Cupcake Project

Pomegranate Mojito Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:30:00 +0000

"It did a happy dance in my mouth!" said my mother-in-law after tasting my pomegranate mojito cupcakes. I couldn't have said it better myself. But what kind of dance? I'd say a Lindy Hop. The sweetness of PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur combined with the tangy sourness of mint*, rum, and lime reminds me of a high energy couple bouncing around the dance floor, occasionally doing flips and throws to the thrill of the crowd (perhaps I have an overactive imagination).

Cooking With PAMA

I made these pomegranate mojito cupcakes as an entry into the Cooking with PAMA Contest. ~~If I win~~ When I win, I get to go to the Food and Wine Classic in Aspen! I wanted to wait until I had a cupcake that I really thought could win before entering - this pomegranate mojito cupcake is it! Voting will begin on November 16th (don't worry, I'll remind you).

BTW - Isn't the PAMA bottle gorgeous! Jonathan couldn't resist taking its photo.

Pomegranate Mojito Cupcake Recipe

Makes 12 cupcakes

For the pomegranate mojito syrup

1/2 C light rum
1/2 C PAMA
1/4 C freshly squeezed lime juice
2/3 oz fresh mint leaves
1/2 C sugar

For the cupcakes

2/3 C sugar
2 C flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 T lime zest
1 T finely chopped mint leaves
3/4 C unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs
2/3 C sour cream
2 T freshly squeezed lime juice

Bring all syrup ingredients to a boil in a heavy-bottomed pot.
Reduce heat and simmer for fifteen minutes until you have about 1/2 cup of syrup.
Strain mint leaves and set syrup aside.
Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, lime zest, and mint in a bowl.
Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl for 1 minute, until light and fluffy.
Beat eggs, sour cream, and lime juice into the butter/sugar mixture until blended.
Alternately fold in flour mixture and syrup.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
Bake at 350 F for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the cupcake clean.

PAMA Frosting

1/4 C unsalted butter, melted
1 T sour cream
3 T freshly squeezed lime juice
1 T PAMA
2 C powdered sugar, sifted
1 pomegranate (optional)

Mix all ingredients in a medium-sized bowl until smooth.
Spread on cupcakes.
Optionally, garnish with pomegranate seeds.

*I know that I said I would never make a cupcake with mint, but mint is growing on me and I really should never say never.

Garlic Cupcake Video Review and Cupcake Stacker Winners

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:39:00 +0000

I asked you guys what you thought of the new Cupcake Project video reviews and in exchange you had a chance to win some über-cool cupcake stackers. Thanks for all of your feedback (yes, I'm making you read to the bottom of the post to find the winners). Some of you (I'm talking to you, Danielle Johnson, Amanda, and Southern Baker) seemed to think that roommate Davin had it going on. Bride and Groom 3.0 listened and Davin is now hosting the videos!

In their video review of the garlic cupcakes below, the tasting trio made the video shorter (as you all suggested), listened to the great suggestion from Foodie Ffanatic and showed closeups of the cupcakes before the review, and responded directly to commenter Trish who said, "And I hate to say the obvious but there was a lot of hand to nose action....egads! While working with food!" Check it out and keep those comments coming!

And the Cupcake Stacker Winners Are...

Jere and Rachel! Congrats!!

Caramel Apple Cupcake Review

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:01:00 +0000

Bride and Groom 3.0 and their roommate, Davin, got a chance to try the caramel apple cupcakes that are featured on Paula Deen. As you'll see, they enjoyed them but thought that the chocolate pumpkin cupcakes were better (except for Groom 3.0, who doesn't like chocolate). Maybe I should have made the chocolate pumpkin cupcakes for Paula (please indulge me imagining that we are on a first name basis).

It's funny to me that the tasting trio keeps imagining maple where it doesn't exist. The frosting is a vanilla bean buttercream, not maple. Bride 3.0 nails it, though, when she says that the cupcake would be good hot. Everyone should get to try these fresh out of the oven. You can't beat it!

Reminder: I'm selecting the cupcake stacker winners tonight at midnight CST. Enter now!

Chocolate Pumpkin Witch Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:45:00 +0000

Remember back in 2007 when I made witch cupcakes? Didn't think so. Well, I made them again this year, only better:

Last time, I made a plain chocolate cupcake. This time, I made chocolate pumpkin cupcakes loaded with chocolate chips.
Last time, I made a funky green meringue frosting. This time, I made a seasonally-spiced buttercream frosting (I still used a little bit of green food coloring on some of them to make them more witchy).
Last time, I used giant pretzel rods for the broomsticks. This time, I realized (after someone pointed it out) that small pretzel sticks would work much better. I left the chocolate off of the broomsticks this year, though, because I was lazy.

For the cookie recipe and assembly instructions, refer to the 2007 post. But, for the new scrumpdidelyicious chocolate pumpkin cupcake recipe, look at the bottom of this post.

First, however, let's see what Bride and Groom 3.0 and roommate Davin thought of the chocolate pumpkin cupcakes. (Note: this video was made before viewing all of your video feedback. There is just one more pre-feedback video after this one, and then they will address your comments. Feel free to keep leaving comments on the videos and they will try to incorporate them whenever possible.)

I should point out that the cookies that they loved (on that hats) are maple or mint cookies. They are store-bought vanilla wafers that I coated in chocolate. I would normally make the wafers myself, but these cupcakes were made in a cupcake class that I taught and we needed to save time.

Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcake Recipe

This recipe should yield about fifteen cupcakes.

1 1/2 C flour
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t ginger
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t allspice
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 C sugar
3/4 C pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
1/2 C vegetable oil
1/2 C orange juice
4 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted
1 1/4 C semisweet chocolate chips

Whisk together flour, spices, baking soda, and salt.
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, pumpkin, and eggs. Beat until smooth.
Mix in the oil, orange juice, and melted chocolate.
Slowly add the flour mixture and mix until fully incorporated.
Mix in the chocolate chips.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
Bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes.

Pumpkin Pie Spice Frosting

1 C unsalted butter, room temperature
3 C powdered sugar, sifted
4 t vanilla bean paste
2 T milk or heavy whipping cream
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t ginger
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t allspice
Food coloring (optional)

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Mix in vanilla and milk or cream.
Mix in spices.
Optionally, mix in food coloring to create the color you’d like.

Garlic Cupcakes to Keep You Safe From Vampires This Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:30:00 +0000

On a dark night, just a few days until Halloween, an innocent, unsuspecting cupcake baker sat down to eat her latest creation.

Little did she know that a vampire lurked in the shadows.

The vampire was particularly interested in the cupcake baker, for her blood was extra sweet from eating lots of cupcakes.

The vampire drew closer. The cupcake baker noticed and panicked (but just for a moment).

Suddenly, things went black and white.

But, the cupcake baker had nothing to fear. The cupcake that she was eating was a garlic cupcake and everyone knows that garlic wards off vampires (unless they are Twilight vampires like Edward that you wouldn't want to ward off).

Yes, that's a chocolate covered garlic clove that you see on there.

The vampire dramatically fell to her doom.

Should you want to protect yourself from vampires this Halloween (which I highly recommend), the garlic cupcake recipe is below. While the cupcakes are deathly for the undead, humans are surprisingly fond of them. Several mortals claimed that the combination of flavors (chocolate, coffee, and garlic) actually worked quite well together. "We liked the garlic cupcakes and were surprised to find that a little hint of garlic actually does work with chocolate!" said taster Hao.

