Red Velvet

This week a friend of mine had an overlap of both her birthday, and an election for an organization she belongs to at the law school. To celebrate, she decided she decided she wanted to make some red velvet cupcakes. To keep with the election theme, she wrote “Pick Flick” on top of the cupcakes (a reference to the movie Election, and yes, it says “FLICK” though on some of them the L and the I run together a little...) It’s been a month or so since I made my last batch of cupcakes, so this was a good way for me to get back into form (bet you didn’t know you could lose your cupcake making form, but you never know). Anyway, as a base we used the Magnolia Bakery recipe. I have to say, I’m often not a big fan of red velvet cakes, I think they’re just overblown vanilla cakes, but these had a really nice flavor, excellent crumb, and were very moist. I would strongly recommend them. Instead of the vanilla frosting recipe called for, we instead made a cream cheese frosting, which is appropriate for red velvet as far as I’m concerned. All told, I still don’t think red velvet cupcakes top my list of desirable cakes, but if that’s what you’re after, this recipe is the way to go.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Makes 24 cupcakes

3 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

6 tablespoons red food coloring

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line cupcake tins. Sift cake flour and set aside. In the bowl of a mixer cream together the butter and sugar on medium speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes.

2. Add the eggs one at a time, beating completely after each addition.

3. In a small bowl whisk together the red food coloring, cocoa, and vanilla extract. Beat into the butter mixture and beat well.

4. Stir the salt into the buttermilk. Alternate adding the buttermilk and the flour in three parts, mixing until just combined. In a small bowl whisk together the vinegar and baking soda, and stir into the batter, mix well. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

5. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 cups full, and bake for 20 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. Set aside to cool

Cream Cheese Frosting

12 oz. low fat cream cheese, room temperature

½ stick butter, room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

3-4 cups powdered sugar

1. Cream together the cream cheese and the butter

2. Add the vanilla and the powdered sugar, beat until combined.

3. Frost cupcakes

Beth piping "Pick Flick" onto the tops of the cupcakes

A Dessert to Share

Sorry about the long delay, but it's a busy season in law school. It was my friend Joe's 30^th birthday the other day, and I volunteered to make the cake with the help of my friend Jessica. I was told Joe's favorite kinds of cake were cheesecake, and chocolate cake. Being an indecisive person, I decided that rather than choosing one, I would combine the two. The obvious choice was a brownie bottomed cheesecake. Some quick googling turned up this recipe for a brownie bottomed peanut butter cheesecake. This cheesecake was amazing, good enough that people cursed me out when they felt compelled to go back for more. Which is why this is a cheesecake to share, so that you won't end up eating the whole thing. This recipe does make more cheesecake batter than is needed, so I made a second smaller cheesecake with the extra. I tried to make a pretzel crust for it, but I didn't like it, so I didn't bother to include the recipe for it.

Peanut Butter Cup Brownie Bottom Cheesecake

Brownie Crust

6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1-1/4 cups sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract (I used Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla)
2 eggs
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 

1 cup peanut butter chips

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 9-inch springform pan with butter.

2. Stir together butter, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with spoon or wire whisk. Add eggs; stir until well blended. Stir in flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; blend well. Spread in prepared pan.

3. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until brownie begins to pull away from side of pan. Meanwhile make cheesecake layer (see below).

4. Immediately after removing brownie from oven, sprinkle milk chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and peanut butter cups over brownie surface. Spoon cheesecake mixture over chips. Turn down oven 325°.

Cheesecake Filling
2 lbs cream cheese, softened
5 eggs, at room temperature
1-1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup smooth peanut butter (not natural-style)
1/2 cups whipping cream
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup mini peanut butter cups*

*These were chocolate chip sized peanut butter cups I got from Trader Joes, if you can’t find them, skip them

1. Beat cream cheese in bowl of electric mixer until smooth.

2. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add sugar, peanut butter and cream; mix until smooth.

3. Stir in vanilla and mini peanut butter cups.

4. Pour filling into prepared crust. (I poured the rest off into a smaller springform pan)

5. Double-wrap springform pan with aluminum foil to prevent water seeping in. Place springform pan into a larger baking pan. Pour hot water into the larger pan so that the water comes 1 inch up the sides of the springform pan. (This is easiest to do once you have already moved the pan into the oven, that way you don’t have to try to move a pan full of water).

6. Bake at 325 degrees 1-1/2 hours, or until firm and lightly browned.

7. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for one hour.

8. Run a knife along the edge of the cake to loosen it from the pan somewhat.

9. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before decorating. I tend to make cheesecakes a day ahead to let things set.

Decoration

¼ cup whipping cream 

½ cup chocolate chips 

½ cup peanut butter chips

1. Place all ingredients into a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on medium power in 30 second bursts, whisking after each, until mixture is fully combined.

