Corn on the Cob Cupcakes

These were too cute not to make! Typically, I am anti-making one type of food look like some other type of food, but this looked too fun. Someone on the What's Cooking board found them on the Martha Stewart website, and I decided I had to make them for a summer party.

These were pretty easy to throw together, you could probably use any vanilla cupcake recipe you like (but I don't have a favorite so I made the one from the website). Just get some frosting, yellow and white jelly beans, a few yellow starburst, and you are on your way! They are fun to decorate and super cute.
Corn on the Cob Cupcakes
From Hello, Cupcake!, by Karen Tack
Yield: 24 Cupcakes (I only got 19)

For the Cupcakes:
~2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
~2 teaspoons baking powder
~2 teaspoons baking soda (I used 1.5 tsp)
~1/2 teaspoon salt
~1/2 cup milk
~1/2 cup vegetable oil
~1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used 2 tsp)
~1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
~1 cup sugar
~3 large eggs

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 standard 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners; set aside.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. Combine milk, oil, and vanilla in a small bowl; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, alternating with milk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture; beat until well combined, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary.
Fill muffin cups two-thirds full with batter. Transfer muffin tins to oven and bake until golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to a wire rack; let cool completely before decorating.

For Decorating:
~Vanilla Frosting
~yellow food coloring
~3 1/2 cups small yellow, cream, or white jelly beans, such as Jelly Belly
~4 pieces yellow fruit chews, such as Laffy Taffys or Starbursts
~1 tablespoon black decorating sugar (I skipped)
~1 tablespoon white decorating sugar (I skipped)
~8 sets of corn holders (optional)

Directions
Color the frosting pale yellow with food coloring.

Working with 3 cupcakes at a time, frost cupcakes with yellow frosting. Arrange 5 rows of jelly beans, close together, on each cupcake. Place the 3 cupcakes side by side on a corn dish or serving platter to resemble an ear of corn. Repeat process with remaining cupcakes, frosting, and jelly beans.

Cut the fruit chews into eight 1-inch squares. Soften the edges slightly by hand so that they look like melted butter. Place 1 square on top of each ear of corn. Sprinkle with sugars. Insert a corn holder in the end of each ear of corn, if using. Serve.

Eat to the Beat, Round 2

The amazing Elly from Elly Says Opa! has graciously turned her blogging event, Eat to the Beat, into a quarterly event. I was SO glad to hear she would be continuing it (see my first entry here). There is just so much music to go around, there'd be plenty of material for event after event.

A few weeks ago, I popped into my favorite local liquor store, and noticed a vendor with a little tasting table set up. Never one to pass up a free tasting, I stopped by to see what he was offering. His first words were, "Would you like a rose mimosa?" That was just about all I needed to hear! He went on and on about this wonderful rose nectar that has been made the same way since the 1200s and blahblahblah. I was way more interested in the yummy bubbly than his very detailed account of his product (oops). I bought two bottles of rose nectar and continued on my way. I got to thinking about what I could do for the next round of Eat to the Beat (as the deadline rapidly approached) and I decided I wanted to use the rose nectar in something other than a rose mimosa. Instantly, the 80s hair band memories sprung to the front of my mind, and all I could think about was...



So... what to do with my rose nectar? Two lines from the main chorus became my inspiration.

Every rose has it's thorn
Just like every night has it's dawn

Dawn, to me, brings to mind oranges and orange juice. First stop: Morning Rose Madeleines! These weren't quite as rose-y as I would have liked, but they were every bit as yummy as a madeleine should be!
______________________________________________________________
Morning Rose Madeleines
Adapted from Baking: From My Home To Yours, by Dorie Greenspan
Yield: 12 Madeleines

~1 cup all-purpose flour
~1 teaspoon baking powder
~Pinch of salt
~½ cup sugar
~Grated zest of 1/2 an orange
~2 large eggs, at room temperature
~2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
~1/4 cup rose nectar (such as Sence)
~¾ stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

For the glaze:
~1/4 cup milk
~Powdered sugar
~15-20 drops of orange extract

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Working in a mixer bowl, or in a large bowl, rub the sugar and orange zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the eggs to the bowl. Working with the whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar together on medium-high speed until pale, thick and light, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla and rose nectar. With a rubber spatula, very gently fold in the dry ingredients, followed by the melted butter. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the batter and refrigerate it for at least 3 hours, or for up to 2 days. This long chill period will help the batter form the hump that is characteristic of madeleines. (For convenience, you can spoon the batter into the madeleine molds, cover and refrigerate, then bake the cookies directly from the fridge; see below for instructions on prepping the pans.)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter 12 full-size madeleine molds, or up to 36 mini madeleine molds, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. Or, if you have a nonstick pan (or pans), give it a light coating of vegetable cooking spray. If you have a silicone pan, no prep is needed. Place the pan(s) on a baking sheet.

