Another Cupcake Test: Rose Cherry Cupcakes

Rosebuds! Pretty, but not necessarily tasty!

I worked on another recipe for my exhibit in the RAW Mixology Showcase last night: Rose Cherry Cupcakes. These were delicious; far more delicious than the ones I tried to make last week with dried rosebuds. 

Luckily, the International Gourmet Market had a whole three choices on what brand of rosewater I wanted to use. It was by far the largest rosewater selection I have yet encountered, plus the market was full of other delightful products, like grape leaves for dolmas and Turkish Delight for tummy aches.

Rose Cherry Cupcake Recipe 

(makes 10 cupcakes)

Like before, I began by prepping my fruit. I pitted 30 cherries and diced them until I had a pile of fairly small cherry chunks.

Then, I put them in a saucepan over low heat. I poured in some simple syrup to taste (probably a little less than a 1/4 cup) and about 2 tsp rose water. I let them cook and get soft and a bit syrupy in the pan for a bit, then let them cool to the side.




While they cooled, I whipped in the mixer:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar

When they were creamy, I added:
1 egg
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup coconut milk


Then I sifted:
3/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt

Add the flour mixture, bit by bit, to the butter, sugar, egg mixture already in the bowl. Mix until just combined.

Add:
2 tsp rosewater
Your cooked cherries

to the batter and swirl with a toothpick so the colors are lovely and swirled but not completely combined.

Pour into a baking tin and bake at 350 degrees for 25-27 minutes.

Yum!

I also frosted the little guys with a tasty whipped cream frosting! I love this recipe because it is not too sweet and you can decorate with it AND it will stay relatively firm even if it sits out on a warm day, as long as it's not in direct sunlight. Perfect! It even stood up to my food coloring, as my frosting color powders haven't come in the mail yet. What a strong little guy I cooked up!

Whipped Cream Frosting Recipe
(makes 2 1/2 cups)

Mix:
1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 tsp vanilla (I used rose water instead)

Do this until it is completely white and doubled in size (10 min)

Leave the mixer on and pour in:
1/4 cup whipping cream

Mix for another 2-4 minutes and add:
1/4 cup confectioners sugar! Yes, only 1/4 and it'll be stiff enough! Hooray!

Incorporate that and you're done!

So tasty and pretty!

In other news, I got my business cards in the mail today! They are so cute and delightful! Hopefully someone needs some tasty treats for a wedding, birthday party, or bar mitzvah soon ^.^

Cupcake Test: Earl Grey and Chrysanthemum Peach

In preparation for my cupcake art exhibit at RAW Mixology, I tested out some new recipes last night - Earl Grey Cupcakes and Chrysanthemum Peach cupcakes. I've been really interested in infusing tea in my cupcakes, so these two recipes experiment with that idea.

By the way, if you're in the San Jose area and free on the evening of Thursday the 26th, check out the Mixology show by buying a ticket here. I benefit and you get a free cupcake, as well as access to tons of sweet visual art exhibits, 2 bands, and a fashion show! 

Now, on to the recipes!

I've read several different methods about how to use tea in cakes, and most folks agree that you get the best flavor by brewing the tea in the butter you plan to use. So that's what I did for the Earl Grey Cupcakes. While I was doing it, I was unsure. I mixture smelled tasty, but it smelled more like butter than it did like tea, and when I tasted the batter, I felt the same. Even after I cooked the cupcakes, I wasn't sure it was the flavor I wanted - but I left them to rest and tried them again today, and now I am convinced that they are delicious and definitely Earl Grey tasting and not butter tasting. The trick, I suppose is to not taste the batter before cooking (!), as it will ruin your impression. I've also heard that keeping the butter hot but not boiling (and definitely don't let it brown) is helpful, so I'll be more careful about that during the next batch.

Earl Grey Cupcake Recipe (makes 1 dozen)

To infuse the butter:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter 

6 bags of Earl Grey tea 

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Cut open the tea bags and pour the tea leaves into the just-melted butter. Keep the heat low and butter simmering for about 10 minutes, stirring every so often. Remove from heat and let cool. When it isn't so hot that it will burn you, strain the leaves out. I found that my Earl Grey was so finely ground that I needed to use a coffee filter, though a mesh trainer might work for you. I did have to squish and squeeze the filter to get as much butter as I wanted out, so watch out for that (that's why you want to let it cool).