2. Let the ganache sit out until it has firmed up enough to pipe. Use to decorate the cake as you choose.

Double Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

It looks like I’ve finally got a recipe ready to get in before this month’s cupcake hero. This month’s theme was squash, a suitable fall theme, and I decided to go with Pumpkin (like pretty much everyone else). Finding inspiration for these cupcakes was easy. Every Thanksgiving my mother makes a pumpkin pie that has a layer of pecan-praline at the bottom, and it is delicious, and the inspiration for these cupcakes. These are pumpkin cupcakes, filled with pumpkin pie, and frosted with a cream cheese frosting flavored with pecan-praline powder and maple syrup. The result was delicious. When I served these last night a number of people told me that these were the best cupcakes I’ve made yet, and while I don’t know that I agree (I find it hard to accept anything without chocolate in it as a “best”), they were certainly very good. At least one person said the cupcakes reminded him of cheesecake, probably because of the cream cheese frosting. This is also one of the only times where I’ve ended up with the right amount of everything (I usually end up with too much or not enough of some part of the cake, like the filling or the frosting)

A note on the frosting: it is not nearly stiff enough to be piped as written. You could probably solve this problem by adding powdered sugar, but I wanted the sweetness to come from the praline and the maple syrup more than I wanted a pipe-able frosting.

Pumpkin Pie Filling

Makes 1 8x8 pan

1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree

1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

2 eggs, separated

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp ground ginger

½ tsp fresh grated nutmeg

½ tsp salt

1. Preheat the oven to 425. You will not bake the pie at this temperature, but do want a hot oven. In a large bowl whisk together the pumpkin puree, the sweetened condensed milk, and the egg yolks.

2. Whisk in the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt.

3. In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites to soft peaks. Gently fold the egg whites into the pumpkin mixture.

4. Pour the filling into an 8x8 baking pan (I used Pyrex). Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Bake the filling until it has set, about 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool fully. While the filling is baking, prepare the other parts of the cupcakes.

Pumpkin Cupcakes (recipe from marthastewart.com)

Makes 24 cupcakes

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
4 large eggs, lightly beaten1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree

1. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. In a separate bowl whisk together the sugars, the butter, and the eggs.

2. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet. Once they are fully combined, mix in the pumpkin puree.

3. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full using a ¼ cup measure. Bake the cupcakes for 20-25 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

Praline Powder

Makes 2 ½ - 3 cups

1 ½ cups sugar

6 T water

1 cup pecan halves

1. Put the water and sugar in a heavy bottomed sauce pan over medium high heat. Stir briefly so that the sugar is mixed with the water.

2. Let the mixture come to a boil. Continue heating. Eventually the mixture should begin turning an amber color. When the mixture reaches a light to medium amber (around 300 degrees on a candy thermometer) remove the mixture from the heat. Immediately pour the nuts into the caramel and shake to combine.

3. Pour the caramel onto an oiled cookie sheet or a silpat. Set aside and let cool and harden (this won’t take too long).

4. Once the praline has hardened, break it into chunks and put it into a food processor. Use the food processor to grind the praline powder until it resembles a coarse sand.

Maple – Praline Frosting

8 oz. Cream Cheese, softened

4 T unsalted butter, softened

2 cups praline powder

½ cup maple syrup (Grade B)

½ cup powdered sugar

1. Beat together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Beat in the praline powder, maple syrup, and powdered sugar.

Assembly

1. Use the cone method to hollow out the cupcakes.

2. Spoon a healthy amount of pie filling into each cupcake. Place the top back onto the cupcake.

3. Frost with the Maple – Praline Frosting.

4. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Carrot Cupcakes

Some friends of mine at work have been bugging me to make carrot cake cupcakes. It’s also a good friend’s birthday this weekend. I decided to kill two birds with one stone by making carrot cake cupcakes that I could serve on her birthday, and bring the leftovers to work. The recipe I used is from allrecipes. I’m a big fan of this recipe, and had made it before. However, it calls for a somewhat unusual frosting that has white chocolate and orange extract in it. I happen to think it is delicious, but some others are pretty devoted to the standard cream cheese frosting. To make things easier, I just made both kinds of frosting, and frosted half the cupcakes with each.

Carrot Cupcakes

Makes 27

3 eggs
1 2/3 cups white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
¾ cup vegetable oil
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
3 cups shredded carrots
¾ cup crushed pineapple
2 ¼ cup all purpose flour
1 ¾ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp salt
2 ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¾ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground ginger
1 cup chopped walnuts.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl whisk together the eggs and sugars until thoroughly combined. Add vanilla and vegetable oil and whisk to combine. Fold in the carrots and the pineapple.

2. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.

3. Pour the dry ingredients over the wet ingredients and whisk to combine. Fold in the chopped walnuts

4. Fill the cupcake liners using a ¼ cup measure. Bake for 23 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Let cool thoroughly before frosting.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

3 oz white chocolate
1 8oz package non-fat cream cheese, softened
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp orange extract
3-4 cups confectioners’ sugar

1. Beat together butter and cream cheese until smooth. Beat in the white chocolate, vanilla, and orange extracts.

2. Beat in the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. After three cups stop and taste. If you want it sweeter, add the fourth.

Regular Cream Cheese Frosting

2 8oz packages non-fat cream cheese, softened
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softend
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1. Beat together the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Beat in the Vanilla extract. Beat in the powdered sugar one cup at a time.