Never Bashful with Butter

Sometimes its fun to mess around with tradition.

A couple years back, I got my first job working at a bakery in a grocery store.

Well, it wasn’t my “first job”, but it was the first time I’d worked in a bakery environment outside the classes I’d taken during college. They hired me without giving me a tour of the facilities. Actually, originally I wasn’t even hired to work in the bakery. I was hired to work as a cashier. Luckily, I didn’t even work one day on the register. A strange turn of events made the management take a second look at my work experience and resume, and after learning that I’d taken classes in “pasty arts”, they decided to give me a chance working in the bakery.

Anywho, lets just say, all the old bitties that worked in the bakery up until then? Yeah. They didn’t like me too much. Working in the bakery was like some sort of elite social club, and I wasn’t welcome. Management may have invited me, but that didn’t mean that my new co-workers wanted to play nice.

I started out working the closing shift.
The closing shift in the bakery is sort of like working as a janitor, only the first half of the day you spend finishing someone elses job, then when you get that done, you clean it all up. Then the last half of your job is getting everything ready for the people who come in and do the actual baking, and then you have to clean up after yourself. When you have extra time, you take cake decorating orders, help the bread packagers, keep up with the demand for hot french bread (which I’m pretty sure is a standard program in most grocery stores, but in ours, we had to do this every hour on the hour from 1pm until 7pm) and be ready to slice bread for anyone who asks.

Being the newbie, I was always left the crappy jobs and the cleanup. I always had to wait until everyone else had gone to break before I could go, and same with taking my lunch. Often times, I would get stuck washing the floor while my co-workers went off for an extra break. It just wasn’t much fun.

If you’re lucky, the cake decorators will ask you to “ice cupcakes”, which basically means take the cupcakes, set them all up in the little plastic clamshell containers, fill a giant pastry bag with white buttercream icing, and do the signature grocery store swirl of icing before sprinkling on some sprinkles and closing up the packaging. Not exactly the most creative work, but trust me, it was a nice break from washing floors, dishes and countertops.

After a while working the closing shift, I discovered that there was an open position working 1am until 10am, making the donuts. I jumped at the chance, and once in this position, I LOVED my job, and I loved the shift.

You see, when I get to work by myself, I can get into my groove and get things done, and fast. Eventually it got to the point where I was able to start spending some quality time decorating the donuts, beyond just adding sprinkles. I had fun at it, and it was a nice creative outlet.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to continue in that shift. I’m one of those people that isn’t meant to be awake all night because I can’t sleep during the day. A trip to the hospital and a doctors note later, I was back on closing shifts, but with a twist in my favour. During the year that I’d been working the early shift, they had hired new people to work the closing shift. I was now “the old bitty”, and they were now the newbies.

Once my personal life had leveled out (and I’d started sleeping again), it didn’t take long to get to where I was icing cupcakes more and more often. Then, one of the cake decorators decided to give me a chance to decorate a cake. This was AWESOME. To be completely honest, I’d never had complete creative freedom over cake decorations before. In the pastry arts class, I learned “classic” techniques, but not the fun stuff, like airbrushing patterns, creative lettering, creative detailing… All that I knew of that stuff was what my mom had taught me when I was younger. What happened that day was wonderful. I had been handed a cake, shown the tools I needed to decorate it, and given the chance to do something creative and fun.

…I don’t think I have to tell you this, but… It was horrible.

My swirls looked like lumps, my twirls like bumps. My pink airbrushing ended up brown, and I learned that there is such a thing as TOO MUCH filling.

I was very fortunate that they were patient with me… and probably didn’t expect as much out of me as I did.

A week later, I was promoted to cake decorator. It was an earlier shift, I had more contact with customers, and at first, I was more of a sales person than a decorator, which was fine because it gave me time to learn.

One of the first things that I learned, was from a customer.

That morning I had come to work around 10am. The girl who worked the shift before me was really busy, and asked if I would restock the showcase out front. I went to the refrigerator and got out the cart full of stuff to restock it with.

There is just something about a girl wearing an apron out front of the bakery in a grocery store, pushing a cart full of fresh pastries that just works like a magnet for all people, and thats exactly what happened. I was swarmed. A few older women tried to haggle with me about the price of a pie, an old man made a joke and asked if any of the “sweet things” behind the counter wanted to go home with him. We all giggled while he picked out a donut and shuffled off to his wife who was standing in the freezer section.

I handed out a few free cookies to some small children, and thats when it happened.

There was a crazy old lady wearing much too much perfume and gold coloured jewelry holding a red velvet cake awkwardly over her head with one hand, her other holding her reading glasses at an angle so she could read the ingredients on the bottom of the package.

“Miss…. Oh MISS!!!! I have a question!” she chirped in a birdlike tone.

“Yes Ma’am? How can I help you?” I responded, probably sounding as unenthusiastic as I felt.

Her perfume nearly sucked the air out of my lungs. I knew this woman. Why did I know this woman?

“Did you make this cake?” She barked, lowering the cake and glaring at me.

“Well, no Ma’am. Did you have a question about it? Is there something the matter with it?” I asked, a little worried that she would point out something the matter with the cake and demand a discount.

My mouth filled up with the taste of floral and spice, but not in a good way. Her stale perfume tasted like my childhood best friend’s great grandmother, who despite being on oxygen insisted on wearing a layer of perfume thick enough that it was almost visible. Her name was Laura, and to her, I was Amie’s “fat friend” who ate all the twinkies, even though I’d never eaten a twinkie at her house in my life. In fact, the twinkie eater was Amie’s little sister Nichelle, but being a sneaky little twit, she blamed it on me, and it stuck. I swear that old woman blamed me for those missing twinkies until the day she died.

This was not the same old woman.

“Can you tell me, Miss, what is a ‘red velvet’ cake?” her eyes seemed innocent and slightly mischevious as she questioned me.

OH CRAP.

