Superbowl Treats - Homemade Hostess Cupcakes

Homemade hostess!

Let's be honest, the Super Bowl is almost as much about the food as it is about the football game (and I can say that because I am a big NFL fan). According to the Huffington Post, an average of 1,200 calories are consumed during the game - that's over half of your daily caloric intake! This year I was asked to bring dessert.  I hadn't baked any over the top treats since Christmas, so AJ encouraged me to "go all out."

The Super Bowl is all about simple comfort food, so I didn't want to do anything too gourmet. I thought about making whoopie pies until I stumbled upon a recipe for homemade hostess cupcakes. Now, I have never been a huge fan of hostess goodies - they were dry and a poor substitute for my mom's homemade baked goods. However, the homemade version of hostess cupcakes was something I could get behind. 

Combining the cocoa mixture with the butter-sugar mixture.

The first step is to choose a good cake recipe. I heard good things about Martha's devil's food recipe, and I am a big fan of her one bowl chocolate cupcakes, so I decided to try them out. The recipe was pretty easy to put together. Honestly, the hardest part of making cupcakes for me is pouring the batter into the tin evenly. Using an ice cream scoop helps though. :)

Adding the dry ingredients, alternating with sour cream.

Oh hello cuppycakes!

When the cupcakes have cooled you can start on the frosting and filling. The filling is one of the most important aspects of the hostess cupcake. Now some recipes say that you can use marshmallow fluff, but I wanted to do these totally from scratch. The perfect homemade filling is a 7-minute frosting. Several recipes called for cooking the filling mixture over the stove and beating it with a hand mixer. I have attempted this before and it is a crazy, hot mess (not unlike myself after a night of drinking). I have a kitchen aid standing mixer and I needed a recipe that didn't need the use of a hand mixer being plunged into boiling syrup. After a minute or two of googling I came across this one which is perfect for the standing mixer, with the added bonus of keeping scalding hot syrup from getting all over your skin. This turned out mounds of fluffy, white, marshmallow-y filling (for detailed instructions see here). NOMS!

Marshmallow-y goodness.

After the filling, comes the chocolate ganache frosting. I had the luck of having a sous chef who could make this for me (thanks honey)! I used the frosting recipe in the hostess cupcake blog. The trick with this one is to make sure you don't scald the cream. Then let the ganache cool a bit before proceeding to filling and frosting the cupcakes.

I used the cone method for filling these. Which is basically what it sounds like. First, cut out a cone from the cupcake, creating a hole inside (Note: I often carve out a little more from the cupcake to make a bigger hole). Cut off the tip of the cone. Place a teaspoon of filling inside the cupcake and then place the top back on. Drizzle ganache on top and repeat with remaining cupcakes. Save some of the filling for decorating with those trademark squiggles. I used a sandwich bag and it worked well.

Ready for my close-up!

These cupcakes were gobbled up at the Super Bowl party faster than the lights went out at the Super Dome! They were even better after a day in the fridge. Hmm next up hostess cupcake pancakes?

Oh my goodness.

Happy Birthday AJ! - Funfetti Cupcakes

Funfetti Cupcakes with pink vanilla buttercream and chocolate buttercream.

Wow it has been awhile. I have been seriously absent from blogging, which I'd like to blame on a couple of things: work, school, and wedding planning. But I'm not one for excuses, so I will just say it's good to be back.

I think it is rather appropriate that my first entry after quite some time involves cupcakes. I have posted a number of cupcake-related entries. Magnolia, Sprinkles, and Georgetown Cupcake brought about a cupcake resurrection as it were - making cupcakes not just for kids, but for adults too. For awhile it seemed that cupcakes were all the rage, you couldn't go anywhere without some bakery or restaurant peddling their version of the cupcake. I don't know about you, but for a little while I was "cupcaked out." But in recent months I've found myself looking at cupcakes with fresh eyes and a fresh tummy. There's a reason cupcakes are popular - they're individual sized, cute, and when done well they're just the right amount of fat and sugar to send you on a dessert high.

Fresh from the oven - those sprinkles sure are pretty!