My tea-straining system

Meanwhile, whip in a mixer:

2 egg yolks (save the whites)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2/3 cup brown sugar

Add:
1/2 cup milk

And sift in a separate bowl:

1 1/2 cup cake flour

2 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

Alternate adding the flour mixture and the tea-infused butter to the egg-and-sugar mixture until everything is just combined. 

Beat
2 egg whites
1/4 cup white sugar

until the mixture is foamy and starts to form very soft peaks. Carefully fold it in to the batter, until just incorporated. This will give them a nice lightness that's perfect for tea flavors. 

 Pour the batter into your cupcake tin and bake for about 15 minutes on 350 degrees.

I'll be frosting all of these test cupcakes tomorrow or Thursday, and I imagine a lemon honey frosting will be perfect for these little guys. Pictures to follow!

~~~

I used the second favorite tea-infusing technique for the Chrysanthemum Peach Cupcakes and I think it worked perfectly! This technique has you brew the tea in warm milk, which may or may not be used in your recipe of choice. It's said to produce a more mild tea flavor, which works perfectly for these cupcakes, as chrysanthemum is a mild tea. Rest assured, though, you can definitely taste and appreciate it in every bite of these cupcakes.

Chrysanthemum Peach Cupcake Recipe 

(makes 9 cupcakes - I made such a little batch as a test)

To start out, you want to prepare your peaches. I used Saturn Peaches because 1) they are awesome looking and 2) they happened to be ripe, but you can use whatever variety you prefer. 

Wash and cut three peaches into 1/2 inch pieces and roast them in a 400 degree oven for 25 minutes (I placed mine on parchment paper, so they didn't stick). 

As they cook you can infuse your milk.

Heat in a saucepan:

1/4 cup coconut milk*

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 tbsp chrysanthemum tea leaves

Be careful the milk stays warm but not scalding and stir frequently for 15 minutes. After that, let is sit and cool for a bit, then strain the leaves out with a mesh strainer.

*A word on the milk: I like coconut milk a lot, and it's what was in my fridge. You can certainly do this with regular milk, but I would suggest not using whole milk, as it is more creamy and milky tasting - you want the tea to be able to shine through)

As that cools, begin to prepare your batter.

Cream in a mixer:

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter

1 egg

Sift in a separate bowl:

3/4 cup cake flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the strained milk to the batter and mix until everything is just incorporated. 

*At this point, I tasted the batter and was unsure if the tea flavor was coming through enough, so I filled some of the cupcake liners with the batter, then added a bit of the tea leaves to the rest of the batter and filled the remaining liners with that. The resulting cupcakes tasted slightly more chrysanthemum-y after I added a bit of the leaves, and since the leaves were so thoroughly wet and saturated with milk, you didn't notice them in the cupcakes. So if you want to mix in about half the leaves into the batter before cooking, go for it. I should say, though, that either way, the cupcakes have a distinctly chrysanthemum taste.

Finally, fold in the roasted peach pieces and pour the batter into the cupcake tin, cooking for 18-20 minutes at 350 degrees.

The finished cakes! (Chrysanthemum Peach in foreground, Early Grey in background)

Stay tuned for my next experiment: Rose Cherry cupcakes!

And, of course, the thrilling frosting finale!

Nectarine and Boysenberry Sorbet + Fairyland

Cooking!

Yesterday was a magical day at the Farmers' Market - not only did we find cheese curds for poutine (it was Canada Day, after all), but I learned what boysenberries were.

Most people, I think, have some faint awareness about the existence of boysenberries, but don't know what they are like, probably picturing some tiny, very tart berry that no one really uses except elderly people whose taste buds have reached a sad state of decline where they enjoy that sort of thing and like to bake delicious looking pies and eat them in front of the grandkids, who won't, on principle, eat anything that is fruit and is not sweet.

But most people (i.e. me) would be wrong. They are delicious! A hybrid of raspberries and blackberries, they embody the best of each - they keep the bumbly texture of blackberries and the sweetness and tartness of both berries combines in a epic symphony and they are adorable and you really should just go out and get some.


 Anyway, upon discovering their excellent characteristics, Joe and I decided to add them to out nectarine sorbet plans for the evening. We picked out some tasty yellow nectarines and a bit of mint and got to work.

Ice cream making is pretty straight-forward, especially with the truly wonderful KitchenAid stand mixer attachment that Joe got me for graduation. We leave it in the freezer all the time (you need it in there for at least 25 hours before making your ice cream) and take it out when it's time to go.



Nectarine Boysenberry Recipe