I wanted to blame it on the fog of perfume and aspercreme which encased her, but my brain went completely blank. What is a red velvet cake? HOLY CRAP! Can anyone tell me what a red velvet cake is? ANYONE?!!

The answer today, is no.

Despite working with 3 other capable cake decorators, some of which have been on the job for 10+ years, no one would come to my rescue. I was on my own.

As I searched my brain for the answer, I realized it had been too long since she asked the question. I still hadn’t responded. I’d been standing there like an idiot for probably 30 seconds without a word. I decided to keep thinking, and STALL.

“Um.” I sounded like a genius.
“Um… Well… Its a unique cake.” I stumbled.

“Would you like to try it?” I asked, trying not to make it sound too obvious that I had no idea what I was doing.

“No, I’m looking for a cake for my husband, and we want something old fashioned. This looks old fashioned. Is it old fashioned? What flavour is it?” She added to her list of demands.

“Well, uh…” Then it hit me. My memory was starting to come back. I may have had no idea what it tasted like, but I vaguely remembered something I’d seen on food network a few years prior, about red velvet cake being made with bittersweet cocoa and sour cream.

“Its made with bittersweet cocoa and sour cream!” I shouted, not intentionally, but it just sort of slipped out in my “outside voice”.

Taken slightly aback, the woman looked at me. She squinted.
“Yes, but is it old fashioned? Is it a chocolate cake? Why is it red?” Her list of questions grew.

“Um, I do believe it is an old fashioned cake. Yes, its a chocolate cake, but it doesn’t taste ‘chocolaty’ so much as the added cocoa powder makes the flavour richer. The sour cream adds a tangy flavour. The red is just food colouring, and I have no idea why it is there other than to make it look pretty.”- I had no idea where that came from, but I said it.

“hmm.” she hummed. There was an audible pause.
“Hmmm… I don’t like chocolate cake.” she said.

Then without a look, she sat the cake on the counter, turned around, grabbed her cart and left. Only the smell of her perfume and the sound of her flip flops remained.

I looked over at my co-workers, who had by this time gathered around the area where I stood, and they laughed.

“She comes in here probably once a week and does the same thing each time.” one of them piped up.

They laughed more. I giggled a little, but I had wished I hadn’t been in that situation. I really had forgotten about the red velvet cake. That old, fragrant, inquisitive little woman taught me that I need to always know my product, AND, that I can’t please everyone.

A long time has passed since I worked at that bakery, and I learned many more things before my time was up there. Nothing quite has stuck with me quite as well as that woman though, and her red velvet cake.

So what IS a red velvet cake?

For the record-

Red Velvet cake is a southern recipe for a mildly chocolate flavoured cake, known for its distinctive dark red or reddish brown colour. Some of the ingredients in this cake include sour cream, buttermilk, cocoa powder, and a large quantity of red food colouring, though some recipes use beets or beet juice in place of this as a more natural ingredient.

In James Beard’s 1972 book American Cookery, three kinds of red velvet cake are described, all with varying amounts of butter and shortening. All of them use red food colouring for the colour, but it is mentioned that the reaction of acidic vinegar and buttermilk turns the cocoa a reddish brown color. Also before more alkaline “Dutch Processed” cocoa was widely available, the red color would have been more pronounced. This natural tinting may have been the source for the name “Red Velvet”.

Red velvet cakes seemed to find a home in the U.S. South and reached peak popularity in the 1950’s– just before a controversy arose about health effects of common food colorings.

Here’s the thing, Most people know of red velvet cake topped with its signature cream cheese icing. Actually, through all my internet searches, it seems as though very few people are willing to switch up this paring, other than omitting the icing all together. Since I’m not willing to do that (I love icing), I decided to try something slightly different, and maybe use the red velvet cake’s tang and mild chocolate flavour to enhance another delicious flavour-

Cherry.

Yep. I made red velvet sweet cherry cupcakes.

Then I filled them with a mixture of cocoa, cream cheese, powdered sugar and maraschino cherries and cherry juice.

Sort of a Lord Baltimore cake filling in a red velvet cake.

What I ended up with, was nothing short of delicious.

Stop me before I eat another!
-A.

Click for the recipe-

Read the rest of this entry »

So, apparently when I thought I was getting lemons, I was really getting Sweet limes.

For appearance sake, they did look like lemons when I first got them, but after sitting in the fridge for a few days, they started turning green in spots, which seemed sort of strange, since, at least in my experience, when things ripen, they tend to turn MORE yellow, not more green (unless they’re molding, but these definitely weren’t molding). Some of the limes were still a spring green kind of colour, but most of them darkened slightly, and were just a few shades more yellow than a regular lime, only they’re bigger.

Anyways, These cupcakes were originally intended to be Pink Lemonade cupcakes, but they ended up being Cherry Limeade cupcakes, which is just fine by me, since I happen to be a bigger fan of limes myself, and being a big lime fan, I always have a couple extra cans of limeade in the freezer.

I also just so happened to have a jar of Maraschino cherries in my fridge left over from the NYE drink-fest.

Anyways, so I thought these cupcakes were pretty cute, so I took a ton of unnecessary photos of them.

…Ok, also, I got a new camera late last week (long story involving crows en masse a set of slippery stairs and my cute, sweet and slightly equilibrium challenged husband) so I’ve been trying to get used to it by taking tons and tons of photos of stuff.

…But come on, they’re cupcakes. Its not like you really mind looking at photos of them. *smile*

Cherry Limeade Cupcakes***:
This recipe should make about 24 cupcakes

3 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp limeade concentrate
3 eggs
3/4 cup plain yogurt (you can use milk, but I think the yogurt adds a nice TANG! to the flavour.)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mix together the flour, salt, baking soda and powder and set aside. In a medium sized bowl, cream the butter until smooth then add the sugar and cream together. Once the butter and sugar are creamed add in the limeade concentrate. Mix in one egg at a time. Add in flour mixture 1/3 at a time. When flour is thoroughly mixed, mix in the yogurt. Batter will be slightly lumpy, but should be smooth kind of like pancake batter. Divide the batter evenly into lined muffin tins and bake for about 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, poke a few (5ish) holes in the top of the cupcake, not quite to the bottom of the cake. Mix together the remainder of the limeade concentrate (about 3/4 cup) with about 1/2 cup powdered sugar (You can add more or less, depending on how tart you would like your cupcakes to be I like tart, so I went with about 1/4 cup.) Whisk the mixture well, so there aren’t any lumps. Pour about a tablespoon of the syrup over the holes in the cupcake, slowly, so that the syrup absorbs into the cake. You can add more if you like, just go back over the cupcakes a second time if there is any syrup left.