The garlic in the cake isn't all that strong, but it does leave you with garlic breath. The garlic in the frosting, however, is quite intense. Jonathan said that the frosting would be great on pasta. I'll post a video review from Bride and Groom 3.0 later in the week (I'm not expecting them to choose this one for their wedding, but you never know).

Garlic Cupcake Recipe

makes 18-20 cupcakes

2/3 C sugar
2/3 C brewed coffee
1/2 C sugar
2 C flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
3/4 C unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs
2/3 C sour cream
4 1/2 oz bittersweet chocolate
8 cloves roasted garlic (see my post on how to roast garlic, but skip the part about covering it in chocolate)

Whisk flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl.
Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl for 1 minute, until light and fluffy.
Beat in eggs and sour cream.
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or the microwave.
Mix the chocolate into the wet ingredients.
Alternately fold in the flour mixture and coffee into the batter.
Mash garlic cloves and mix into batter.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
Bake at 350 F for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the cupcake clean.

Garlic Coffee Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 C unsalted butter, room temperature
3 C powdered sugar, sifted
2 t garlic powder
1 t ground coffee

Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.
Slowly mix in the powdered sugar.
Mix in the garlic powder and ground coffee until integrated.

Credits

Special thanks go out to makeup artist Jennifer from Looks by JLW for doing the makeup for this shoot. Our vampire would not have been nearly as spooky without it. Jennifer did an awesome job and, more importantly, she was willing to try the garlic cupcake and even liked it.

Thanks also go out to our vampire, my friend Christina, and, of course, my awesome in-house photographer!

Halloween Snack Idea - Chocolate Covered Garlic

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:48:00 +0000

Why?

Last year, Jonathan and I went to Gilroy, California. Gilroy is all about garlic. Each year, they host the Gilroy Garlic Festival - which features, as you might imagine, everything garlic! While we weren't able to make it to the festival, we were able to try some garlic ice cream. It was shockingly tasty and the only ice cream that I've ever eaten that left me with bad breath.

When I was talking about the trip to Groom 1.0, he suggested that I make garlic cupcakes for Halloween to scare off the vampires. I loved the idea! I sent myself a futureme email as a reminder. It's a good thing that I did. I completely forgot about the idea until I received the email a few weeks ago.

I wasn't quite sure how I would make a garlic cupcake, but one thing that I did know was that I would need to use roasted garlic (roasting makes the garlic much sweeter); and, if I were going to roast the garlic, I might as well cover some in chocolate to put on top of the cupcakes.

If you are a garlic lover, then I probably don't need to convince you that eating roasted garlic is a special treat. But, you'll just have to trust me (until you try it yourself) that adding chocolate makes it even better!

How?

I was really excited to find instructions for roasted garlic on Simply Recip es that used a cupcake tin - if it involves my cupcake tin, I can do it! I followed Elise's instructions to a tee, only instead of using olive oil, I used hazelnut oil and a little honey to make the garlic extra sweet. Oh, and I covered mine in chocolate!

6 heads of garlic (I only covered some of them in chocolate, I used others in my garlic cupcake recipe)
a few tablespoons of oil (I used hazelnut)
1/4 C semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 T unsalted butter

Peel away the outer layers of the garlic bulb skin, leaving the skins of the individual cloves intact. Using a knife, cut off 1/4 to a 1/2 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic.
Put each garlic head in foil and place them in a cupcake tin, as shown above.
Drizzle a couple teaspoons of oil over each head, using your fingers to make sure the garlic head is well coated.
Drizzle each head with honey.
Close the foil over each head.
Bake at 400 F for 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed.
Allow the garlic to cool enough so you can touch it without burning yourself. Use a small knife to cut the skin slightly around each clove. Use a cocktail fork or your fingers to pull or squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins.
Melt the chocolate chips with the butter in a double boiler or the microwave.
Dip each clove of garlic in chocolate. I thought it looked best to only cover half of the clove.
Place chocolate covered garlic on parchment paper and place in the refrigerator to cool.

Be sure to check out the garlic cupcakes to see just how well these worked at scaring off vampires.

First Video Cupcake Review and Your Chance to Win Cupcake Stackers

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 01:25:00 +0000

When Bride and Groom 3.0 asked if I'd like it if they did video reviews of my cupcakes, I was not about to say no. Below you'll find their first video review featuring the vanilla and chocolate sour cream cupcakes with sour cream frosting and the whole cupcake party setup. Bride and Groom 3.0 are joined in the video by their roommate, Davin (he's the one on the separate couch).

The review is pretty long (16 minutes - 16 hilarious minutes!). I do realize that some of you may not like video, may not be able to watch video at work, or may not care to watch people ramble about cupcakes for 16 minutes.

So, I'm asking for your opinion. Leave a comment with your thoughts about the video. Do you love it (I hope so)? Are you excited for more? What changes would you like to see (shorter? longer? - probably not). Are there things that you would like Bride and Groom 3.o to talk about? Would you like to send them hats to wear (they plan on wearing hats for each review)?

If you leave a comment with your opinion on the video and your email address, you will be entered for a chance to win a set of 6 cupcake stackers. I will draw two winners on Friday, October 30th.

How to Host a Cupcake Party

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:20:00 +0000

Rather than spending lots of time creating wow-worthy cupcakes to serve at your next party, consider letting your guests do the decorating. Serving your cupcakes unfrosted is not only a ton less work for you, but your guests will love getting to decorate their own. You might also consider making mini-sized cupcakes so that people can decorate and eat several cupcakes without feeling too guilty.

To host a cupcake party, you'll need:

Cupcakes (to make it really easy on yourself, you can make vanilla and chocolate cupcakes using the same recipe).
A cupcake stand. I was recently sent a cupcake stacker stand to review and I love it - more on that later.
Frosting (as many kinds as you feel like).
Toppings (sprinkles, chocolate chips, nuts, etc.)

Taste & Create
It's been a few months, but I am again participating in Taste & Create. Taste & Create is a food blogger event where you get randomly matched with another food blogger to try out their recipes and ideas. I got the idea for the cupcake party from my partner this month, Katie at One Little Corner of the World. Coincidentally, Katie lives in St. Louis and I met her at a FoodBuzz dinner.

Katie posted about a fabulous taco bar party that she hosted and I decided to take the same concept and use it with cupcakes. I hope she doesn't mind that I didn't use one of her exact recipes - I took the "Create" part of Taste & Create very seriously. I did make sour cream frosting (shown in the center of the photo above) to keep with the spirit of her meal.

In addition to the sour cream frosting, my cupcake party featured two kinds of sprinkles, chocolate chips, and Skor chips (toffee chips).

Cupcake Stacker

I've never seen anything like these cupcake stackers before. They are essentially the legos of the cupcake world. You can connect the stackers together in whatever configuration you like, creating a custom cupcake stand.

The great thing about them is that when it's time to eat the cupcakes, people simply remove a cupcake stacker from the pyramid. The single cupcake stacker can then act as a little cupcake bowl to contain crumbs while people are eating.

Of course, you don't have to just use the cupcake stacker for cupcakes. You could use them for condiments, snacks, or candy.

