Peanut Butter Banana Cupcakes for He Never Liked Cake

Posted on May 20, 2013

A couple of days during the work week, I wake up earlier than I’d like and meet what is usually a handful of morning people at my local studio for 75 minutes of yoga. Janna Leyde has been my Thursday teacher for almost a year. I leave her class awake, invigorated, and ready to face my day.

Janna also teaches yoga to her dad. He is a traumatic brain injury survivor.

He Never Liked Cake

He Never Liked Cake, a coming-of-age memoir by Janna Leyde,
is a book about a family dealing with traumatic brain injury.

Janna’s father was forever changed by a car wreck when she was 14, and she has written this book to help others understand traumatic brain injury survivors and what their families go through. Her story is one of love and perseverance, pain and frustration, and she tells it with honesty and humor. As she puts it herself, it is “the unabashedly honest perspective of a girl who lost her father and learned to love a stranger.”

I was happy to make cupcakes for the He Never Liked Cake launch party.

peanut butter banana mini cupcakesWhy peanut butter? It’s a flavor both Janna and her dad like. In the book, she makes a peanut butter and berry smoothie for them after practicing yoga. And banana, of course, goes with peanut butter. (It’s also a great smoothie ingredient!)

What does the title mean? You’ll have to read the book. Buy it at Bookcourt in Brooklyn or online at Amazon.

[ Posted in Fruit, Stories ] [ Leave a comment ]

Macarons by Amélie

Posted on May 2, 2013

Baking cupcakes is of course my true passion, but it doesn’t hurt to try new things in the world of baked goods! I’ve had friends and blog readers ask if I ever bake other sweets. Ok, ok, I do! I decided to try something different last weekend and signed up for a French Macaron Class at Mille-Feuille Bakery on LaGuardia Place in NYC.

macaron_rainbow

A rainbow of macarons to taste

Macarons are made up of what are basically meringue shells with a variety of fillings. Most of the flavor actually comes from the fillings, which was a surprise to me. The color in the shell is usually just food coloring! Chef Olivier at Mille-Feuille did mention that the chocolate shells could be made by replacing 15-20% of the almond flour with cocoa powder, but we did not do that for this batch.

colorful_almond_flour

The shells contain just egg whites, almond flour, and sugar (both powdered and granular). We whipped the egg whites, then poured in heated sugar syrup. Mixed with the almond flour, powdered sugar, and food coloring, we had our batter.

mixing_macarons

Some of the tips we were given were to use aged eggs, not very fresh eggs, and to separate them ahead of time, letting the whites sit 2-3 days (refrigerated but brought to room temperature before using). Olivier also cautioned us not to buy pre-separated egg whites, that they are often not of high enough quality to ever whip to firmness.

What was different about making macarons versus making cupcakes? The main place that my skills led me wrong was in the piping. Piping icing on a cupcake, I move in circles, holding the bag at an angle and pulling up at the end, creating a nice peak. With macarons, in both piping the dough and the filling, you must keep your piping bag very steady, the tip the same distance away and straight up and down. You want a very smooth, even circle and no peak! A little variation is ok, I found, as the next step takes care of that. After piping the batter, you hit the bottom of the pan firmly (and loudly!) until they do smooth out into nice, uniform dots.

raw macarons

Raw macarons (note the cheat sheet!)

baked_macarons

Fresh out of the oven

Next, you make the filling. You can make macaron filling from most any flavor you can imagine, but we stuck to chocolate, vanilla, and pistachio. All involve cream, and both the vanilla and pistachio used white chocolate. For the vanilla, we put in vanilla beans; to the pistachio we added pistachio paste. For the chocolate filling, we added chocolate, butter and honey to cream.

fillings

Match the baked shells by size, then pipe on your filling. Et, voilà! You have French Macarons.

Well, not quite yet. The macarons must be refrigerated for 18-24 hours to reach the desired texture and for the flavors of the shell and filling to combine. Olivier recommended they be taken out about 20 minutes before serving.

macaron_construction

It was fun to try baking something different. I hadn’t really known how macarons were made. I thought maybe some sort of mold was used? It was a lot easier than I expected! Yet they feel so…fancy. Tasty, though! They were not too pretty to eat.