For the icing I made a standard buttercream, but I used the maraschino cherry juice in place of the milk and vanilla extract. I added a little extra food colouring to the icing to make it even more pink, but you can make it with just the juice and it is still a delightfully pale pink colour.

Keep the cupcakes refrigerated, if only to enhance the flavour. They can be left at room temperature for a day or two once iced, if kept in an airtight container, but I wouldn’t suggest leaving them out any longer. They taste best cold!

I decorated my cupcakes with some white sprinkles, a slice of lime, a maraschino cherry half and a plastic drinking straw, since they are drink inspired.

*** If you want to make what I originally set out to make (Pink lemonade cupcakes rather than Cherry Limeade cupcakes) just substitute lemonade concentrate (or even pink lemonade concentrate if you wish) where I used limeade concentrate, and for the icing, follow the original recipe and use either lemon extract or strawberry extract in place of the vanilla extract.

Oh, and a tip about icing-

If you want really smooth icing, first, make sure your icing is just slightly below room temperature. Warm icing usually turns oozey, and cold icing is usually too hard. After you’ve finished icing your cupcakes, put them in the fridge for about half an hour.

Get a mug of very hot water. Take your cupcakes out of the fridge and working quickly, dip your icing knife into the hot water, remove it, shake it off and very lightly go over the icing again with the knife, pressing with gentle, long, flat strokes from the center of the knife.

Be careful doing this with darker coloured icing, as they tend to streak, and if you have too much water on the knife when you use it, the water will absorb the colour of the icing and drip, leaving a lighter shade underneath it. It may take a little practice, and you might have to perfect your “shake” a bit, but you’ll get to the point where there is just enough water to keep the blade from sticking to the icing, and not so much as to drip all around the cupcake.

If you do notice that there is too much water on your cupcake after you’ve smoothed it out, get yourself a paper towel and lightly touch the edge of the paper towel to the wet spot, and it will absorb the extra water.

I’ve noticed over the years that a lot of people ice cakes with the edge of a knife rather than the center of the knife. Its always best to hold the knife flat and press from the center. Using the edge will just create a scraped, straggly edge and form bubbles in the icing (especially if you’re icing a cake rather than a cupcake.)

But really, the water trick works. Back when I worked in a bakery and iced wedding cakes, that was our little trick for making the icing perfectly smooth.

Enjoy!
-A.

Oh, and don’t worry, I’ll be making some non-cupcake recipes shortly, I just haven’t been feeling so well lately, and cupcakes are.. well.. They’re easy and fun and pretty.

Next week I think I’m going to try making my own version of eclairs and possibly some more “fun with phyllo”…

Ok, so there will definitely be more fun with Phyllo. I love that stuff. Also, fun with puff pastry, though it just doesn’t have quite the same ring to it that “fun with Phyllo” does. hehe..

I’m not sure if it is entirely truthful to call these “Caramel Apple Pie” cupcakes.

Yes, there is pastry involved. Yes, they are cupcakes. And yes, they are filled with a cooked apples and cinnamon filling, and topped with apples and caramel.

…But they could also be called “Manzana pastel Tres Leches cupcakes con dulce de leche*” (Apple pie three milk cupcake with dulce de leche) Because they’re actually filled with a tres leches filling of sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream and evaporated milk, mixed with diced granny smith apples, brown sugar, cinnamon and butter.

Also, there is just something to be said about a dessert whose name is spoken in another language. Saying the name in English, you’d expect to find them at a county fair or at a backyard picnic, and although there is nothing wrong with that… saying their name in Spanish… it could be a romantic dessert you indulge in while vacationing on la playa in Puerto Rico*.

I’m all for daydreamy desserts, so why not. Its been so cold here in the Seattle area, that my husband worked from home yesterday and this morning, because the slight incline from the road to our apartment turned into THE ICY MOUNTAIN OF DOOM overnight on Monday night, and although things outside have thawed a bit, its still REALLY COLD. I really wouldn’t mind a nice tropical climate right about now…. *daydreams*

*half an hour later*
Oh. Um.. Anyways-

They taste like caramel apple pie, but with a soft texture, cuz *duh* cake. They’re moist and apple filled and topped with a piece of butter pastry which adds that familiar crunch that you get when you eat a regular apple pie slice. Trust me. They’re amazing, and I’m not just saying that because I made them, or because I’ve recently decided to cut back on sweets, and therefore this was the first “sweet” I’ve had in a little over a week.

Nope. They really are delicious.

Anyways, so to make this, I used the Magnolia Bakery vanilla cupcake recipe, because I like that it is a pretty dense cake, and it absorbs the moisture from the filling really well, which is important, since the filling is pretty liquidy, except for the apple pieces.

You’ll want to make the cupcakes the day before you plan to serve them.

Here is the Magnolia vanilla cupcake recipe-

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.Line 2 (1/2 cup-12 capacity) muffin tins with cupcake papers.

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 3/4 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

After allowing the cupcakes to cool, I used the cone and scoop method to hollow out a space in the center of the cupcake so to have enough room for the filling. Just use a sharp pointed knife to cut an inverted cone (think ice cream cone) into the center of the cupcake from the top, and remove the cone, cut off the point of the cone, and use a spoon to sort of scoop out some of the inside of the cupcake. You don’t want to remove too much cake, but just a little.