Coming Next

I'm super excited to be posting Bride and Groom 3.0's video cupcake review of their cupcake party. Plus, you'll have a chance to win some cupcake stackers of your own. Stay tuned!

Sour Cream Frosting

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:09:00 +0000

Sour cream frosting is the obvious choice for sour cream cupcakes. This sour cream frosting is based on a basic vanilla bean buttercream frosting. However, instead of using milk in the frosting, the sour cream frosting uses sour cream.

Even if you are not a fan of sour cream, you still may enioy the sour cream frosting. The sour cream flavor is subtle. It adds a pleasant tang which helps to counteract the sweetness of the buttercream. Try it and let me know what you think!

1 1/2 C confectioners' sugar (add more until it reaches your preferred consistency)
1/2 C unsalted butter, room temperature
2 t vanilla bean paste (add more to taste)
2 T sour cream

Mix together sugar and butter until they are blended and creamy.
Add vanilla bean paste and sour cream and continue to beat for another minute.
If desired, add more vanilla bean paste to taste, or more confectioners' sugar to make it stiffer.

Do You Live in A Divided Home? Make Vanilla and Chocolate Cupcakes at the Same Time

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Some families are all about chocolate cupcakes, some are all about vanilla, but some families are mixed-flavor homes. What are these divided homes to do?

a) Make the flavor that the baker likes best.
b) Rotate and make vanilla half the time and chocolate the other half.
c) Never make vanilla or chocolate and instead make pumpkin cupcakes every day.
d) Make vanilla and chocolate cupcakes at the same time, using the same recipe!

Answer: D

I used a sour cream cupcake recipe to make both vanilla and chocolate cupcakes. Both cupcakes had what I would consider a classic cupcake consistency (light and fluffy, not very dense). The vanilla had a vibrant vanilla flavor and the chocolate had a mild but satisfying cocoa flavor - you could make them more chocolaty with the addition of chocolate chips.

To make two recipes out of one, you simply prepare the batter for the vanilla cupcakes. Then, fill half of the cupcake liners. Next, add chocolate to the remaining batter and fill the other half of the cupcake liners. Bake and make everyone happy!

Vanilla and Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

To make these vanilla and chocolate cupcakes, I used a vanilla sour cream cupcake recipe from Seriously Simple Holidays by Diane Rossen Worthington. I am including the recipe below along with my modifications to make both vanilla and chocolate cupcakes.

Makes 6 vanilla and 6 chocolate cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 1/4 C flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
2 large eggs
1 C sugar
1/2 C unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 t vanilla extract
1/2 C sour cream
2 oz bittersweet chocolate

Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium-sized bowl and set aside.
In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the eggs and sugar for about 2 minutes, or until light and creamy.
Add the butter and vanilla and beat on low speed for about 1 minute, or until well blended.
Beat in the dry ingredients on low speed until blended.
Add the sour cream and beat until smooth and well blended.
Fill 6 cupcake liners about halfway full.
Melt the chocolate (either using a double boiler or in the microwave).
Mix the chocolate into the remaining batter.
Fill the remaining 6 cupcake liners with the chocolate batter.
Bake at 350 F for about 23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean and the tops are firm.

Coming Soon...

A sour cream frosting to go with the sour cream cupcakes and Bride and Groom 3.0's video cupcake review.

I'm on Paula Deen

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:50:00 +0000

To anyone coming over from Paula Deen: Welcome to Cupcake Project! You might want to read the about page to get a sense of what I do over here, or if you just want the recipes, use the dropdown on the right side of this blog to pick your favorite flavor.

To my regular readers: Hurry up and go check out my caramel apple cupcakes on Paula Deen!! I'm so excited!

To my readers in St. Louis: I'll be teaching these cupcakes next week at Kitchen Conservatory. Hope you can make it!

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Pumpkin Cheesecake Frosting

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:44:00 +0000

Pumpkin cupcakes are so overdone. Pumpkin cupcakes are everywhere and if it's not pumpkin cupcakes, it's pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread, or pumpkin cookies. If it's Fall, you'd better like pumpkin!

The good news is that most people do love pumpkin. We love it so much that we end up using it as a term of endearment. I regularly call Myles "pumpkin". Jonathan points out that I used to call our poodle "pumpkin" as well. I'm sure if we had a pet pot bellied pig, he'd be "pumpkin", too.

(I couldn't resist another Myles photo.
He's sucking the pacifier because
he's too young to eat the pumpkin cupcakes.)

Bride and Groom 3.0 are no exception to the plethora of pumpkin people. They listed pumpkin as one of the flavors they might want for their wedding.

Why Pick This Pumpkin Cupcake Recipe Over Any Other One?

We know from pumpkin pie that pumpkin and graham go well together. These pumpkin cupcakes capitalize on that. They contain graham flour and graham cracker bits. The graham cracker bits soften during the baking process. Rather than adding a crunch, they add a richer, grahamy flavor to the cupcake. The graham flavor does, however, make these treats seem a bit more muffiny than cupcakey (if you don't like the earthy, graham flavor, you might consider trying my pumpkin cupcakes with rum and maple instead).

My favorite part about these pumpkin cupcakes was the pumpkin cheesecake frosting. Use it to top any Fall dessert and you won't go wrong.

Bride and Groom 3.0 Review

Bride 3.0 warned me that she wasn't a big fan of frosting. I thought that perhaps I'd win her over with a cream cheese-based frosting. But, it turns out that she doesn't like cream cheese frostings (back to the baking board). Groom 3.0 and their roomate, Davin, loved the frosting.

Although Bride 3.0 didn't like the frosting, she did let me know that she loves sprinkles. She calls them sparkles! How fun! Expect to see more sparkly cupcakes coming soon.

Both Bride and Groom 3.0 found the cupcakes to be a bit too muffiny/breakfasty to be a wedding choice. They also thought that the cupcakes could be somewhat more pumpkiny. This was in contrast to other tasters. One of my tasters, Christina, even said, "Wow... this is so pumpkiny!"

They rated this cupcake three out of five fireworks. They made up the firework system and I dig it!

The Pumpkin Cupcake Recipe

The cupcake recipe contains graham crackers. You can use any store-bought graham crackers or make homemade pumpkin graham crackers.

Makes about 17 cupcakes

3/4 C graham flour or whole wheat flour
3/4 C all-purpose flour
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t ginger
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t allspice
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 C sugar
3/4 C pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
1/2 C vegetable oil
1/2 C cream soda
1 T vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
2 C smashed graham crackers (pea-sized bits)

Whisk together flours, spices, baking soda, and salt.
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, pumpkin, and eggs. Beat until smooth.
Mix the oil, cream soda, and vanilla into the wet ingredients.
Slowly add the flour mixture and mix until fully incorporated.
Stir in the graham crackers.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
Bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Frosting Recipe

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 C unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 C pumpkin puree
3 C powdered sugar, sifted

Mix cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy.
Mix in pumpkin puree.
Slowly mix in the powdered sugar. You can add more sugar to make the frosting stiffer, but I think that makes it too sweet.

Top each cupcake with a pumpkin graham cracker.

Pumpkin Graham Crackers

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:41:00 +0000

These homemade pumpkin graham crackers are not only pumpkin shaped, but also contain pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spices, giving them a subtle pumpkin flavor.

