Baby Shower Cupcake Project and Melt in Your Mouth Sugar Cookies

The Mommy-to-Be loves chocolate, so I searched for a really good recipe.





















DARK CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES
Cooks Illustrated, “American Classics 2009”)(makes 12 cupcakes; do not double recipe…make two separate batches if you need more
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup (1 1/2 oz) Dutch-processed cocoa
3/4 cup (3 3/4 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs
3/4 cup (5 1/4 oz) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup (4 oz) sour cream

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard-sized muffin pan (1/2 cup capacity) with baking-cup liners.
2. Combine butter, chocolate and cocoa in medium heatproof bowl. Set bowl over saucepan containing barely simmering water; heat mixture until butter and chocolate are melted and whisk until smooth and fully combined. Set aside to cool until just warm to touch.
3. Whisk flour, baking soda and baking powder in small bowl to combine
4. Whisk eggs in second medium bowl to combine; add sugar, vanilla and salt and whisk until fully incorporated. Add cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Sift about one-third of flour mixture over chocolate mixture and whisk until combined; whisk in sour cream until combined; then sift in remaining flour mixture and whisk batter until it is homogenous and thick.
5. Divide batter evenly among muffin pan cups. Bake until skewer inserted into center of cupcakes comes out clean, 18-20 minutes.
6. Cool cupcakes in muffin pan on wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes. Carefully lift each cupcake from muffin pan and set on wire rack. Cool to room temperature before icing, about 30 minutes.

The Swiss Meringue Buttercream is smooth, silky and not overly sweet. It pairs beautifully with the dark chocolate. The best part of this particular buttercream is that it isn’t grainy, pipes beautifully, and holds up well even in warm weather. I had tried a meringue buttercream for my previous cake project and it was pronounced "different" This recipe was creamy without being being so "different". It wasn't difficult to make.

SWISS MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM
(from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes; makes about 5 cups)

5 large egg whites
1 cup plus 2 T sugar
pinch of salt
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. Combine egg whites, sugar and salt in the heatproof bowl of a standing mixer set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk constantly by hand until mixture is warm to the touch and sugar has dissolved (the mixture should feel completely smooth when rubbed between your fingertips).
2. Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Starting on low and gradually increasing to medium-high speed, whisk until stiff (but not dry) peaks form. Continue mixing until the mixture is fluffy and glossy, and completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl), about 10 minutes.
3. With mixer on medium-low speed, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time, mixing well after each addition. Once all butter has been added, whisk in vanilla. Switch to the paddle attachment, and continue beating on low speed until all air bubbles are eliminated, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl with a flexible spatula, and continue beating until the frosting is completely smooth. Keep buttercream at room temperature if using the same day, or transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 1 month. Before using, bring to room temperature and beat with paddle attachment on low speed until smooth again, about 5 minutes.
4. (optional) To tint buttercream, reserve some for toning down the color, if necessary. Add gel-paste food color, a drop at a time (or use the toothpick or skewer to add food color a dab at a time) to the remaining buttercream. You can use a single shade of food color or experiment by mixing two or more. Blend after each addition with the mixer (use the paddle attachment) or a flexible spatula, until desired shade is achieved. Avoid adding too much food color too son, as the hue with intensify with continued stirring; if necessary, you can tone down the shade by mixing in some reserved untinted buttercream.

The baby-to-be is a girl so I felt I had to make pink cupcakes too. I used strawberry cake mix combined with a white cake mix and added about 1/4 cup of the strawberry filling mixture to the cake mix. Since I was making cupcakes and didn't have to worry about smoothing frosting I used the cream cheese frosting I had tested for my previous cake project.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting:
6 ounces white chocolate, chopped
12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons Tahitian vanilla extract
2 TB strawberry filling
Drop or two of red food coloring to make a lovely pink color

In a microwave, double boiler or a metal bowl set over simmering water, melt the white chocolate and butter. Let it cool slightly. In a separate bowl, beat together cream cheese. Add powdered sugar, vanilla and slightly cooled chocolate.