Then I filled each of the cupcakes with this filling that I made while they were baking-

Apple cinnamon three milks filling-

2 medium granny smith apples
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
scant 1/4 cup evaporated milk
scant 1/4 cup heavy cream
2 Tablespoons brown sugar

A little while before you plan to fill the cupcakes (you should probably do this while the cupcakes are baking) mix together the sweetened condensed milk, the evaporated milk and the heavy cream. You can do this in any bowl, just mix them together with a spoon and set aside.

Peel, core and chop the apples into small pieces (remember that you’re using them to fill cupcakes, so.. probably no bigger than your pinkie fingernail) and swish them around in a bowl with the lemon juice so they retain their tartness and don’t brown too quickly.

Using a medium sized saute pan with high sides, melt the butter over medium heat. Once the butter starts to brown a little, pour in the apple chunks. Sweat the apple chunks, not allowing them to brown, just soften a little. Turn the temperature down if you need to, to prevent overbrowning. Once the apples chunks have softened, and a lot of their moisture has been wicked out, add the brown sugar, cinnamon and allspice to the apples on the stove. Stir to combine. The liquid in the pan may begin to caramelize a little. Pour in the three milks mixture and stir. Be careful not to overfill the pan (you can do this in a saucepan, but I didn’t want to make another dish to wash) and allow the liquid to reduce and thicken until it is the consistancy of a thin pancake batter. The mixture will have darkened slightly, but will be more beige than brown. Remove from heat and allow to cool before using.

I used about a tablespoon of the filling for each cupcake, but you may use more or less depending on the size of the hole in the cupcake. Use the spoon to press the filling down into the cupcake, since there is a lot of space between apple chunks, and the moisture will be absorbed into the cake, leaving holes if you do not compact them. Replace the top of the cupcake and press down again. You will probably have extra filling left over, just store it in the fridge for up to a week. You can make some extra pastry rounds and use it as a topping for those, or you could just make more cupcakes to fill it with! hehe..

After I filled the cupcakes, I iced them with an almond buttercream. Feel free to use Vanilla or whatever other flavour you feel would go well with caramel, apple, cinnamon and vanilla.

Almond Buttercream:1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
6 to 8 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons almond extract

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and almond. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar. Icing can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

After I iced the cupcakes, I put them in the refrigerator overnight. This is kind of an important step, as it allows the moisture from the filling to fully absorb into the cupcake and it allows the flavours to co-mingle enough to where each bite of the cupcake tastes just like the others, rather than having a disjointed feel and flavour. Also, a cold cupcake is a delicious cupcake.

The next day (or about 8 hours later) I made some butter pastry rounds using my *blue ribbon apple pie crust recipe* only after I rolled out the dough I cut rounds out with a 3inch cookie cutter, laid them out on a non-stick cookie sheet and poked holes in the top with a fork before baking at 350F for about 10 minutes. (Note- You can use the extra pastry rounds as sandwich cookies with the apple mixture as filling. Just use a fork and strain off the extra liquid from the apples.)

The final part of this cupcake comes in the form of Dulce de leche, or caramel sauce. Feel free to use either. You can make the *caramel sauce* or the *Dulce de leche* yourself, or you can use a store bought version.

To assemble, I just put the pastry round on top of the iced cupcake, tucked a few apple slices under the edge of the pastry round, and drizzled about a teaspoon of the caramel on top of the whole thing. Wait until the last minute to do the assembling, since the caramel will be oozy, and the apple will brown if you leave it out for too long before serving.

Anyways..

So after I took a little bite of one of the cupcakes, I walked away for a moment to upload my photos to my computer, when I turned around and saw this-

Apparently Rodney decided to teach the new robot on the block how to eat a cupcake.

I don’t speak their language, but from what I could discern, The new robot prefers using a fork. I guess this new robot is slightly more civilized…

…Or perhaps its just that he has opposable thumbs and articulated fingers.

Yeah, that’s probably it.

-A.

*I do not speak Spanish fluently, so my translation is probably off. My apologies.

In case you’re curious as to what the title refers to, click here.
No, I don’t really get it either, but it sure is happy!

Peanut butter jelly! Peanut butter jelly!

But first, a note about new years resolutions.
Its a new year, and here at the muffin household, things, they are a changing.

For one, we’ve made it a goal of ours to eat healthier. I know, everyone is making resolutions to eat better, lose weight, exercise more.. whatever.. Health issues in both of our families have really pounded it home that getting into better shape and being healthy is very important if we want to live long, enjoyable lives.

That having been said, don’t worry, it won’t affect what you see here. I still plan on making one or two tasty little treats a week, not for me or my family, but so that my husband can take them to work for his co-workers. They seem to appreciate them, so why not keep them happy. Who knows, it might make my husband’s work day more enjoyable, and if I can help with that, I will.

However, if you are one of those whose new years resolutions (or just your own personal goals) include weight loss, healthy eating and exercise, keep an eye out on the sidebar over there- (points at the side of the page to the right) for an announcement for a new healthy food blog that I’ll be launching later this month, once I’ve built up the archives a bit. I’ll be updating it probably more often than this one, since I’ll be using it as a sort of motivational blog as well, for myself and those who want to eat healthy food that just happens to taste awesome and look pretty.

ANYWAYS. All of that behind us now, ONTO THE DELICIOUSNESS!

I made peanut butter and jelly chocolate cupcakes today.

Strange combination? nope. Not at all. Delicious? Definately.

The salty peanut flavour, the creamy chocolate taste, and the sweetness of red ripe strawberries combined. Its like the a triple threat of tastiness.

I made them mini sized and tried a few different decorating styles.
Some of them just had plain peanut butter icing on them, some with a drizzle of chocolate. Some had peanut butter icing and were dipped in chocolate before being sprinkled with lightly salted peanuts and some had the same treatment, plus a slice of strawberry. All four were pretty and simple, and easy to do.

I took a photo of the outside of the cake so that you could get an idea of the texture.

I wasn’t able to get a good photo of a dissected cupcake, because they were filled with strawberry preserves, which just looks shiny against the dark brown of the chocolate cake.