6 yellow nectarines, peeled, pitted, and cut into chunks
1 generous cup boysenberries
3/8 cup water
1 handful mint, chopped







Your first step is to put the nectarines, boysenberries, mint, and water in the food processor until it is nice and pureed. At this point, you may want to do a taste test to make sure the ratio is to your liking. We had pretty sweet nectarines, so this was the perfect sweet/tart blend for us.


Once processed, you want to push the mixture through a mesh strainer, to get any seeds, skin, or pulp out, for maximum creaminess.

Here is the result of the straining, a cream, homogenous mixture. We put it through in batches, scooping the pulpy remains into a jar to use as jam later and rinsing off the strainer in between batches. This helped us get the most creamy mixture at the end and made the process easier. We did about three batches.






At this point, you want to put the container in the refrigerator for 8 hours, or the freezer for about 3 or 4. Your goal is to get the mixture good and cold so it will freeze easily when you mix it. If you choose the freezer method, be sure to give it a stir every 30 to 45 minutes or so, to let it freeze uniformly.





After we took it out of the freezer, we added a bit of simple syrup that we had chilling in the fridge, probably 1/4 cup sugar dissolved in 1/4 water. Totally optional - the fruit is already sweet enough!

When it's cold enough, set up the freezer bowl on your stand mixer, following the instruction guide. Turn the mixer on the lowest setting and pour your mixture in as the paddle turns. Let it mix in there for about 10 minutes, then pour it into an airtight container and let it    
                                          freeze up the rest of the way for at least an hour or two before serving

Take it out, scoop, garnish, and enjoy!

**Thanks to Joe and Amalia for doing lots of work for this ice cream <3**

Reading!

I'm going to be much more diligent and elaborate with my reading recommendations, guys, starting... now!

Recently, I finished The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente. Running with the theme of this post, it too was a graduation gift, from a friend who knows me well enough to stick the subtitle "The Emily Knight Story" on the book's cover with scrap-booking sticker letters.

It really was my kind of story. Fairyland, in all its disturbing manifestations, is my preferred setting and children/YA fantasy fiction is my preferred genre, at this moment. This story did not disappoint.

The plot follows a little girl named September, who lives in Nebraska. On page two, the Green Wind arrives and says, "You seem like an ill-tempered and irascible enough child. How would you like to come away with me?" Which September, of course, does without a second thought.

As a main character, September is everything a ravished child (in the G-rated sense of the word) should be: at times petulant and ill-tempered, at times frightened and wishing for home, at times brave and selfless, and above all, constantly curious. Though she is enjoyable to follow, my favorite character was the narrator and her voice, as she interjected the story often with her snarky and dramatic commentary.

September's adventures form a series of loosely connected vignettes, at least during the first half of the novel, during which she encounters characters so numerous that one must make use of the dramatis personae at the beginning of the book. Valente raises the stakes more towards the end, however, as a Wyverary (his mother was a Wyvern, his father a Library) named A-Through-L and a Marid called Saturday join September and the three must face the dreaded Marquess, who is terrible, but has a very nice hat.

The novel is full of classical allusions and reads like previous delightful romps through fairyland; Oz and Wonderland come to mind. Though I enjoyed that aspect of the novel, I occasionally felt a lack of purpose and development. That aspect came in to play, however, when September meets the Marquess and is compelled to complete a task for her. Seeing the Marquess as a foil for September and seeing September veer from what both she and the readers see as the "typical" fairyland plot was refreshing and gave the novel greater depth. The climax was suitably complex and thoughtful and embodied something I wish I saw more often in fairyland fiction: rather than rejecting fairyland for the real world, September (and the novel as a whole) says "yes to magic," as Valente puts it in an interview. It's about "seeing a new world, a new way of living and embracing it instead of turning away." I whole-heartedly recommend this novel for anyone enamored by magical children's lit and look forward to the sequel!

~Out!~

Cupcakes, Cake Pops, and Mousse

It has been a Long Time since I paid attention to this blog, but my focus is renewed! Last week I made a tasty assortment of baked goods for an event put on by an excellent women's group in San Jose - Women Rising. There was art, food, dancing, singing, joy, and, of course, empowerment. I worked as one of the vendor, selling baked goods for folks to enjoy after hitting up the taco bar, and I'd love to share the recipes and photos with the world!