Spoon the batter into the molds, filling each one almost to the top. Don't worry about spreading the batter evenly, the oven's heat will take care of that. Bake large madeleines for 11 to 13 minutes, and minis for 8 to 10 minutes, or until they are golden and the tops spring back when touched. Remove the pan(s) from the oven and release the madeleines from the molds by rapping the edge of the pan against the counter. Gently pry any reluctant madeleines from the pan using your fingers or a butter knife. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool to just warm or to room temperature. If you are making minis and have more batter, bake the next batch(es), making certain that you cool, then properly prepare the pan(s) before baking.

To make the glaze, combine the milk, powdered sugar, and orange extract and mix well. Dip warm madeleines in the glaze, or drizzle about 1 Tablespoon over each madeleine. Allow the glaze to set and the madeleines to finish cooling before serving.
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I was happy with the madeleines (maybe not as rose-y as I'd like, but darn tasty), but I couldn't stop thinking about that message. Every rose has it's thorn. What's my rose? What's it's thorn? Right now, my rose is baking. I love it, love spending every weekend trying new recipes, new techniques, living to tell about it... and bring the goodies to work. That's where that thorn part comes in. Baking 2 or 3 different baked goods every weekend is not conducive to a slim waistline (hence, if you've been reading, my 2 week divorce from sugar). I pass it all off to my workers (no doubt I am a rose and thorn to them for the same reason!) to lessen the blow, but I certainly take my Quality Control duties quite seriously. I decided to go for one more recipe...Every Rose Has It's Thorn Cupcakes (nice long name, eh?). So....What is your rose? And it's thorn?

Once again, the rose flavor hides behind the orange, so maybe next time I'll skip the zest in the cupcake batter. But, these are SO light and airy and wonderful!

Every Rose Has It's Thorn Cupcakes
Adapted from Orange Chiffon Cupcakes, from Cupcakes!, by Elinor Klivans
Yield: 12 cupcakes (Note: I wanted 18, so increased the recipe accordingly, and wound up with 28 cupcakes... so I'm leaving the recipe as a 12 cupcake yield)

~1 and 1/2 cups of cake flour
~1 cup of sugar
~1 teaspoon of baking powder
~1/4 teaspoon of salt
~1/3 cup of canola or corn oil
~4 large eggs, separated
~1/3 cup water
~1 and 1/2 teaspoons of grated orange zest
~1/4 cup of rose nectar
~1 teaspoon vanilla extract
~1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Sift the cake flour, 3/4 cup of the sugar, the baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Use a spoon to make a well in the center of the flour mixture, and put the oil, egg yolks, water, orange zest, rose nectar, and vanilla extract in the well. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the mixture until it is smooth and thick, about 3 minutes.

In another bowl, with clean beaters, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar on medium speed until the whites are foamy and the cream of tartar is dissolves. Beat on high speed until the egg whites look shiny and smooth and the beaters for mines in the mixture; if you stop the mixer and lift the beaters, the whites should cling to the beaters. Slowly beat in the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar, about a tablespoon at a time, then beat for another minute after you get all the sugar incorporated. Stir about 1/3 of the beaten egg mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Then, with a rubber spatula, fold in the remaining egg white mixture. Folding over and over until no white streaks remain.

Wohoo! No over-beaten egg whites!

For easy pouring, transfer the batter to a pitcher with a lip. Using about 1/2 cup for each, pour the batter into the cps. The batter will come just to the top of each cup. Do not smooth the tops, let the batter remain in fluffy mounds. Bake for about 35 minutes, until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry. The cupcakes will rise about 1/2 inch above the top of each cup.

This actually didn't work out so nicely and I resorted back to scooping with the spatula after this photo. And yes, that's a gravy boat.

Carefully loosen the cupcakes from the pan, cool on a wire rack until completely cooled, about 45 minutes. I used a simple buttercream icing with a few drops of orange extract added, to taste.