Thank you to Vimbly for finding the macaron class for me and providing a discount for my baking adventure! Vimbly.com is a website that helps users discover and book activities like this baking class and many, many more fun recreations around New York City.

[ Posted in Bakeries, Technique ] [ Leave a comment ]

French Lesson Cupcakes

Posted on April 11, 2013

french cupcakes

I promised to bake chocolate cupcakes for my fellow classmates after I included a recipe as part of my advanced beginner French presentation. I decorated them with some leftover cupcake toppers featuring dinosaurs, cats, robots and spaceships. These acted as mini-flashcards, once I labeled them in French. Mon professeur préférait le dinosaure rouge.

Below is the recipe in French and its English translation. I’ve made a few additions to the English version in brackets and also included a recipe for the basic buttercream icing I used on the class’s cupcakes. Bon appétit!

Recette: Cupcakes au Chocolat

1 1/2 bâton de beurre
2/3 tasse de sucre blanc
2/3 tasse de sucre marron
2 œufs
2 cuillères à café de extrait de vanille
1 tasse de lait battu
1/2 tasse de crème
2 cuillères à soupe de café
1 3/4 tasses de farine
1 tasse de cacao en poudre
1 1/2 cuillères à café de bicarbonate de soude
1 pincée de sel

Préchauffez votre four à 350 degrés Fahrenheit. Avec un batteur électrique, mélangez le beurre et le sucre pendant cinq minutes. Puis, ajoutez des œufs, un à la fois, et ajoutez l’extrait de vanille.

Dans un bol, combinez la farine, le cacao, le bicarbonate de soude et le sel. Dans un autre bol, mélangez le lait, la crème et le café.

Ajoutez les deux mélanges au bol avec le beurre, le sucre et les œufs. Mélangez bien.

Mettez la pâte dans les moules à muffins. Cuisez-les pendant vingt minutes.

Recipe: Chocolate Cupcakes

1 1/2 sticks of butter
2/3 cup white sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2  teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons coffee
1 3/4 cups of flour
1 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
a pinch of salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. With an electric mixer, mix [cream] the butter and sugar for five minutes. Then, add the eggs, one at a time, and add the vanilla extract.

In a bowl, combine [sift together] the flour, the cocoa, the baking soda and the salt. In another bowl, mix the milk, the sour cream and the coffee.

Add the two mixtures to the bowl with the butter, the sugar and the eggs. [It is best to alternate adding the dry and wet ingredients.] Mix well.

Put the batter into muffin tins [lined with cupcake papers]. Bake them for 20 minutes [rotate after 10 minutes, check at 18 minutes].

Frost with…

Recipe: Vanilla Buttercream Icing

1+ pound powdered sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-3 tablespoons milk

Beat the butter, slowly adding powdered sugar. Add the extract, then the milk. Add more milk or powdered sugar to reach desired consistency.

Variations: Use different extracts to change flavor, or add cocoa powder or melted chocolate.

 

[ Posted in Decorating, Recipes ] [ 1 Comment ]

Dark and Stormy Cupcakes (Rum Ginger Cake with Lime Ginger Frosting)

Posted on March 26, 2013

Dark and Stormy Cupcakes

I wanted to make a cupcake version of a mixed drink for a cocktail party, and rum cake seemed a good place to start. My great-grandmother made rum cake, and it would often show up on our Christmas Eve dessert buffet. I fondly remember its buttery slightly exotic taste. Adding ginger to rum cake batter to stand in for ginger beer and topping with lime and more ginger, I made a cupcake “Dark & Stormy” (the cocktail is made with dark rum, ginger beer and lime).

They were well received by the cocktail party crowd. Rum cake is traditionally made in a Bundt pan, and it is denser than regular cake. I forgot this at first and was upset that these cupcakes came out dense. Someone at the party reminded me of that (and also said that the cupcakes were perfect, so surely a reliable source)!

I added a fresh lime wedge and crystallized ginger after I frosted these, completing the “cocktail” (caketail?). See recipe and notes below!