I made these pumpkin graham crackers in multiple sizes and added some orange sugar to the tiny ones (they were too small for me to give them good faces). Bride 3.0 said that she could "eat 100 of them!" But, she noted that they were a bit Halloweeny for a wedding. Come on - who doesn't want Jack-O-Lanterns at their Spring wedding? :)

The good news is that pumpkin graham crackers can be made in any shape you can cut out. Bride 3.0 suggested hearts.

What to Do With Your Pumpkin Graham Crackers

Aside from simply eating them all up, I have several usage ideas for these pumpkin graham crackers:

Crumble them to use in the crust for a homemade pumpkin pie.
Slather them with pumpkin butter or apple butter.
Put pumpkin ice cream between two of them and freeze for a pumpkin ice cream sandwich.
Use them to decorate your pumpkin cupcakes.

Pumpkin Graham Cracker Recipe

To make these pumpkin graham crackers, I modified my regular graham cracker recipe. I originally got that graham cracker recipe from Free Range Living. She got the recipe from The Fannie Farmer Baking Book.

My modified recipe is below. It makes 36 2 1/2 inch squares. You can do your own math on how many pumpkins that will get you. It obviously depends on the size of your cookie cutters.

2 T (1/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 T pumpkin puree
1 egg
6 T sugar
4 T honey (Some graham crackers use half honey and half molasses. You might consider trying that as a variation.)
1/2 t baking soda
1 t ginger
1 t nutmeg
1 t cinnamon
3/4 t allspice
2 t water
3/4 t salt
1 1/2 C graham flour (If you can't get ahold of graham flour, there are plenty of graham cracker recipes that use regular whole wheat flour such as this graham cracker recipe from Baking Bites. You may also be able to directly substitute whole wheat flour in this recipe, but I haven't tested it and I make no promises.)
3/4 C all-purpose flour

Combine the butter, pumpkin, egg, and sugar in a bowl and beat until smooth and creamy.
Stir in the honey.
Dissolve the baking soda in the water and add to the butter mixture.
Add the salt, graham flour, all-purpose flour, and spices to the mixture and blend thoroughly. The dough should hold together and be manageable. If it is too tacky, add a little more graham flour.
Liberally dust a surface with graham flour and roll the dough to a thickness of about 1/8 inch.
Use your cookie cutters to cut out pumpkins or any other shape.
Use the tines of a fork to make Jack O' Lantern faces on the pumpkins.
Using a spatula, place the pumpkin graham crackers on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 F for 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and cool on racks. They won't be hard when you first take them out of the oven, but they will harden as they cool.

Third Time's a Charm

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:33:00 +0000

Regular readers already know the story of my blog. I started this blog because having never baked a cupcake in my life, I offered to bake cupcakes for my friends' wedding. The "project" part of Cupcake Project was mastering the cupcake in the nine months leading up to the big day. I loved doing it and got so hooked on cupcake baking that after Bride and Groom 1.0 got married, I offered to do the whole thing over again for another couple. Bride and Groom 2.0 got married on Oct. 12, 2008.

For the past year, Cupcake Project has been without a project. That's about to change.

Meet Ron and Leslie (hereafter known as Bride and Groom 3.0)

Groom 3.0 is Jonathan's (my husband and live-in photographer) third cousin. I can't believe that he knows his third cousin. Not only does he know him, but they actually talk on a regular basis. We love Bride 3.0 and couldn't be happier with Groom 3.0's choice! Jonathan took photos of their proposal at the Lewis and Clark marathon. Check out the joy on their faces and you'll understand why I am so excited to make cupcakes for this wonderful couple.

They do not have a wedding date picked yet, but it will be this coming Spring or Summer. I'll let you know when I know!

As I've done for past couples, Bride and Groom 3.0 will be trying cupcakes each week and choosing two or three flavors that they would like me to bake for the wedding (for a total of 300 cupcakes!). I'll keep you up to date on their favorites and give you the play-by-play when the big day comes!

What Kind of Cupcakes Do Bride and Groom 3.0 Enjoy?

It's important for me to understand what types of flavors the couple likes so that I can start experimenting. Bride and Groom 3.0 left it WIDE open.

What they don't like:

Like Bride and Groom 1.0, they don't want nuts.
Bride 3.0 is not a big frosting fan. I'm not either, so I'm cool with that. It will be a fun challenge to find frosting that she likes.
Groom 3.0 doesn't love chocolate (I can't imagine that!), coconut (that always seems to be a love it or hate it thing), or whipped cream.

Here's the list of things (in their own words) that they said they like. I've put my responses to them (and snarky comments) in orange. If I've made a flavor before, I've linked to it.

Butterscotch
PB (but I think you don't dig) - It's true. Sorry, peanut butter is off limits.
Vanilla - Boring! But, I do really need to master a perfect plane-Jane vanilla cupcake, so I may experiment.
Cinnamon
Any berry - Berries look really pretty on cupcakes. That would be a nice wedding choice.
Orange chocolate (Ron might not like as much) - I love those orange milano cookies, but I haven't made an orange chocolate cupcake. One of my very first cupcakes was a tangerine chocolate cupcake, but the frosting was a nasty, runny mess.
Red velvet - I've never made it. I think it's too overdone and frankly I don't get the appeal. Sorry, but I'm probably not going to make this one unless you really beg.
Bourbon - One of the cupcakes that I created for Paula Deen contains bourbon, but the recipe hasn't gone live yet. You'll see it soon!
Margarita - You may recall that Bride and Groom 1.0 had margarita cupcakes at their wedding. I love these and they look super cute when I make them with little umbrellas. I'd be happy to make them again.
Mango, exotic fruits - I was surprised (when searching through my archives) to find that I had made four recipes that involved mango. None of them were all that great, although the mango frosting was quite tasty and refreshing.
Brown sugar - I love how you listed brown sugar as a flavor! Brown sugar rocks! I use it all the time! I think that you would really like my penuche frosting - make sure that I let you try it.
Pumpkin - Pumpkin is the very first flavor that you will be taste testing.
Most fruits, apples, peaches - It cracks me up how most fruits are listed separately from exotic fruits and berries. Clearly, you like fruit.
Root beer - This was another flavor that Bride and Groom 1.0 chose. It's a winner.
Chai - Chai cupcakes were the very first cupcakes that I made. I don't remember much about them, but I do recall that they were a hit, despite how ugly they looked.
Flourless chocolate - I've got this recipe down. They are a crowd favorite!
Honey - I use honey all of the time. However, I've never made a honey cupcake.
Apple caramel - Oh look, another fruit! Look for this one soon on Paula Deen.
Well I am sure we will like a lot of things you come up with. Please experiment as usual and come up with your own ideas too. I am sure we don't even realize the potential of flavors. - Excellent! I'm sure that you will enjoy the garlic cupcakes that I'll be making soon (I do not jest).

High Tea Cupcakes - Orange Cranberry Scones Baked in Teacups

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:59:00 +0000

These high tea cupcakes are really scones, but since I literally baked them in a cup, I decided it was legit to call them cupcakes. It's my blog, so I can do what I want.

I love that scones aren't quite as sweet as most cakes. I used to think that they were less caloric than other baked goods, but I was deceived. They are loaded with butter and cream and worth every single calorie you'll get from them!