As a favor I also made large butterfly cookies covered with marshmallow fondant. I think the brown sugar in the recipe really adds a nice flavor and the powdered
sugar does make the cookie melt nicely in your mouth.

Melt in Your Mouth Sugar Cookies

Ingredients: p
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups butter

2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

raspberry jam
marshmallow fondant

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F ( 175 degrees C ).
In a large bowl, cream together sugar, and butter. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cream of tartar; stir into the creamed mixture. Roll out dough and cut into desired shapes. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.

Cut the marshmallow fondant with the same cookie cutter as you used for the cookies. Spread jam on the cookies and then the fondant.

My Ultimate White Chiffon Cake

I finished the cake project in an acceptable manner. Putting it on a cake plate for presentation would have made it look as tall as I had pictured it. It was four 8” layers of what I wound up calling Carolyn's Ultimate Chiffon Velvet Butter Cake!!

In all of my experimenting I learned a few things I probably could have found out otherwise, but it’s good to experiment. Here’s a list of things I discovered:

• A cake comes out very tough if you forget the water.
• Density increases with the use of milk and decreases with the use of water.
• Density increases with the use of butter and decreases with the use of oil (chiffon).
• Mayonnaise can be added to any recipe to increase moistness.
• Superfine sugar makes for a more delicate crumb.

I filled it with a fresh strawberry filling and frosted it with a buttercream icing as requested. The decoration matched the invitations. I was going for minimalist…

Recipe for Carolyn's Ultimate Chiffon Velvet Butter Cake
7 egg whites (7 1/8 oz)
1 cup water
1 TB vanilla
3 cups cake flour (10.5 oz)
1 1/2 cups superfine sugar (10.5 oz)
1 TB + 1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
6 TB oil
6 TB butter
1/4 cup mayonnaise

Set a rack at the middle level of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add oil and mayo. Wisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Add water and vanilla extract. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to butter mixture then add half the vanilla mixture. Continue to alternate beginning and ending with flour mixture. Scrape bowl and beater often. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until peaks form. Fold into the batter. Pour batter into prepared pan(s) and smooth top with a metal spatula. Bake cake(s) about 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center emerges clean. Cool in pan on a rack for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a rack, remove paper and let cool completely.

Strawberry Filling
Ingredients
1 cup coarsely chopped hulled strawberries + 2 cups slices or chopped strawberries
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
½ tsp gelatin
1/2 cup water

Directions
Bring all ingredients to a boil in a heavy small sauce pan. stirring constantly and crushing berries slightly with back of spoon.
Boil 2 minutes to thicken, stirring constantly (mixture will be slightly chunky).
Pour into bowl and cool completely.

Slice fresh strawberries and place on cake layer. Spoon filling over top. It is important to make a dam with buttercream around the outside of each layer to keep the filling from leaking out.

I needed a frosting that tasted good and was able to crust over a bit so that it can be smoothed. I read online about the Viva method using Viva paper towels and your hand to smooth. Wilton teaches a similar technique using parchment and a fondant smoother.

Buttercream Dream Icing (From Repressed Pastry Chef)
Ingredients
1 stick salted butter - room temperature
1 stick unsalted butter - room temperature
1 cup shortening
1 tablespoon Clear Vanilla extract
22 oz confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar, 10x)
4 tablespoons very cold milk
1 tsp meringue powder

Directions
Cream the butter and shortening in the bowl of an electric or stand mixer. Add the clear vanilla extract and combine well. Begin adding in the sugar and mixing thoroughly after each addition. After all of the sugar has been added and mixed thoroughly, begin adding the very cold milk... one tablespoon at a time, combining very well after each addition (mixer on medium-high to high speed) until you reach the desired consistency.

Mayonnaise Miracle

I've been making cakes a while now and in the past have found no problem just using box cake mix - whatever's on sale. The Wilton cake decorating classes got me started in that direction. After my foray into giant stacked cakes and comparing all three brands I decided that Betty Crocker and Pillsbury seem to make a moister cake than Duncan Hines so I've been sticking to those.