Also, they were very moist, and while they didn’t crumble, they sort of smushed down a little when I sliced into it.
Pretty to look at, tasty to eat, but not very attractive after the first bite. hehe..

Anyways, here are the recipes that I used-

Chocolate Chiffon Cupcakes

2 cups sugar, divided
1 1/2 cups cake flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
7 eggs, separated and at room temperature
3/4 cup cold water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Heat oven to 350°F (180° C).

Combine 1-3/4 cups sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt and baking soda in large bowl. Add oil, egg yolks, water and vanilla; beat until smooth.

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in extra-large bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar, beating until stiff peaks form. Gradually pour chocolate batter over beaten egg whites, folding with rubber spatula just until blended. Spoon into prepared cupcake cups.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until top springs back when touched lightly. Allow to cool completely before removing from muffin tin (or you could do like me, and use freestanding cupcake cups). Fill, frost and enjoy

Makes around 18 standard cupcakes or 36 mini cupcakes.

I filled my cupcakes with some homemade strawberry jam that I recieved for Christmas. You can use any flavour of jam you think would go well with chocolate and peanut butter. I imagine grape would be DELICIOUS, but then again, I love grape flavoured anything. hehe..

I know I said I’d take photos of how to fill a cupcake using the cone method, but really, I think the best way to do it would be linking to The Cupcake Blog, where I actually learned how to do it. She has so many tips and tricks, not to mention delicious recipes. If you want to learn more about cupcakes in general (plus cupcake porn, omg) I’d take a peek over there. (a little ways down on THIS page, she shows how to fill a cupcake through step by step photos.)

Then I got a recipe for peanut butter icing from Southern food (about.com) and I iced my cupcakes before dipping half of them in melted chocolate, drizzling a few with the chocolate and then decorating them how they are shown.

This year, I challenge every one of you to become more daring with the food you eat. That is one of my goals as well this year, and I hope to show more adventurous, less blah foods on both here and the new blog.
-A.

P.S. Come back soon for a very special post! (hint, my blog-aversary is coming up very soon!)

When I was a little girl, I would do whatever I could to get into the kitchen and bake with my mom.

For a while, I don’t think she really wanted me there. I asked too many questions, I made too many messes, I didn’t listen to directions well, and I’m pretty sure I was the most annoying child to have in the kitchen with you when you were actually attempting to make something that was- A.) edible and B.) would be appealing to the entire family and not just the crazy 5 year old who thought that sugar should be its own food group.

My mom’s answer to my constantly begging to make goodies in the kitchen was to give me outlets for my culinary creativity. Namely, the county fair baking competition.

For one week in August every year, the Clark County Fair would open and give me a chance to enter all sorts of baked goods that I’d tried to perfect during the rest of the year.

Most kids wanted to go to the fair for the rides or the cotton candy. Not me (ok, so maybe part of it was for the cotton candy). For months ahead of time Ineverbashfulwithbutter.comhttp://www.neverbashfulwithbutter.com would be in the kitchen perfecting my recipes and presentation for the big show. I longed for the excitement of entering. The first sight of the entry book at the local pharmacy would send shivers up my spine, and I would be giddy from then until the final submission date.

I had competition fever.

Sure, there were hits, and of course… there were misses. PLENTY of misses. So many misses that I often questioned my ability to make anything that tasted good. It was the few that won that kept me going.

This is one of those recipes. Just like the Zucchini bread muffins and the Sugar plums, this is one of the recipes from the good ol’ family recipe book, so no creativity necessary for these babies.

Few things have changed since my great grandmother created these recipes, so they’re perfect for days like today, when I don’t have a creative bone in my body.

Applesauce and pecan spice cake with raspberry preserves and cream cheese icing.

4 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1-2 cups chopped pecans (you can use almonds or walnuts if you prefer)
1 cup oil
2 cups sugar
3 cups applesauce

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a large mixing bowl, mix all ingredients together and stir until smooth (with small bumps for the pecans, of course) spoon or pour into prepared muffin tins (will make about 36 standard size muffins or 24 standard plus 12+ mini muffins) or two well greased 9″ round cake pans.

Bake for 15-25 minutes for muffins (it took my oven about 20 minutes, but I’d check at 12 minutes just to be sure.) or 45 minutes+ for round cake pans.

Allow to fully cool before filling with raspberry jam (apple butter or apple sauce is also VERY tasty as filling) and either sprinkling with powdered sugar or icing with cream cheese icing (I used the cream cheese icing recipe posted here). Top with a pecan half and enjoy!

I did a few with the purple icing and the raspberry filling and the rest I left unfilled (because I’m lazy), and I topped them with uncoloured cream cheese icing. They were still pretty darn tasty.

They have pecans inside the batter in addition to the pecan half on the top. I sprinkled the icing with a little ground nutmeg and cinnamon as well.

I think I’ll feel more creative later on this week. Right now I’m still in “Christma-shock”, so I apologize for the boring tone of this post.

But really, you should totally make these cakes. They’re actually kind of healthy, so those of you whose New Years resolutions include eating healthier, these are totally up your alley.

Or maybe that’s just my great grandmother talking. After all, anything that has fruit in it HAS to be healthy, right? *smile*

-A.

Alright everyone, its time to take a deep breath *takes a deep breath* and recover from all this bacon cookie craziness with a tried and true flavour combination-

Chocolate and orange.

See, I’m feeling more mellow today.
I’m also feeling like its about time I start working on my Christmas gifts, since.. you know, the big day is like two weeks away. We’ll be giving our gifts out on the weekend before Christmas, so I figured I’d start today with a test batch of one of my favourite things to make and give as a gift from my kitchen.

Dark Chocolate orange sauce…

But I can’t just take a photo of a bottle of dark chocolate orange sauce, which is why I decided to make some Chocolate buttermilk cupcakes, fill them with orange cream filling and use the dark chocolate orange sauce as a topping for these tasty little bites of chocolate heaven.