They looked so beautiful! (I will spare your eyes (and their embarrasment) by not showing what happened next... total shriveling!)

My (Cup)Cake Decorating Debut!

I wanted to try my hand at cake decorating. I have a Wilton book, and some tips, so I decided to play around a bit. Using the Lime Cupcakes with White Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes from Kelsey, I did some simple leaves and (possibly the easiest) flowers. I can't wait to make some decorating icing (this wasn't quite right) and try more!

First, some stars :-)

Then flowers!

Fresh Orange Cream Tart Turned... Orange Cream Cupcakes!

So this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was a Fresh Orange Cream tart. My mini tarts didn't turn out so well, and I needed SOME way to unload this butter laden orange cream. I decided to go for some cupcakes filled with the orange cream, topped with a simple vanilla glaze.

I stumbled upon this recipe for Blood Orange Banana Cake and thought it would be perfect (besides, I have 6 bananas in my freezer and 2 more that were ready to go in, which made it eve more useful for me). Much to my own surprise... these turned out pretty good! The orange in the cake is pretty well hidden behind the banana flavor, so it really got a boost from the orange cream. The light vanilla glaze was the perfect accompaniment!

Blood Orange Banana Cake
1 cup blood orange sections (2 large, peeled)
2 medium bananas
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, very soft
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 2/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350F and butter and flour a 9-inch cake pan. In a food processor, combine blood orange sections, bananas, sugar and butter and whizz until fairly smooth. Add in egg and vanilla and pulse to combine.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Pour in orange mixture and stir just until no lumps remain. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a tester comes out dry and the cake springs back when lightly pressed. Allow cake to cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes. Run a knife around the edge and invert the cake onto a platter. Reinvert the cake onto a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely before frosting. Serves 8-10

I increased the recipe by 1.5, thinking that the original recipe would make 12 cupcakes and I wanted 18. I ended up with 26 cupcakes. :-) Oops! I used the cone method to then fill the cupcakes with orange cream.

Simple Vanilla Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp butter
dash of vanilla
skim milk to desired consistency
~Beat together butter, sugar, and vanilla. Slowly add skim milk until you reach your desired consistency.
This was enough for a health glaze on 18 cupcakes.

Yes I am pretty horrible at implementing the cone method. I'll get better. I promise!

Tuesdays with... Mint Chocolate Cupcakes?

I took one look at this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe (Brioche Raisin Snails) and realized that I had enough on my plate this weekend (namely taxes, taxes, and more taxes) so it was a good time to take a week off. I thought, instead, that I would find a simple plain white cupcake recipe with some sort of green filling and frosting to share with friends for St. Patrick's Day. I stumbled upon (hmm, I've been doing a lot of that lately) this recipe for Mint Chocolate Cupcakes. Usually, chocolate doesn't call to me, but MINT chocolate... now we're talkin'!

I must have been channeling Dorie Greenspan anyway on these, because I ended up with some problems, as I typically do when working on the Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. The TWD recipes seem to give me problems simply because they get me to do techniques and make things that I never would otherwise do... so the problems are actually a good thing - I'm learning! For these cupcakes, the first was the amount of batter... supposed to make 24 cupcakes; I ended up with 36 cupcakes (3-6!!). Let's take it batch by batch...

First batch of 12: I was very excited about my little cupcakes. The batter looked heavenly, and I checked in on these babies a few times. I think I should not have done that! By the time the 25 min was up, they had risen, then fallen. I took them out, made sure they were done (they were) and wondered what the heck I'd done wrong. Obvious to me, there was too much batter in the cups. So I moved on to batch #2 with that in mind...

Veritable cupcake disaster area

Second batch of 12: I put less in the cups, which seems to help. They were still tough to get out of the pan, as the top was very fragile, almost like a meringue/macaroon. I went back to the website... sure enough, hers were beautifully risen. I started going through the comments and came to find out that at least I'm not the only one! Others had similar issues, so I read through their brainstorming session.

Escaped with minor damage

~Oven not the right temperature... well I've gone through great pains to get that right, so that's not it.
~Baking powder too old... if so, there's nothing I can do about that now, so what else is there?
~Cupcakes aren't done... I tested, they were done.
~Don't open the door for at least 15 minutes... OOPS.
Since that was really my only saving grace for batch #3, I gave it a shot.