These high tea cupcakes are made with dried cranberries and flavored with a hint of orange, but you could just as easily make them with chocolate chips, raisins, or currants. For extra pizazz, they can be topped with some jam and clotted cream.

If you don't have oven-safe teacups, you can bake the same recipe as scones (by putting balls of dough directly onto an oiled cookie sheet) or as traditional cupcakes (in cupcake tins) as shown above.

Either way, they are sure to disappear!

High Tea Cupcake Recipe

I got the recipe for these high tea cupcakes from Barefoot Contessa. I modified her scone recipe to bake in teacups. I also added some orange extract to kick up the orange flavor a bit and decreased the amount of salt (I'm not a big salt fan). Below is my modified version of her recipe.

The number of cupcakes you get depends on the size of your teacups. I only had six tea cups so I made 6 teacups and 16 normal cupcakes.

4 C all-purpose flour
1/4 C sugar
2 T baking powder
1 t kosher salt
1 T grated orange zest
3/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1 C cold heavy cream
1/4 t orange extract
1 C dried cranberries

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and orange zest.
Add the cold butter and mix at the lowest speed until the butter is the size of peas.
In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, heavy cream, and orange extract.
With the mixer on low speed, slowly pour the wet mixture into the flour and butter mixture.
Mix until just blended. The dough will look lumpy!
Mix the cranberries into the batter.
Using your hands (it's more fun this way), make balls of dough that will fill your teacups about 3/4 full. (Make sure the teacups are oven safe!)
Drop the balls of dough in the cups.
Place cups on a cookie sheet and bake at 400 F for about 20 minutes or until the tops are slightly browned.

Special Thanks

Special thanks to Lori and Rob for loaning me the teacups (don't tell ... they are actually espresso cups, but close enough).

High Tea Treats

I'm excited to enter these cupcakes in Meeta's Monthly Mingle. The theme this month is High Tea Treats.

High Tea Cupcake Preview - My First Time As a Shirt Model

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:05:00 +0000

My next post will be about my high tea cupcakes. I may even post it later today - so check back. But first, let's talk fashion.

As a food blogger, I've been sent my fair share of free food (it's an awesome perk). However, for the very first time, someone wanted to send me clothes. That someone was Sharper Uniforms. They provide "a huge selection of today's most popular styles of Restaurant, Hotel, Country Club, Casino and Security uniforms." While it would have been super cool to get a security uniform (I'm thinking Halloween here), I suppose it didn't fit with the theme of my blog. They opted to send me a ladies' blouse that could be worn by a server or hostess.

Here's me pretending to be a server. You're never too old to play make-believe. I suppose the server would most likely tuck the shirt in, but you can't really tuck when you are wearing maternity pants.

At the time Sharper Uniforms offered to send the shirts, I was very pregnant. There was NO WAY that I was going to fit into them. They kindly sent me the shirts anyway on the promise that I would review them when I could close the buttons (which turned out to be at five weeks postpartum). I don't say this to gloat - well, maybe just a little. I say this so that you know that Sharper Uniforms is one of those companies whose shirts run large (everything else in my wardrobe is at least a size medium and this is a size small shirt).

Not only did the blouse fit perfectly, I've been getting use out of it. Button down tops are great for breastfeeding (I'm sure that's just what they had in mind).

If you happen to be on the market for a uniform or nice blouse, check Sharper Uniforms out. I can't speak to all of their uniforms, but the shirt was high quality.

I don't expect to have a long career in shirt modeling, but I am certainly open to more free clothes, as is my junior assistant, baby Myles.

Clotted Cream Recipe - Making Clotted Cream at Home is Much Easier Than You Think

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:00:00 +0000

Clotted cream is so easy to make at home. Please don't think that I'm saying that clotted cream is only easy for experienced bakers to make. Clotted cream is really easy for ANYONE to make, regardless of your kitchen expertise. You dump cream in a pot and put it in the oven. When it emerges, you have clotted cream. It's like magic!!

What is Clotted Cream? Aren't Clots a Bad Thing?

If you are in the United States and have never heard of clotted cream, don't feel bad. I hadn't heard of clotted cream until a visit to a local restaurant, The London Tea Room. Clotted cream is a topping typically served on scones at high tea. I think of it as a cross between butter and whipped cream.

How Did This Clotted Cream Recipe Compare to Store-Bought Clotted Cream?

I bought some English Luxury Clotted Cream and tasted mine alongside it. The texture was the same (like butter, but a bit creamier), however mine had a slightly sweeter, much fresher, and richer flavor. It was worlds better. There may be really amazing store-bought clotted cream options out there, but they are not readily available in St. Louis. The quality of your clotted cream, however, will depend on the quality of your heavy whipping cream, which brings me to my next section...

The Difficult Parts of Making Clotted Cream

There are two difficult parts to this clotted cream recipe:

Finding heavy whipping cream that isn't ultra-pasteurized. Clotting will work better with an unpasteurized or pasteurized (not ultra-pasteurized) cream. I didn't try making the recipe with an ultra-pasteurized cream so I can't say for sure whether or not it would work, but I suspect it wouldn't work well. For more information on ultra-pasteurization, check out the FAQ from the New England Cheese Making Society (I know we aren't making cheese here, but the information found there is very helpful in explaining the problem with ultra-pasteurization). It is also best to look for heavy whipping cream with as high a fat content as you can find. I used a local brand, Pevely, that had 40% fat.
Waiting. The clotted cream was in my oven for so long that it shut itself off. This has never happened before, and I learned from the experience that our oven shuts off automatically at twelve hours.

Clotted Cream Recipe

I got the recipe for clotted cream from Sustainable Table. As I said above, there isn't much to it. There is only one ingredient: heavy whipping cream. Use as much as you would like. I used two pints (4 cups) - be sure to see my notes above about about not using ultra-pasteurized cream. The clotted cream can be stored in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Use it to top scones, pancakes, toast, or in my case, high tea cupcakes (post coming soon).

Pour the cream into a heavy-bottomed oven-safe pot. The cream should come up the side of the pot somewhere between one and three inches.
Cover the pot and put it in the oven on 180 F.
Leave the covered pot in the oven for at least 8 hours. My four cups took 12 hours (until my oven automatically turned off). You'll know it's done because there will be a thick yellowish skin above the cream, as shown above. That skin is the clotted cream.
Let the pot cool at room temperature, then put it in the refrigerator for another 8 hours.
Remove the clotted cream from the top of the pot. The cream that is underneath it can still be used for baking.

Apple Cider Doughnuts with Honey Glaze - Rosh Hashana Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:18:00 +0000

Each year around this time, I start seeing apple cider doughnuts showing up on food blogs and on Tastespotting and Foodgawker. These posts often mention buying apple cider doughnuts at local apple orchards. I've been apple picking many times in my life and I have never seen an apple cider doughnut. I love apple cider and I love doughnuts - and frankly, every time I read about these elusive apple cider doughnuts, I felt cheated. Why didn't my orchard make them? I had to make them myself to see if they were as good as I dreamed.

Rosh Hashana seemed like the perfect time of year to give apple cider doughnuts a try. L'Shana Tova roughly means "for a good year". On Rosh Hashana (the Jewish new year) we dip apples in honey to show our wish for a sweet new year. Why not make apple cider doughnuts dipped in honey this year?!