Since it's been so lovely and June-like here the last few weeks, I decided to go with a fruit summer flavors theme. I broke my baking up throughout the week, making a different dessert each day.


Monday - Watermelon Cake Pops

First, I made watermelon cakepops (inspired by a photo circulating Pinterest lately).

Since I had such elaborate plans for my cupcakes, I decided to stick with the tried and true cakepop method - box cake and a jar of cream cheese frosting. I know, but such are the concessions one must make to time. I would have liked to make a white cake from scratch, working in some watermelon Jello powder and dying it pink, to get the homemade and watermelon taste, but I could not find the watermelon Jello or the time, so that will be a project for later.


The process is pretty straightforward for the cake bit - make up the boxed cake (I used strawberry) and crumble it into a big bowl, mix in (most) of the cream cheese frosting, and roll that mixture into balls.

I added chocolate chips for the watermelon seeds!

Once you have your cake balls, you come to the hard part - dipping them in the chocolate. I used Wilton's melting chocolate since it was at Michaels and came in green. These were my two amateur requirements - looking around now I see a lot more information from people who, unlike me, actually make candy more than once or twice a year: what type of chocolate to use, how to dye and flavor it, other chemistry considerations. But since I'm a baker, I'll just tell you what I learned in this particular adventure.

The first step is to dip your sticks in a bit of melted chocolate to get them to stick firmly in the cake balls.

Also, you should put them in the fridge to harden the chocolate and firm up the cake balls themselves for about 15 minutes before trying to dip them. I learned this the hard way after two or three fell off the stick and broke apart in the chocolate and I had to fish them out.

After 15 minutes of waiting, this was my set up. I have always distrusted microwaves for cooking (they are appropriate only for "heating") so I used the faux double boiler method (metal bowl on top of a pot of water). Apparently, it is helpful to keep the fire pretty low, as the chocolate will thicken if overheated (I'm pretty sure this happened to me). A way to thin the chocolate out is to add a bit of vegetable oil, but not too much or the chocolate can seize (I did 1/4 tsp about three times, stirring between each time). As you can see, I only took a few pops out of the fridge at a time because I was scared the would warm up and crumble again.




I couldn't take a picture of my entire dipping strategy because I was alone and it required two hands, but basically, I took a spoon, covered with a thin layer of the chocolate, in my left hand, and a cake pop in my right. I dipped it straight down into the chocolate and then gently moved the stick from side to side and front to back to get chocolate over the area around the stick and cover the pop completely (twirling it in there wasn't working). Then, I lifted the pop out and put it against the spoon, twirling it around so that the spoon took off the excess chocolate without ruining the smoothness.


After that, I stuck each pop into a convenient piece of Styrofoam to harden, then kept them in the fridge in a Tupperware until the big day. Here's the finished product!

Tuesday - Lavender Honey Cupcakes

I love lavender. I love it's smell, I love how it looks, I love its flavor. The combination of lavender and honey is absolutely perfect and I want to use it to make everything, all summer long (a week after this, I made honey lavender gelato - look for that recipe in a few days!)

There are several ways to get the lavender into the food, but I used the easiest and quickest and just threw 2 hefty tablespoons in the food processor with a 1/4 of sugar (I didn't want to use too much since I wanted most of the sweetness from the honey).




To make the batter, I mixed:

2 cups softened butter
1 cup honey
2/3 cup greek yogurt (you could use sour cream instead)
6 eggs
2 tsp vanilla

in the mixer until smooth. Meanwhile, I prepared a bowl with:

4 cups flour
2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon baking powder
A bit of salt

I sifted these dry ingredients and poured them into the batter, mixing a few minutes more until everything was incorporated. Look how thick it got!

Then it was into the cupcake tin and into a 350 degree oven for about 17 minutes. Let them cool for a bit in the tins before removing them and letting them cool all the way on a rack. (I frosted all the cupcakes on Thursday, scroll down to see).

Wednesday - Mint Julep Cupcakes

These and the ones below I took from a blog called Baked Perfection, the author of which has really clever ideas for flavor combinations and uses my preference for adding sour cream/yogurt to cake recipes to get that nice, cakey moistness. Check her out!

I followed her recipe pretty closely, creaming in the mixer:

1 cup softened butter

This batter was much thinner, but still
made nice, hearty cupcakes.

2 cups sugar

then beating in

3 eggs

then