Its nice and thick and rich, and it keeps well- so it is an excellent gift go give alone, maybe with a nice big bowl, a spoon and a gift certificate for Baskin Robbins… or with a mug, some hot cocoa mix and some homemade marshmallows (which is what I’ll be pairing my chocolate sauce with) Or as an “adults only” gift, with a quality nylon paintbrush and some candy sprinkles (Can you say Human cupcake?)

You could even make a whole gift basket of chocolate treats and tuck this in there.

Another great idea would be to make these cupcakes topped with an orange segment, filled with orange cream, pour a little of the dark chocolate orange sauce on top, have a Holiday party and as a party favour, have everyone take a little bottle of the sauce home with them!

..Or you could just eat it all yourself. I won’t tell anyone. *smile*

In the meantime, here are the recipes-

Chocolate Buttermilk Cupcakes

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers. Set aside.

In a small bowl, sift together the flour and baking soda. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the chocolate, mixing until well incorporated. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack.

Once the cupcakes have fully cooled, you can fill them with the orange cream filling.

I used THIS recipe for buttercreams, and for the flavours, I added 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract and 1/2 teaspoon orange extract. You can do all orange if you like, but I felt it was a bit overpowering, and I liked the ‘creamsicle’ effect of using the vanilla as well. I just made the buttercream filling, its like a thickened frosting.

To fill the cupcakes-

Use a small paring knife, cut off the top of the cupcake in the shape of a cone. Flip the top over and cut off the pointy end of the cone, leaving a the “shell” of the cupcake top with a little bit of fluffy cake still attached. Fill the cavity left in the cupcake with a teaspoon or so of the orange cream filling. Replace the top of the cupcake.

You don’t have to add this special step, but you may notice that there are two different tones of chocolate on the cupcake. I melted some milk chocolate and spread a little of it on top of the cupcake, that way it wasn’t just DARK chocolate on DARK cupcakes, the lighter tone of the milk chocolate really makes the chocolate sauce more noticeable in the photograph, and it tastes good too!

Dark Chocolate Orange Sauce

12 ounce dark chocolate cut into small pieces (if you really want to make a milk chocolate sauce, feel free to use milk chocolate, or even semi sweet chocolate)
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon orange liqueur (or you can use a teaspoon pure orange extract in its place)

Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized stainless steel bowl and set aside.
Combine the cream, sugar, and corn syrup in a saucepan and place over low heat. Bring to a boil, stirring often.
Remove from heat and pour immediately over the chocolate. Let stand until the chocolate has melted, then stir until smooth.

Stir in the vanilla extract and liquor.
Strain into your choice of sealable container (I used food grade glass bottles from Specialtybottle.com, you can use canning jars, re-use other containers like baby food jars or peanut butter jars, Just make sure they can be immersed in hot water for reheating)

Makes about 2 cups of chocolate sauce.

The chocolate sauce will keep for a few months in the refrigerator.

If you give the sauce as a gift, you can label it however you wish. I made a simple label out of white paper, and I used a strip of clear tape to laminate and adhere it to the bottle. You can adorn the bottle or jar with a cloth topper, a ribbon tied around the bottle neck, or like I did, with a little wire ring and some beads (orange for orange flavour!) The wire embellishment is removeable once the lid is taken off, so it won’t interfere with pouring.

Just make sure to include a tag or a note stating the ingredients and the instructions for use-

Ingredients- Chocolate, Cream, Sugar, Corn syrup, Flavouring

To reheat chocolate sauce for use, remove the cap and dip the bottom 3/4 of the bottle in hot or boiling water for about 30 seconds. Do not boil the bottle, do not microwave the bottle with the lid on. Mix with milk, add a flavour boost to your hot cocoa, or pour on top of your choice of tasty treats. Enjoy!

-A.

P.S. if you’re not a fan of Chocolate and orange, you can make the cream filling using any flavour extract that appeals to you. Same with the Chocolate sauce, you can add a teaspoon of any sort of flavour extract, or a tablespoon of any flavoured liqueur that you feel would pair well with chocolate. Be creative! Be inventive!

… Just so ya’ll know I’m not crazy, Pigs and peppermint have gone together for quite a long time- Click HERE for mor information on the Peppermint Pig Christmas tradition.

One of my favourite things about winter is the sudden availability of peppermint ice cream.

You know, the pink kind with the little chunks of peppermint candy in it. The kind that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy and wintery just smelling it.

In my teens, I was obsessed with Schwans brand peppermint ice cream. My mom had started making regular orders to the schwans delivery man when I was 13 or so, and that was one of my first requests for her to order. It was smooth and creamy and perfect. It was a beautifully bright shade of pink, filled with all sorts of chunks of peppermint candy that was oddly easy to bite into, and not toothbreakingly hard like one might assume “hard” candy would be when frozen.

Through my teens I never had to search for another brand of peppermint ice cream. It was all about the Schwans.

…Then they switched from pink peppermint to GREEN mint, with primary coloured mint chunks, and it was no longer strictly peppermint flavoured, but rather a more generic mint flavour, combining the wonderful peppermint with a hint of wintergreen, my least favourite flavour on the planet, causing the whole mess to taste a bit like toothpaste.

I was not happy.

But I also could not locate another pink peppermint ice cream.

Over time, I moved on in ice cream flavours.

Peppermint fell by the wayside in order to make room for more common, generic flavours, like Blue Bunny’s Classic chocolate and Ben and Jerry’s Karamel core and Häagen-Dazs strawberry. There was a brief stint with Tillamook orange cream, but that didn’t last long.

Then suddenly last week, after sort of boycotting ice cream due to tooth sensitivity, I began craving peppermint ice cream. Still unable to really enjoy ice cream to its fullest, I decided to try and make a cupcake version of the delicious ice cream flavour.