Apple cider doughnuts are typically baked, not fried. They are essentially cake doughnuts made with apple cider. Because apple cider doughnuts are cake, the doughnut recipe also worked as a cupcake! In the photo above, you see a doughnut on top of a cupcake - both made with the same batter.

Were the Apple Cider Doughnuts Worthy of My Dreams

Our dinner guest, St. Louis food blogger Andrew Mark Veety, said that my apple cider doughnuts would be "killer with a cup of coffee for breakfast." However, he and his wife both felt that they could hardly be called doughnuts. I had to agree. The apple cider doughnuts were moist, fluffy, and sweet, but tasted more like tiny apple muffins than doughnuts. These doughnuts could be a great way to trick your kid or yourself into eating something healthier than a typical fried doughnut, but if you are expecting a Krispy Kreme, don't bother making these.

Apple Cider Doughnut Recipe

To make these apple cider doughnuts, you'll need a doughnut pan. The cool thing is that you can make any cake recipe into a cake doughnut with one of these pans - so fun!! I prefer the mini doughnut pan - that way they fit on top of my cupcakes (I understand that this may not be your priority).

I found the recipe for the apple cider doughnuts on Jen's food blog, Milk and Cookies. Jen adapted the recipe from one found on Diana's Desserts. I am reprinting it here, with my notes.

Makes approximately 36 mini doughnuts or 12 cupcakes.

2 C all-purpose flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t grated nutmeg
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2/3 C packed brown sugar
1/2 C apple butter
1/3 C pure maple syrup
1/3 C apple cider
1/3 C plain yogurt
3 tbsp hazelnut oil, plus extra for coating the pan (If hazelnut oil is not available, you can substitute with macadamia nut oil or vegetable oil.)
approximately 3 tbsp sugar for baking pans

In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg; set aside.
In another bowl, whisk together egg, brown sugar, apple butter, maple syrup, cider, yogurt and hazelnut oil.
Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir just until moistened.
Brush cavities of a doughnut pan with hazelnut oil and sprinkle with sugar. If making cupcakes, simply fill cupcake tin with cupcake liners.
For doughnuts, fill each cavity about halfway. For cupcakes, fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full.
Bake at 375 F for 10 to 15 minutes (doughnuts) or 20 minutes (cupcakes) or until the tops spring back when touched lightly.

Honey Glaze and Cinnamon/Sugar Topping

I topped each apple cider doughnut with a honey glaze and then dipped the doughnuts in cinnamon and sugar. For the honey glaze, simply combine and microwave two parts honey to every one part apple cider (i.e. 4 T honey and 2 T apple cider) until hot.

I used the same glaze to top the cupcakes, and I added some powdered sugar for kicks.

Monkey Bread Cupcakes with Banana and Chocolate

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 00:46:00 +0000

Monkey bread is balls of yeasty bread dipped in butter, cinnamon, and sugar. There isn't much that could make a monkey bread recipe better except the one thing that monkeys are known to love - bananas! And - if I were going to put bananas into a monkey bread recipe, why not throw in some chocolate, too?!

Since I haven't posted in a month, I wanted to come back with a recipe that was worth the wait. This monkey bread recipe is definitely it! Serve these monkey bread cupcakes with brunch (or on their own as brunch), as dessert, as a snack, or any time that you want to see someone's face light up.

Now, about that not posting for a month. I've haven't just been monkeying around. On August 17th, I gave birth to our little monkey.

Meet Myles:

Jonathan and I tried to pose Myles with a cupcake, but he wasn't quite up for it yet. The best we could do was pose him in his monkey onesie. Myles likes to hang out in my Moby wrap while I'm working in the kitchen. He mostly sleeps, but some day he'll be my cupcake helper (even if it's just eating them).

Special Thanks to Scharffen Berger

For the chocolate portion of this monkey bread recipe, I used Scharffen Berger baking chunks. Scharffen Berger offered to send me some chocolate to try. I expected to get some of their chocolate bars (which I have tried before and have found to be fantastic to bake with or simply to eat). To my surprise, in addition to the bars, they sent along some baking chunks. I had never seen this product before, but I was really excited about it. They are a great alternative to chocolate chips. Not only are they of higher quality than most chocolate chips that you will encounter, but sometimes a chunk is just more fun than a chip. Thanks, Scharffen Berger, for the sample!

Monkey Bread Cupcake Recipe

I came up with my monkey bread cupcake recipe by modifying the King Arthur Flour monkey bread recipe. I changed it from a cake to cupcakes, dipped the batter in butter instead of water (more calories, but more yum), and added the banana and chocolate. Also, I gave my cupcakes a cinnamon glaze. Here is the modified recipe:

Makes 12 cupcakes

1/2 C lukewarm water
1 T vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 t salt
1 T sugar
2 T instant yeast or rapid rise yeast
2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C granulated sugar
1 T cinnamon
1 ripe banana, cut into small slices
chocolate chips or baking chunks to taste (about 2 oz)
2 T unsalted butter, melted

Place water, vegetable oil, egg, salt, sugar, and yeast in a medium bowl and mix well.
Add 1 cup of the flour, stirring to blend.
Add the second cup of flour, stirring to make a cohesive dough.
Let the dough rest for 5 minutes; this gives the flour a chance to absorb the liquid, making it easier to knead.
Knead the dough — by hand, mixer, or bread machine — until it's soft and smooth.
Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl or large measuring cup, cover it, and let the dough rise for 30 to 60 minutes or until it's doubled in size.
Gently deflate the dough.
Mix the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl.
Place cupcake liners into a cupcake tin and lightly grease them with butter or cooking spray.
Pull off a small piece of dough. How small? You should get 24 pieces out of the batter so that you can have two pieces in each cupcake. However, unless you are having a dinner party for exactly 12 people, it doesn't really matter and you can make the pieces whatever size you would like.
Stretch the piece out, put a banana slice and several chocolate chips or baking chunks inside, and then roll it into a ball.

Dip the ball in the melted butter.

Dip the ball in the cinnamon and sugar.

Put the ball into the cupcake liner. You should be able to fit two balls into each cupcake liner.
Cover the cupcake tin and let the bread rise for 30 to 60 minutes, until it's visibly puffy. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350 F.
Uncover the cupcake tin and bake the monkey bread for 25 to 30 minutes, until it's golden brown and feels set.
While the monkey bread is baking, prepare the glaze.

Cinnamon Glaze Recipe

1/2 C powdered sugar
1 T milk
1/4 t cinnamon

Mix all of the ingredients together.
Drizzle over the hot cupcakes.
The cupcakes are best served warm. If you can't eat them immediately, reheat them in microwave for about 15 seconds before serving.

Cupcake Hero Banana

Cupcake Hero was one of the first blog events that I ever entered. After a long hiatus, it is back, and it's now hosted my one of my fav cupcake bloggers, I Heart Cuppycakes. This month's theme is banana, and these monkey bread cupcakes with banana and chocolate are my entry! I'm looking forward to seeing all of the other entries, but I hope that I'm top banana.

Cooking-Related Breakdowns: Do You Tell?

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 01:19:00 +0000

Last week, I was lucky enough to attend a pre-screening of Julie & Julia (it's a must-see for food bloggers and a should-see for everyone else). I saw the movie with Groom 2.0. After it was over, he turned to me and asked if I ever have breakdowns like Julie has in the film. "You don't write about that on your blog."