6 tbsp bourbon (I didn't have any so I used whiskey, which was fine)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp mint extract

In a side bowl, I sifted

3 cups flower
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt

I alternated mixing a bit of the flour mixture and a bit of 2 cups of Greek yogurt in to the batter until everything was incorporated, spread it into cupcake tins, then baked them in a 350 degree oven for about 23 minutes, let them cool a bit in the pan, and transferred them to a rack.






Here they are, frosted and ready to go, with festive, mixed drink umbrellas. See the frosting recipe below, after the final cupcake recipe.









Thursday - Blackberry Lime Cupcakes

This is another flavor idea from Baked Perfection, and I was really excited about is since blackberries are my favorite summer fruit. Again, I followed her recipe for the cupcakes themselves pretty closely.

I creamed in the mixer:

1 cup softened butter

2 cups sugar

then beating in

3 eggs 

then

5 tbsp fresh squeezed lime juice

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 limes worth of zest

In a side bowl, I sifted

3 cups flower

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

Like before, I alternated mixing a bit of the flour mixture and a bit of 2 cups of Greek yogurt in to the batter until everything was incorporated, spread it into cupcake tins, then baked them in a 350 degree oven for about 23 minutes, let them cool a bit in the pan, and transferred them to a rack.

The blackberry aspect of the cupcake came in with the filling. I mashed up a 12 oz package of berries in my nifty African grinder thing (I'm always excited when I have a chance to use it) and put them in a pot with just a bit of sugar and honey (like, a teaspoon of each). I let it heat up over medium heat and reduce a little bit until it was a thin jam consistency (10 minutes or so). Then I took it off the heat and let it cool before putting it in a pastry bag and squirting a bit into the center of each cupcake. I left about 1/2 a cup to the side to add to the frosting.

After I made these, it was time to frost all the cakes. I am on a constant quest to find a buttercream that I don't think is too sweet, and I did not find the solution this time, but it wasn't too bad, definitely less sweet than others I've had. Since I made all the butter cream at once, then divided it into 3 to frost all the cupcakes (about 75-80), this recipe is pretty big. Feel free to divide it by three or even four to get a small amount.

First, I creamed:

3 sticks of softened butter

then, slowly so as not to cover my kitchen, I added

7.5 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt (this helps counter the sweetness)
4 tbsp milk

I mixed that in, then added

7 1/2 MORE cups of powdered sugar (I know)
3 tsp vanilla
3 tsp lemon juice (also counters sweetness)

I beat it until fluffy, then separated it into three to alter it for each cupcake.

For the Honey Lavender Cupcakes, I just added a tablespoon of honey (the extra sweetness was balanced a bit here, as this was the least sweet cupcake. I also added a bit of red and blue food dye to get a pretty color. Then I piped it on and sprinkled a bit of decorative dried lavender pieces on top.

For the Mint Julep Cupcakes, I drizzled a 1/4 tsp mint extract and a tbsp of whiskey in the frosting and mixed it in. I also added a couple drops of green food color for effect. Then I piped that one on and decorated each cupcake with a cocktail umbrella.

For the Blackberry Lime Cupcakes, I added the 1/2 cup of blackberry filling that I had set aside. This, unfortunately, thinned out the frosting a bit past my liking, but it also make a cool swirly effect when I added a bit of flour to stiffen things up a bit. This is some science that I'll need to study further in the future. I piped it on and stuck a blackberry atop each one.







Friday - Chocolate Mousse

Okay, so this is not a fruity summertime treat, but it has gotten great feedback, so I thought I'd make it as a sort of evening standout treat. And it did, apparently, because it sold out first.

First, I chopped up

12 ounces of semisweet chocolate
1 stick of butter

and melted it in the bowl-over-pot method I used with the cake pop chocolate. As that cooled, I separated and whipped up

8 egg yolks
3 tbsp sugar

until they thickened. When the chocolate was no longer a danger to the eggs (cool enough to stick my finger in it), I whisked them together. In another bowl, I mixed

3/4 cup of whipping cream
2 tbsp sour cream

until stiff peaks formed, then folded it into the chocolate mixture. Finally, I whipped

2 egg whites
1 tbsp sugar

into soft peaks, then folded that into the chocolate. Then I poured the chocolate into Dixie cups, ground a bit of sea salt over each for flavor contrast, and stuck them in the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes.




Meanwhile, I whipped up (yet again) some heavy cream with a bit of vanilla and powdered sugar to top the mousse cups. When they came out of the freezer, I sprinkled a bit of cocoa powder on them and they were ready!

 And here's a peek at my table at Women Rising: A Night of Creative Empowerment II:

Ta da!