Well, I've got a large cake project and decided that c'mon, I really should make a scratch cake that's worthy of a special occasion. Pink Cake Box referred to Rose Levy Beranbaum's Cake Bible. Her scientific approach to cake baking is right up my alley. So I bought the book and went about comparing different recipes. I've been using a scale for my measurements. It's way scientific.

First I made the vanilla cake that the book Confetti Cakes recommends for sculpted cakes. It calls for half cake flour and half all-purpose flour. I used all egg whites. The cake was dry and, because of the all purpose flour, had a bit more of a coarse crumb than I wanted. Oddly enough I found it moistened up after a day under wrap with syrup.

Then I made a white cake from a Betty Crocker French Vanilla mix. It came out dry too. Cake mixes never fail for me! After looking into the reasons I determined that it was because I substituted equal weight of egg whites for the whole eggs it called for. The box directions did call for whole eggs after all.

After that I turned to ... The Cake Bible. No failure was conceivable - it's a standard in the baking world, and I used a scale - not my housewifely measuring cups. I followed the recipe for white velvet butter cake to the letter. All my ingredients were room temperature, butter softened to perfection. I believe there was Mozart playing in the background. I kept an eye on the time and pulled it out of the oven at the exact moment when the toothpick was crumbless. The result -DRY!!! Huh? At this point I thought it had to be my oven and ran out and got an oven thermometer. The temp was perfect.

My scientific mind leapt into action. I Googled "why is my cake dry". The answers I found included information about egg yolks vs. whites and included the fact that yolks help keep a cake moist because of their fat and the fact that they help emulsify. There was also a tip that said to add a tablespoon of vinegar. One person answered a dry cake inquiry with a suggestion to add 1/4 mayonnaise to any cake recipe. She noted that it was necessary keep this practice a deep dark secret from her family. There apparently was some 'splainin' to do when she was caught by her husband adding the mayo to her cake batter. Mayonnaise has vinegar, oil, and egg yolks - everything that could really add moisture to a cake. It sounded perfect.

Cake #4 was a Betty Crocker White cake mix with 1/4 cup mayonnaise added to it. It came out perfectly moist and delicious. Yay! I'm about to be scientific again and resist the urge to make a completely different cake recipe. I'll try Rose's white velvet butter cake and see if 1/4 cup mayonnaise is actually a miracle.

Perfect for a Snowy Big Bear Afternoon

I stocked up before I holed up in my isolated mountain cabin. OK it's in a resort area with lots of neighbors. It feels isolated when the snow is coming down and building up. One thing I knew would hit the spot would be my mom's clam chowder. We had a few snowy days back in Bellevue and she'd make cheese crackers to go with the chowder. I remember my grandpa bringing home some freshly dug clams once. That didn't turn out too well...

Here's the recipe I made just for me:

1 potato
1/2 onion
3 slices of bacon (I used center cut)
1 can of clams
1/2 cup milk

Dice bacon and cook until crispy. Drain bacon pieces and reserve a teaspoon (or two) to cook onions.




Dice onions and cook in reserved bacon drippings.




I take them from the pan but you can just leave them in with the potatoes while they cook. Peel and chop potatoes. Cover with water in saucepan and cook until tender.



Add milk. I suppose you could use cream or make a roux to thicken it but mom's was thin and it has fewer calories so that's good. Add the clams and heat until just bubbly around edges. Stir in onions and bacon before serving.

Quest for the Ultimate Pastor
I'm experimenting again. I love pastor and have made it only once. It was definitely a learning experience because I needed to figure out where to find the

chiles I was not familiar with, like guajillo and pasilla. Not only did I need to find them I needed lessons on what they actually were. Alton Brown, and others, showed how one chile can have 3 names depending on whether it is fresh, dried or smoked. Here's a link to a great site that helped me figure it out, Cook's Thesaurus

The recipe I had used before called for guajillo chiles, and pasillas which I was able to find. They were then soaked and the pork was marinated. It was from the LA Times and fairly involved. It turned out good but not as fantastic as I'd hoped.