Black Strap Rum

Recipe: Rum and Ginger Cupcakes

1 1/4 cup dark rum
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350°

Bring rum and butter to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium heat. Turn heat off and let cool. Add sugar to mixture and whisk to combine.

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt, then mix in grated ginger.

Combine the eggs and sour cream on medium speed in a mixer with the whisk attachment.

Slowly add cooled rum mixture to the egg mixture and combine on medium-low speed until incorporated.

Add the sifted flour mixture in thirds to the rum-egg mixture. Scrape down sides to make sure you get all ingredients combined.

Place 24 cupcake papers in pans and fill each about 2/3. Bake for 18-24 minutes (turning halfway through) or until the tops are firm to the touch. Let cool in pans on wire rack for 5 minutes, then remove from pans and let cool completely before frosting.

Recipe: Lime Ginger Frosting

2 sticks butter
1 lb powdered sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon lime zest

Beat butter with an electric mixer until it is creamy. Reduce speed and gradually add half of the powdered sugar to the butter. Mix until incorporated. Add milk, salt, vanilla, grated ginger and lime zest and mix. Add the rest of the powdered sugar, and mix until creamy and fluffy.

Dark and Stormy Cupcakes with Rum

Recipe Notes

I had fresh ginger, and it really seems the way to go. Note, you can use more than I used above for a stronger ginger taste. Using ground dried ginger will be a different taste. It’s a little like making a dark and stormy cocktail with ginger ale rather than ginger beer. If you must substitute, use 1/4 teaspoon dry ginger in the cupcakes and probably less than 1/8 teaspoon in the frosting.

Optional: Dribble a teaspoon of rum over each baked cupcake when you take them out of the pans. I also added a few drops on top after frosting.

[ Posted in Booze, Fruit, Recipes ] [ 2 Comments ]

Donuts + Cupcakes: Chocolate with Mint Buttercream and Chocolate-Covered Mini Donuts

Posted on March 5, 2013

Donut on cupcake - chocolate mint

A friend gave me a mini donut maker for my birthday in January, and I’d been wanting to try it out. Putting donuts on cupcakes was—surprise, surprise—my first thought. Another friend’s birthday party gave me the opportunity to play with my new toy!

The Bella Mini Donut Maker works like a waffle iron and makes baked donuts, not fried. Because Bella recommends you discard the first batch (due to possible slight smoking on first use of a new machine), I doubled the vanilla donut recipe and froze the leftovers. They’ll make a nice quick dessert sometime, maybe sporting some of the extra icing from past cupcake projects that I also have in my freezer.

vanilla mini donuts

I melted a dark chocolate candy bar over low heat and stirred in a splash of pure mint extract. I dipped the teeny donuts in this gooey goodness, fully coating each all around.

chocolate donut

I lifted them out of the pot with tongs and put them on a cookie sheet I’d lightly sprayed with oil. Sprinkling them with green, a visual hint at the mint flavor, I left them to dry.

chocolate donut sprinkled

I made regular chocolate cupcakes (the same from here and here) from my favorite just-rich-enough chocolate cupcake recipe, and I whipped up a buttercream with mint extract. My frosting came out very fluffy this time and had a slight foaminess. I don’t know if it was because I used soy milk, though I’ve done that before, or if I unintentionally mixed it somewhat longer than normal. Perhaps it was a combination of both or some other factor. Tasted just fine!

I tried a new tip for frosting the cupcakes, an Ateco 806. I went a little heavy on the icing until I realized I might run out. I wasn’t very precise with this larger tip than I normally use on cupcakes (need practice!), but I just wanted good dollops of “glue” to hold my delicious creations together!

As I constructed these, I laughed at both the brilliance and the ridiculousness of putting donuts on top of cupcakes. Really, I giggled out loud.

chocolate mint donut cupcakes

Chocolate cupcakes frosted with mint buttercream; cupcakes with chocolate-dipped donuts

They were well received by the birthday party guests! I also donated one to a newly married couple celebrating with friends at the next table. You can’t keep cupcakes topped with donuts to yourself.

 

[ Posted in Birthdays, Decorating, Technique ] [ 2 Comments ]