake.

Munch down while dancing to Elvis Christmas tunes. Or over coffee while watching recaps from Kid Rock on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives (if you’re feelin’ American). Uh yeah.

Vegan Chai Latte Cupcakes

9.13.2011

Since I haven’t had much time for baking lately (and have been totally neglecting my vegan baking skills) I thought this was much overdue. This is my “go to” cupcake recipe. It has a very complex taste to it with all the spices but isn’t difficult to master. It’s also a perfect fall recipe because I don’t know what the temperature is like where you are but fall has been poking at Bloomington this past week. It has all the spices that many people associate with apple dishes or the tea that we all get addicted to when the cold comes and your roommates refuse to keep the thermostat above 60 (oh wait…or is that just mine?)

Anyhoo, if you are looking for a cupcake that is completely different from anything you’ve ever made than this is the guy. It may seem like a lot of ingredients but anyone who has a spice rack aimed at baking should have these spices. Also, I vary with which frosting I use on these guys. For example, if I know I’m not cooking for a vegan audience then I’ll do cinnamon cream cheese frosting (which is pictured in the photo below) but feel free to just use a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg on the top (or use vegan cream cheese).

Vegan Chai Latte Cupcakes

(adapted from Isa Moskowitz’s Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World)

1 cup almond milk
4 black tea bags
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup soy yogurt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
pinch of ground pepper

First, preheat the oven to 375 and fill a cupcake tin with 12 adorable cupcake liners.

In a small saucepan, dip the tea bags in the almond milk and bring to a boil. As soon as it boils, remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes (so the tea flavor is absorbed into the milk. mmmm). Ring out the bags to get out as much flavor as possible.

Once you’ve got that done, combine the oil, yogurt, vanilla, sugar, and the almond milk mixture in a large bowl and whisk until smooth. Once well combined, mix in the rest of the dry ingredients and fold in until completely combined.

Fill the cupcake tins about 3/4 full and cook for 20-22 minutes.

Top with cinnamon/nutmeg. Or cream cheese frosting. or oreos. or whatever your craving is bitching about.

Yup.

Vegan Strawberry Chocolate Cupcakes

8.17.2011

This is usually the part of the blog that I ignore and go straight to the recipe so feel free to skip the next few paragraphs. Oh also, I decided to start a food blog so we’ll see how that goes.

My baking adventures today were provoked by a co-worker’s birthday. I’m still rather new at the record label and if nothing else than people will know me by my baking. Also, If you don’t already know than you will soon after reading a few of my posts, I love my vegan baking but I especially thrive on cupcakes (who wouldn’t when they were introduced to vegan baking by chai latte cupcakes with cinnamon swirl frosting?). Anyways, so after raiding my fridge and discovering some ginormous strawberries I knew I had to make a strawberry shortcake cupcake for my co-worker. I’ve been in the process of moving and have seemed to misplaced my Isa’s cupcake cookbook that I always turn to (I know. I know. This is the point where you roll your eyes because she is still trying to do that whole ‘punk rock independent girl’ type image that we all got over in the late 90′s/early 2000′s but shhhh because that woman knows how to make a damn fine cupcake). I ended up having to turn to the internet and found a recipe by some food network nominee or something and they turned out pretty damn fine.

So all in all, the cupcakes were scrumptious, they are super basic and easy, everyone at work ate all of them, and I had a perfect excuse to make a first post.

Chocolate Strawberry Yumcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup coconut milk
½ cup canola oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Frostin‘

1 cup non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 to 5 tablespoons soy, almond, or rice milk
perhaps some red sprinkles or neon green food coloring (optional, obviously)
A few sliced fresh strawberries

Procedures (The break down):

Set oven to 350 degrees. Fill cupcake pan with [wolf] liners.

Mix all the dry ingredients for the cupcake portion in a bowl and blend the wet ingredients in another. Combine the wet with the dry and mix until well combined. Fill the liners with the batter until about 2/3s full and bake for 15-20 minutes. BAM. THAT’S IT.

And while those are baking make the frosting. Combine everything in a bowl and mix with a hand mixer. Once light and fluffy, use a spatula for any mix ins you might have (sprinkles, food coloring, chocolate chips, whatever).Oh and slice some strawberries while you are waiting for the timer to go off too.

Assemble as you please. Then Mow down. Share with your cat. Stare at them. Whatever you’d like.

Okay. That’s all I’ve got.

Oh and a real quick side note. Please please please bare with me as I figure out how the hell to take good food pictures. Food blogs are straight up stupid without mouth watering pictures but it maybe be a few weeks before I find the right lighting and back drop (my old orange VF vinyl player will have to do for a back drop for now).

Yup.