Vanilla mint cupcakes with peppermint cream icing-
(magnolia vanilla cupcake recipe + a few alterations)

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons pure peppermint extract
In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk, cream, vanilla and peppermint (you can mix the liquid ingredients together if you wish). With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 3/4 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing. This recipe will make about 2 dozen standard size cupcakes or about 48 mini cupcakes. (give or take a few, depending on your how full you fill the muffin cups and how large your muffin cups actually are.)

Peppermint cream icing-

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
6 to 8 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons pure peppermint extract Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the cream and peppermint. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. Chill for about 15 minutes in the refrigerator before using, and only use to ice COLD cupcakes.

Trust me. They’re delicious.

-A.

P.S. If anyone knows a brand that makes pink peppermint ice cream that is smooth and creamy and TO DIE FOR, Lemme know.

I like to believe that I’m a different person than I was in high school.

When I was a teenager, I was a bit of a loner. I spent the first three years of high school trying to fit in. My senior year, I decided it would just be a better idea to spend as much as possible in the art room of my small rural high school.

Sure, I had friends, but the majority of them were really just situational friends. People who I would never see again once I was in charge of my own “real life” schedule, and high school was over. But during those fragile years, I didn’t see that. I had my blinders on, and my goal was to gain as much popularity as possible.

I know I’m not the only kid who fell into this trap.

I know that many kids think that the only way to get through high school is to pretend they’re something that they’re not, and succumb to peer pressure.

Luckily, I didn’t go about my quest for popularity that way.

I never did drugs or went to rowdy parties or get suspended from school. I never ever had to go to detention or got in trouble with my parents.

Nope.

I tried to be popular by signing up to be my high school mascot…

The Spudder.

If you’re not sure what a Spudder is, it’s a potato. A large, light brown, crowned, hell-bent on glory, potato.

My duties as “the mighty spudder” included, but were not limited to-

-Drumming up support and cheers during football games.
-Partaking in my own personal dance, or.. “doing the mighty spudder”
-Instructing others how to join in. (the directions went something like *shout * “DO THE MIGHTY SPUDDER NOW! OOH- ah ah ah OOH ah ah ah OOH” and flexing my mighty shoestring arms while voguing. Yeah, its one of those “you’d have to see it” kinda deals.)
-Attending pep rallies, assemblies, all football games and related activities
-Posing for photos with adorable little kids who had no idea exactly how smelly the inside of the giant potato suit I was wearing really was.

It was really quite fun, although during the time I donned the costume, I had to maintain the façade of “unaffected teenager” because that’s what my friends were. They hated school, pep rallies, cheer. All that fun stuff.

Thusly, I never divulged my whereabouts during football season during my sophomore and junior years, instead telling my friends that I was busy with family stuff, and couldn’t hang out or whatever.

My secret stayed a secret until about a year after high school when one of my friends found a photo of me with the cheerleaders, holding onto the costume…. And I was smiling. I was actually enjoying the company of cheerleaders, and that was suspicious. I spilled my guts and told them all about my two years of service as the football season spudder.

They laughed.
I laughed.

From then on out I’ve heard constant jokes about potatoes.

My favourite was about three years ago, right around Thanksgiving, hanging out at my parents house while my mom and dad debated the differences between sweet potatoes and yams, and which was better or even acceptable for thanksgiving dinner, as well as which of the two my mom had been serving over the years.

He turned to me and said “Ooh, ooh! You should go in there and announce-‘I yam what I yam, and that’s a sweet potato”.

My recipe for sweet potato cupcakes with brown sugar butter cream cheese icing-

1/2 cup Butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup cooked, peeled and mashed sweet potatoes
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon maple or vanilla extract

Cream the butter and slowly add sugar, eggs and sweet potatoes. Sift the flour, baking powder, soda and spices together in a separate bowl. Mix the maple extract into the milk and Add dry ingredients alternately with the milk into the sweet potato mixture. ( Drier sweet potatoes might require more milk.)

Spoon the batter into lined cupcake cups. (I used parchment paper squares that I folded into the metal muffin tin)

Bake in 350° oven for 20-30 minutes. (this recipe made 36 standard cupcakes for me, though yours might vary depending on the size of your muffin cups and the thinness of your batter.)
For the icing-

1/2 cup butter
2 8oz packages cream cheese
3-4 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar

Beat together the butter and cream cheese until soft and creamy (use a stand mixer). Add in 3 cups powdered sugar. Mix until crumbly. While mixer is still on, add in the brown sugar. Depending on how soft the mixture becomes (the brown sugar will add moisture, so it will thin out the icing) add 1/2-1 cup powdered sugar until the frosting is fluffy.

Spread a generous amount of frosting on cooled cupcakes, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and top with a marshmallow, unless you’re one of those people who think putting marshmallows on top of sweet potatoes is just weird, in which case… spoon on a little whipped cream. But marshmallows work much better.

Eat and enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving day tomorrow!

-A.

When I was a kid, there was only one thing more tempting than my dad’s chocolate candy stash he kept hidden behind the coffee canister on the shelf in the kitchen that only he could reach.

…And that “thing”, was caramel.

I don’t know where the craving came from. I can’t tell you when I first tasted its richness, or when its delightfully chewy texture first crossed my palate.

I can, however, tell you about the first time indulging in my favourite candy became a “no-no” and how I landed on my orthodontist’s naughty list.

It was fairly early on when I realized how much I loathed any sort of orthodontia.

My first experience with an orthodontist yielded a mouthful of spacers, as my parents decided to act immediately on their recommendation to fit my mouth with an “oral appliance”. Basically, it was a spikey tongue guard that kept my tongue from pressing against the back of my teeth….

Conversely, it kept anything from entering my mouth as well, including food. Two weeks of spacers and suddenly I had this giant metal tongue guard in my mouth, keeping me from eating, speaking, or breathing the without some difficulty. The first night my mom took me and a couple of my friends out to dinner at the neighbourhood burger joint, sort of as a “sorry ’bout the giant metal monster in your mouth, how about we go to dinner” consolation prize.