Third batch of 12: I was very careful to add just enough batter to the cups (I was using a 1/8 cup measure, about one heaping scoop each). I put them in the oven and didn't even look at them through the window until 25 min later when they were done. They still weren't as pretty as they should be, but at least they'd be presentable to friends. Given the plight I'd just been through, and the fragile nature of the top, I decided to skip the ganache filling (another project for another day).

Next task to tackle: Buttercream frosting.
Frosting in general is just a bad idea in my kitchen. I never seem to get it right. In the past, I've had problems with funny tasting powdered sugar. So now, any batch of frosting starts with a new bag or box. I decided to make a little less frosting than called for, since I had less cupcakes to frost and didn't plan on using as much as she did. I had just enough to frost 16 cupcakes - perfect for sharing (the remainder are frozen, awaiting some divine inspiration).

I didn't love the buttercream, so I'll have to do some more digging and find some new frosting recipes. The cupcake part was pretty good, even for my non-chocolate loving self. My friends loved them (though I am starting to wonder if they would even tell me if they didn't like something... you know, don't bite the hand that feeds you?). In the hands of others, this is probably a fantastic recipe. Someday I will come back and tackle it again, but in the meantime, I thought you'd enjoy hearing about my cupcake trials and tribulations. :-)

Chocolate Cupcakes
24 regular cupcakes / 350 degree oven
200 gram bar of Valrhona 61% cocao
3 sticks butter
2-1/4 cups sugar
8 eggs
1-1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder, unsweetened
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt

1. chop chocolate and transfer into the bowl of a standing mixer.

2. add butter to the chocolate and place the bowl over a pan of simmering water. stir until chocolate melts and butter is combined.

3. remove from heat and stir in sugar. let mixture cool for 10 minutes.

4. beat in an electric mixer for 3 minutes.

5. add one egg at a time, mixing for 30 seconds between each.

6. sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and a pinch of salt into the mixture and mix until blended.

7. scoop into cupcake cups and bake at 350 F for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Chocolate-Mint Ganache
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup + 1 teaspoon chopped mint leaves
1 tablespoon butter, room temperature

1. chop chocolate and transfer into a heat proof bowl.

2. heat cream and 1/4 cup mint until bubbles form around the edge of the pan, pour cream through strainer, over the chocolate.

3. let sit for 1 minute then stir until combined.

4. add butter and the remaining teaspoon of chopped mint and stir until combined.

5. let cool then transfer to the refrigerator to thicken, 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Mint Buttercream Frosting
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
4-5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 cup milk
1/8 teaspoon all natural peppermint extract

1. beat butter until creamy, scrape bowl.

2. add 4 cups of sifted powdered sugar, milk, and peppermint extract, beat until combined.

3. add more powdered sugar as needed to get piping consistency.

Note: I tried to keep the mint flavor subtle and not too overpowering. I recommend starting on the light side with 1/8 teaspoon or less and tasting to get the flavor you want.

Assemble
1. stuff the cupcakes with ganache using the cone method (cut out a cone shape from the top, cut off the pointy cone part, stuff the whole with filling, then put the top back on)

2. frost them.

3. top with something green (if you want), like a mint leaf, green candy, or whatever you fancy.

Nutella Cupcakes

W-o-w. I'd heard people talking about Nutella before, and how amazing it is, but when faced with such fanaticism for something, I tend to be turned off to it (HP included!). Well, The Nest/What's Cooking also has its legions of Nutella fans, but after actually seeing things made with this stuff, I decided it was time to give in and just try it.

My first adventure in Nutella Land (aside from, of course, eating it off a spoon) was Nutella Cupcakes, from ladymcbth on What's Cooking.

Nutella Frosted Cupcakes

• 10 tbsp(140 grams) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 3/4 cups (200 grams) sifted ap flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• Nutella, approx. 1/3 cup

Preheat oven to 325F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners. Cream together butter and sugar until light, 2 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Don't worry if the batter doesn't look smooth. Add vanilla. Stir in flour, salt and baking powder until batter is uniform and no flour remains. Using an ice cream scoop, fill each muffin liner with batter. They should be 3/4 full, if you're not using a scoop. Top each cake with 1 1/2 tsp Nutella. Swirl Nutella in with a toothpick, making sure to fold a bit of batter up over the nutella. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Makes 12.