Last weekend I made another attempt. Now, I'm not really aiming for the ultimate authentic version. According to the purists I'd need a spit and a taco truck for that. I wound up at a local Von's without much time so I went with what they had - no guajillo, no pasillas - they didn't even carry the dried spices anymore. They didn't even have the little cans of chipotle in adobo I needed. OK so here's a sort of Sandra Lee version of Pastor using, of all things, Taco Seasoning Mix! They had a hot version so I used that. I started with the epicurious recipe and veered way off due to ingredient issues:

Here's what was declared "Very Tasty" by my significant other who's not prone to compliments and has definite opinions about his Mexican food.

1 large white onion, halved
1 16 oz can sliced pineapple
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup italian dressing
2 TB hot taco seasoning :)
3 garlic cloves, halved
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 2 1/2-to 3-pound pork sholder cut into 1/2-inch slices - (don't cut all the way through)
1 large or 2 small chipotle chiles and 1 to 2 teaspoons adobo from canned chipotle chiles in adobo
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Corn tortillas
Put the pineapple slices between the slices of pork. Slice 1 onion half. Add orange juice and next 5 ingredients. Place pork in large resealable plastic bag with onions. Add marinade and seal bag, releasing excess air. Turn to coat. Chill 1 hour. Remember I was short on time. 4 hours or a day would have been better.

Cook in crock pot for 2 hours then 300 degree oven (covered) for 1 1/2. Take the fat off the top of the sauce formed while cooking and add the chipotle and adobo (that your significant other has brought from Ralph's in time to add it after the cooking has taken place). Cook the sauce down until it becomes thick enough to brush onto meat. I added some honey at this point, maybe a tablespoon.

Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Grill pork with some sauce until slightly charred 2 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer pineapple and pork to work surface; chop remaining pineapple into 1/2-inch cubes, Chop pork. Transfer to platter; toss to combine with more of the sauce.
Meanwhile, finely chop remaining onion half and place in medium bowl. Add cilantro; toss to combine. Grill tortillas until warm and slightly charred, about 10 seconds per side.
Serve pork-pineapple mixture with onion-cilantro relish.

Maybe I need to come up with another name for this dish since the only thing that clings to the pastor tradition is the pineapple. Next time I'll use fresh pineapple (won't do a long marinade with fresh pineapple -enzymes you know) and do the whole soak the real chile thing. But, for a fake version this was "tasty."

Here are some links I came across in my search:

This site has a picture of what the authentic pastor situation in Mexico City is
http://www.batista.org/pastor.html

This site gave some good background on the pastor tradition. I'm not sure I'm onboard with cinnamon in the recipe though... Looks like a good recipe blog. He's a transplanted Californinan living in NYC trying to find good Mexican food. I remember being in the same situation in Boston.

http://www.norecipes.com/2008/05/04/tacos-al-pastor/

These recipes use a bay leaf which I think I'll try next.
http://onebigkitchen.com/?p=152
http://www.nibbledish.com/people/norecipes/recipes/tacos-al-pastor

Personal pet peeve - NOBODY USES APOSTROPHES CORRECTLY ANYMORE!

Plural words don't need them I ate 2 tacos.

Possesives use them. The taco's flavor. As in the flavor owned by the taco

Contractions use apostrophes This taco's good. As in this taco is good

OK I feel better. Heaven knows I'm not perfect but sheesh people. As the language changes the apostrophe will probably either be used for everything or dropped entirely.

Here's what I added to the pork mixture to doctor it up for the potluck:

Adobo sauce from a small can of chipotle in adobo sauce (3 TB)

1 tsp of Alton Brown's Chile Powder

1/s tsp garlic salt (5 cranks of sea salt and garlic)

1 tsp Mexican oregano.

3-4 TB water.