Yes, I have cooking-related breakdowns. There, I've said it.

Like Julie, I imagine all of my readers waiting on the edge of their seats to see what masterpiece cupcake I'll come up with next. I feel guilty when I don't post and guilty when I post something that is only so-so or downright bad. I also hate wasting food. There is nothing worse than the feeling of tossed food - think about the starving children who would love even a bad cupcake.

One Week - Three New Cupcake Recipes

The past couple of weeks have featured more than my normal share of cupcake crises. As you may have seen, I'll be writing for Paula Deen Online starting in October. What I didn't mention is that they need all four recipes by the end of August. I'm due to have a baby on Saturday, so I wanted to get them done ASAP, pre-baby.

I made three recipes last week. I love two of the three. My mom said that one of these was about the best thing she's ever eaten! I can't wait to share!!

However, the third recipe is evil! I will tell you that it involves making caramel and then getting said caramel to stick to a wet object. After my fourth caramel screw up, I fell, deflated, to the floor - much like the meringue you'll read about later in this post that collapsed before ever really peaking. I could blame prego hormones for my brief moment of instability, but I've had pre-pregnancy cooking-related breakdowns, too.

Jonathan encouraged me to keep trying at the caramel and kept offering to go to the store to buy more heavy whipping cream and sugar. Sweet success came on my seventh try. Sadly, the moment was fleeting. The morning after, I awoke to find that all of the candy caramel coating had dripped off of the object. GRRR. Major disappointment. I haven't given up on the caramel, but I have taken a break. I simply can't handle another caramel catastrophe at this moment.

On the bright side, I gave a batch of tasty, but not so sticky caramel to a friend and it's arriving back at my house tomorrow in the form of homemade caramel pear ice cream. Yay!

What Not to Do With 12 Egg Whites

For one of the two successful Paula Dean cupcakes, I used twelve egg yolks - pretty crazy, huh?! Since a week had gone by without posting on this blog, I thought I would bake cupcakes with the twelve egg whites. I even had the title all figured out ("What to Do With 12 Egg Whites"). I followed a recipe that I found for an egg white cake (using 6 egg whites) and made a couple of changes to make them cupcakes - disaster! The cupcakes stuck to the wrappers and had a weird macaroon-like consistency.

Despite the botched cupcakes, I thought that perhaps I could save them with some frosting. I planned to make a Swiss meringue buttercream that would use the other six egg whites. As sometimes happens (with meringue), it never got stiff enough. Besides, I didn't even like the taste. "Another tasty treat for the trash," I thought.

Jonathan, however, would have none of it. He refused to let me throw it out. Instead, he whipped it a bit more, added some cream of tartar, and baked it in ramekins. Two hours later, we had a fluffy, sweet, tasty, custard-like dessert that I would highly recommend to anyone.

Sometimes, I remember on my own that you can turn lemons into lemonade, but sometimes it takes someone else to remind me to turn that frown upside-down.

On that note, I present Stef and Jonathan's Egg White Vanilla Custard.

Makes about 5 ramekins of custard

6 egg whites
1 1/2 C sugar
2 t vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
1 C butter, room temperature
1 t cream of tartar

Whip egg whites and sugar until foamy and doubled in size.
Mix in vanilla bean paste.
Mix in butter, one tablespoon at a time.
Mix in cream of tartar.
Distribute evenly among ramekins. They should be about half full.
Bake at 200 F for about two hours.
Use a culinary torch to brûlée the top of each custard.

The Next Few Weeks

If I disappear for a stretch of time, it's probably because I've had the baby. I'll surely continue baking cupcakes, but I may need a few weeks off. Although, my doula says that baking cupcakes is a great thing to do in early labor, so we shall see. :)

Do You Have Cooking-Related Breakdowns?

Do you ever have breakdowns when recipes don't go the way you want? Do you tell?

Cupcakes for Paula Deen

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:28:00 +0000

I am proud and truly honored to announce that beginning in October, you'll be able to find Cupcake Project cupcakes in a second location.

I'll be creating one cupcake each month from October through January for Paula Deen Online!

Don't worry, I'll still be making cupcakes here, and I'll be sure to remind you when it's time to head over to Paula Deen's site for cupcake inspiration.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Basil

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Vegan chocolate cupcakes can easily rival any non-vegan counterpart. These vegan chocolate cupcakes are light and bouncy like Hostess cupcakes - but leagues better. The best part of the vegan chocolate cupcakes was how well they domed. As my friend NZ Cupcake Queen (author of The Cupcake Project - not to be confused with this blog, Cupcake Project) says:

Feeling that a vegan chocolate cupcake (delectable or not) was uninteresting, I decided to make it a chocolate basil cupcake. Basil tastes strikingly similar to mint - so much so that my tasters said they would have confused these cupcakes for chocolate mint cupcakes if I didn't tell them otherwise (or if they weren't topped with basil leaves). However, the basil was different enough from mint for me to like it - I'm not a fan of mint.

I used basil grown in our own home garden, and I'm proud to enter this cupcake into this month's Grow Your Own roundup hosted by Amy of Playing House.

I love how the event logo looks just like the basil leaves on my cupcakes!

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Basil Recipe

I found the recipe for vegan chocolate cupcakes on Kylie's blog, The Baking Bird. She got the recipe from the cookbook La Dolce Vegan!. Below is a reprinting of the recipe adapted to cupcakes with the addition of basil.

Makes about 20 cupcakes

1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/2 C flour
1 3/4 C sugar
1 1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 C fresh basil leaves, packed firmly
1/2 cup soft or silken tofu
1 C soy milk
1 T apple cider vinegar
1 T vanilla extract
1/2 C oil
1/2 C water

In a large bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
In a food processor, chop basil finely.
Add the tofu, soy milk, vinegar, vanilla, and oil to the food processor and process until smooth.
Pour contents of the food processor into the bowl with the dry ingredients.
Add the water.
Stir together until fully combined.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
Bake at 350 F for 25 minutes or until cupcakes bounce back when touched.

The Frosting

I frosted the vegan chocolate cupcakes with vegan chocolate ganache.

Vegan Frosting - Chocolate Ganache Using Tofu

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:56:00 +0000

I wanted a vegan frosting that didn't require margarine (most vegan frosting recipes that I found online called for margarine - yuck). Finally, I found a vegan frosting sans margarine that was worthy of topping a vegan Cupcake Project cupcake. It's a vegan chocolate ganache where tofu takes the place of the typical cream.

I waited until they were done enjoying the vegan cupcakes with vegan frosting before telling my tasters that the frosting contained tofu. They were shocked. It was not at all obvious.

The main difference between the vegan chocolate ganache and other chocolate ganache s is the texture. Typically, ganaches have a lustrous sheen. The vegan ganache had a definite matte finish. The texture was also different - it was thick, almost like brownie batter (tasted like it, too!). More pics are coming when I post the cupcakes. It looks a bit more attractive once it's all smoothed out.

Vegan Frosting Recipe

I got the vegan frosting recipe concept from the Vegetarian Times. Here is my altered version.

1/2 C soft tofu (use less if you want it to be more creamy)
2 3/4 oz chocolate (use your favorite brand of chocolate here - semi-sweet or dark both work)
1/4 C sugar, optional (if you use dark chocolate or baking chocolate, you will need to add some sugar to give it sweetness)

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave. (I usually microwave it. Put it in for thirty seconds, stir, and repeat until it's all melted.)
Pour the melted chocolate over the tofu and stir until combined.
If needed, mix in the sugar.