Imagine my horror as I attempted to bite down on my burger only to realize- Oh yeah, there’s that big spikey metal in my mouth, I should probably cut this up before I try to chew it. yeah, I had to cut my burger into a million tiny bites before eating it.. With a fork. My friends all laughed. I turned red. Talk about embarrassing.

However, it only took me a few months to get settled into things, and the giant metal monster eventually became my tiny metal friend, as I found the thing was pretty fierce looking and intimidating to the schoolyard bullies. Fourth grade was a dangerous place to be.. Even more dangerous if you’re picking on the girl with the metal spikes in her mouth. *grin*

Unfortunately, about a year into my two year dental imprisonment, I had a slight mishap in the family swimming pool. I was singing “somewhere over the rainbow” in a contest with one of my friends, and I twirled a little wide, causing me to land face first, open mouth- into the edge of the swimming pool (crazy children, don’t ask).

I guess my orthodontist felt sorry for me, or maybe it was the huge hole in the roof of my mouth that caused them to end my stay and remove the appliance permanently.

I thought I was free…

But about a year later, my dentist springs it on me that I *might* need braces. *Might* meaning- Come back next week and we’ll get it started!

Anyways, this time I was older and more set in my ways. When my Orthodontist sat me down and gave me the list of “can’t do- can’t have” for my brace wearing years.. I got so mad I wanted to throw things. I think I actually cried. “They’re going to deprive me of POPCORN?!” This simply couldn’t be.. “What? NO CARAMEL EITHER!?!” *sigh* It wasn’t fair. I planned on not listening whatsoever. I mean.. really, how are they going to know if I ate caramel when they weren’t around?

Well. They knew.

And I paid for it. Not only with the obvious pain it caused by popping brackets and breaking wires… In addition to that, my orthodontist added THREE MONTHS to my “braces release date”. Apparently I as more stubborn than they thought, because by the time I reached 5 years with braces, when my original sentance was only three and a half years, I turned 16 and my parents let me decide if I wanted to keep my braces on or have them removed- BECAUSE I STILL HADN’T BEEN RELEASED.

I took the get out of braces free card, stopped by park place for my retainers and never stopped running. My orthodontist thought the whole thing was pretty funny, and as going away present, she gave me a whole pound of Brach’s caramels.

I’m a little older now, but still very much in love with all things caramel.

You can see it in the things that I bake. One of my most favourite ingredients is caramel.

So I decided today to start off my holiday candy recipe collection with a more grown up yet still classic version of the every day caramel. Something special for the holidays, or everyday…

And here is the recipe-

Hot buttered rum- cream caramels

2 cups white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup organic corn syrup
1 cup evaporated milk
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon rum extract
1 teaspoon butter flavouring
1 teaspoon hazelnut (or almond) extract
a pinch of ground cloves
a pinch of nutmeg
a pinch of cinnamon

Line a 9×13 inch pan with waxed paper and spray with a light coat of non-stick spray.

In a medium-size pot, combine sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, evaporated milk, whipping cream, and butter, and heat over medium heat until it reaches 250 degrees F.

Once the mixture has reached 250 degrees, mix in the rum, butter and hazelnut extracts, as well as the pinch of ground cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon. Mix throughly. Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan and allow it to cool completely without being disturbed. Once the mixture has come to room temperature, chill it for about half an hour in the fridge before cutting.

Once you’ve cut the caramels into small pieces, wrap them tightly in waxed paper and keep them in a sealed container away from moisture. The amount of caramels this recipe yields varies depending on the size of your pieces, but mine were about 2″x 3/4″x3/4″ and I made 80 of them. Heh.. though you wouldn’t know it by how many have disappeared since my husband came home and found out I made caramel. HA!

If you’re looking for a fun, easy but fancy schmancy food gift for your loved ones this holiday season, I’d definately recommend this recipe. Its so simple, and so tasty. And who doesn’t love little hand wrapped caramels, anyways?

…well, besides maybe my orthodontist.

-A.

Just the other day, after I posted about my beautiful garnet red pomegranate seeds, I realized I had no idea what to do with them outside of eating them plain, or in a salad.

So I scoured the internet for inspiration, and came up with a nice idea of what flavours other people thought went well with the pomegranate, and I hit the kitchen.

What I emerged with is simply delicious AND festive. This recipe could easily be made for any holiday get together. Also, it made my entire apartment smell divine.

Maple and cocoa tea cakes with pomegranate cream icing.

I also made a pot of pomegranate infused hot cocoa, and they worked quite nicely together.

I was actually pretty amazed with how well the maple, chocolate and pomegranate went together. I had found many recipes for chocolate flavoured goodies with pomegranate flavoured frostings, glazes or syrups, but the addition of the maple was iffy. I know that chocolate and maple go together well, so why not all three?

Well, it worked… And they were damn tasty, too.

So here is the recipe-

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
4 large eggs, at room temperature
3\4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.In a small bowl, combine the flours and cocoa powder. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually followed by the maple syrup and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into greased cupcake tins, filling them about 3/4 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Pomegranate Cream icing-

1/2 cup pomegranate syrup (homemade grenadine)
1/4 cup cold cream cheese
1/2 cup cold butter
4-5 cups powdered sugar

In an electric mixer, beat the butter until soft, add the cream cheese and beat together until creamy. Gradually add the powdered sugar, until the mixture is is grainy, like breadcrumbs.

Slowly add the pomegranate syrup and beat the mixture on high for about a minute and a half, until everything is smooth, creamy and fully incorporated. Refrigerate until needed, keep leftovers sealed and refrigerated.

Sprinkle with nonpareils and brown sugar!

It really is a nice flavour combination. The cake has a sort of soft gingerbread flavour to it, and the tartness of the icing really accents the softness of the cake flavour. You could also definately serve this as a breakfast cake, or use the “waffler technique” and bake the batter in a greased non-stick belgian waffler!

However you do it, its delicious.

-A.

P.S. to make pomegranate hot cocoa, just add a tablespoon of homemade grenadine to your regular hot cocoa mix, and enjoy!