Peach Pie with Brie - Cupcake Style

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 01:51:00 +0000

Peach pie - sweet, gooey peaches, buttery crust, topped with cool, creamy vanilla ice cream - an irresistible summer dessert. Not able to leave a classic alone, I made two key changes to the traditional peach pie recipe:

I added Brie cheese (full disclosure - I was given the Brie cheese for free from Ile de France so I had to do something cool with it! Thanks, Ile de France!!)Before you start doubting the peach pie with Brie cheese, consider the popular pie combination of apple and cheddar (cheese is not a new ingredient to the pie world). Then, think about a time when you've had baked Brie with fruit compote (if you've never had baked Brie with fruit, rectify that right now!). Brie goes really well with fruit. In the case of my mini peach pies, tasters could barely tell that the Brie was there unless they knew to look for it. It mostly added some complexity to the flavors, mixing a little sour into the otherwise sweet mix.
I made the peach pies cupcake style. As you'll see as you move further into the post, I made the mini pies three different ways: crust cut out on top, lattice top, and peach juice pecan top.

Peach Pie with Brie Recipe

The Crust

If you already have a favorite pie crust recipe, feel free to use that. I used a recipe from the classic Vincent Price cookbook that is actually designed for an apple tart rather than a pie. I like that it has a mild lemon flavor. Crusts should have a flavor and stand up on their own, not just be a delivery mechanism for pie filling.

I've been using the Vincent Price recipe since I was a kid. You make the whole thing with your hands, and I've always loved the messiness of it. It doesn't roll out as well as some other crust recipes that I've tried, but to me it's worth the extra effort for the sublime flavor.

I'm reprinting the recipe below in my own words, with a slight modification from the original.

Double the recipe if you plan to put a lattice or top crust on your mini pies.

2 1/2 C flour
1/2 C sugar
1 C (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
4 egg yolks
Grated rind of one lemon

Clean your counter well and pour flour onto the counter.
Make the letter O with the flour and put all of the other ingredients in the middle of the O (see photo above).
Using your hands, work the center ingredients into a paste and then knead in the flour. If necessary, dip your fingers in water while you are working to help the dough stick together better.
Roll the dough into a ball and refrigerate for at least thirty minutes.

The Peach Filling

I got the recipe for the peach filling from allrecipes. I am reprinting it with slight modifications below.

5 C sliced peaches (about 8 medium-sized peaches)
2 T lemon juice
1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 C white sugar
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t ground nutmeg
1/4 t salt
2 T butter

Place the sliced peaches in a large bowl and sprinkle with lemon juice.
Mix gently.
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
Pour over the peaches, and mix gently.

Putting It All Together

As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, I made these mini pies three ways. However, the basic setup is the same and should make about 24 mini pies.

Unbaked pie dough (see above)
Prepared peach filling (see above)
4 oz Brie cheese

Remove half of the dough from the fridge and roll it out on a lightly floured surface to about 1/4 inch thick.
Use a 3 1/2 inch diameter circle cookie cutter to cut the dough into circles. If you don't have a cookie cutter that width, see if you have a glass you can use or experiment with different widths.
Put cupcake liners into cupcake tins.
Press the center of your circle into the bottom of a cupcake liner and work the rest up the sides. It should come about 3/4 of the way up the side. I experimented with different heights and found this to be the most pleasing to me, but higher or lower won't destroy anything. Repeat the same procedure with the other half of the dough.
Fill the pie crusts with slices of the prepared peach filling.
Dot the top of the peach filling with small pieces of Brie (I used four pieces about the size of my fingertip). If you don't want to use Brie, you can dot with butter instead.
Choose the option that you want for the top and assemble (these are covered later).
Bake at 350 F for about 25 minutes.

Option One - The Little Pie Crust Cutout

For some of the mini pies, I topped the peaches and brie with some extra pie crust that I cut out using a tiny cookie cutter (OK - it was a tool from a Play-Doh kit). While I used stars, I think hearts would be really cute.

Option Two - The Classic Lattice

For other pies, I topped the peaches and Brie with a classic pie lattice. I cut out the strips of lattice using a pastry cutter to give them jagged edges.

Option Three - Peach Juice and Nut Goodness

For the remainder of the pies, I wanted to use up the sugared peach juice that was left over after I put all the peach filling into the pies. I had somewhere between a half cup and three quarters cup of sweetened peach juice left in my bowl. I mixed that with a quarter cup of flour to thicken it up and a quarter cup of pecans to add some crunch. Then, I spooned that mixture on top of the mini pies. While I liked all three varieties of pie, I think this one was my favorite.

On the left you can see the set up without the goodness on top.
On the right, you see it with the goodness spooned on.

Other Mini Pies

If you like the idea of making mini pies, you may also want to check out my recipe for mini pumpkin pies.

Dinner Roll Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:56:00 +0000

This dinner roll recipe was chewy and light on the inside with a crusty exterior. Yogurt gives this dinner roll recipe a bit of a tang and honey provides it with a subtle sweetness. To make the dinner roll recipe more cupcake fan friendly, I baked the rolls in cupcake tins. The rolls came out looking just like little bread cupcakes!

For kicks, you could "frost" them with some butter and jam!

The Dinner Roll Recipe

I got the dinner roll recipe from my Taste & Create partner this month, Robin at Hippo Flambe (is that not the coolest name for a blog?). Robin originally got the recipe from one of my favorite blogs, Baking Bites. I've reprinted the recipe here with my notes and the change to make them as cupcake rolls.

Makes about 12 cupcake-sized rolls

1 1/2 - 2 C whole wheat pastry flour (I know it's uncool to say it, but I'm not a fan of whole wheat flour. I used entirely all-purpose flour for the rolls.)
2 - 2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 T active dry yeast
3 T honey
1 C tepid water (105° - 115° F)
1 C yogurt (Robin used Greek style yogurt, as did I.)
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 t salt

If using both whole wheat and all-purpose flour, mix the two flours together in a bowl and set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine 1/2 cup flour (or flour mix), yeast, honey and tepid water.
Stir well and let stand for 10 minutes, until bubbles form.
With flat beater blade or a wooden spoon, stir in yogurt, extra virgin olive oil, salt, and 2 more cups of flour (or flour mix).
Gradually mix in remaining flour until you have a soft dough that pulls from the sides of the bowl.
Turn out onto a floured counter and knead by hand or use the dough hook attachment on an electric mixer. This should take about 5 minutes.
Cover the bowl with a lid or a towel and let rise until the dough doubles in size, approximately 1 hour.
Spray cupcake tins with non-stick baking spray or coat with melted butter.
Break off pieces of dough and roll into balls that fill each cupcake slot. The balls should almost fill each depression. Both Hippo Flambe and Baking Bites go into detail about how to make sure that each roll is exactly the same size. I don't really care about homemade things all being the same size. I like that people can choose whether they want a bigger one or a smaller one.
Cover with a clean, damp dish towel and let rise for 25 minutes. After rising, mine looked like the photo above.
Bake at 375 F for about 20 minutes, until rolls are a deep golden brown on the top.
Break one open and dig in!