If you think it's been awhile since I blogged, it has been even longer since I baked a cupcake (perhaps AJ's last birthday?) But with another birthday on the horizon I felt inspired to make cupcakes. I thought about doing something traditional (red velvet) or maybe something gourmet (mexican chocolate), but decided to just go with fun (fun-fetti that is)! I had never made a funfetti cupcake from scratch. I think most of us have just resorted to the Pillsbury box cupcakes. But a birthday for someone as special as AJ deserves homemade (I know I'm a snob).

I think I managed to get frosting and sprinkles all over my clothes.

AJ loves chocolate so I knew I would do a chocolate frosting. But to me funfetti cupcakes need pink frosting. My friend Kim used to make funfetti cupcakes all the time in high school and they were awesome. And guess what she always had pink frosting! So, I divided the frosting in half and added unsweetened chocolate to one half and red dye to the other.

Birthday Boy!

The funfetti cupcake recipe was from a blog called Sweet Tooth, which is rather appropriate. I substituted cake flour for AP flour (just add an extra 2 tbsps for every 1 cup). In her recipe she forgets to tell you where the milk should go. My mother taught me well, so I remembered that you alternate flour and milk, beginning and ending with flour.

The cupcakes turned out well and were a hit at our bbq. I think the cake was a lil dry, but overall these were a lot of fun to make and eat. The chocolate frosting was pretty awesome (go Joy of Baking), I ended up eating the cold leftovers out of the bowl the next day. Almost like a quick fudge. NOMS. Happy Birthday AJ, Jenny, Natalie, Cammy, and Mom - love to my September favs!

Indulge your inner child - make some funfetti cupcakes.

A Vegan Valentine's Day - Sprinkle's New Red Velvet Cupcake

By now you all know how much I love cupcakes. When done right the red velvet is one of my favorites. If done poorly it can be rather flavorless. But a good one is not just a vehicle for cream cheese frosting, but something moist and fluffy with a subtle cocoa flavor.

"V" could stand for velvet or vegan.

Of all of the red velvets I have tried, I must say Sprinkles makes a mean red velvet. And now you can get a VEGAN red velvet! It is amazing how the food world has responded to dietary needs - vegan and gluten-free items are just popping up everywhere. Now if only they made a zero calorie version...

But back to the matter at hand - VEGAN baked goods. I tend to love my dairy products, and am very impressed by those who eliminate them from their diet completely. Now when you hear the words "vegan" and "cupcake" in the same sentence most people expect the words "disgusting" or "flavorless" to follow. But I have had some delicious vegan baked goods - particularly these awesome choco chip cookies my friend Travis made (perhaps he will share the recipe?) So while vegan goods can certainly go wrong, it just takes the right recipe. I was hoping Sprinkles would deliver.

Banana with dark chocolate frosting.

Now as soon as I heard about the Vegan red velvet at Sprinkles I knew I wanted to try it. Luckily AJ and I happened to stop by the Stanford Mall one afternoon, and I dragged him into Sprinkles for a snack. We chatted up one of the Sprinkles cashiers who told us that she actually prefers the vegan red velvet to the original (high praise indeed)! She also told us that they use coconut oil in the frosting (very interesting).

A very dark interior.

I of course ordered up a vegan red velvet and AJ went with the Banana with dark chocolate frosting. Let me start with the red velvet. First to note, the "V" is still as tasteless as those dots they put on the cupcakes. But the cake itself was extremely moist and perhaps slightly denser than the original red velvet. The frosting is where the big difference occurs - instead of the traditional cream cheese you get a fluffy coconut frosting. It was very tasty, especially if you like coconut. I myself still prefer the tangy cream cheese frosting, but this vegan cupcake is a winner in my book. The banana with dark chocolate frosting was amazing with visible flecks of banana. It was moist and fluffy and the dark chocolate frosting was the perfect accompaniment - not too sweet.

Any time you step into Sprinkles you can't go wrong. Head on out and buy your best bud or sweetie a cupcake this Valentine's Day!

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Meyer Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Gingerbread Cupcakes

I have yet to write about our Thanksgiving feast with the Franks, but the big hit of the evening was the gingerbread pumpkin mousse trifle. This masterpiece of gingerbread inspired me to bake up another gingerbread creation. My coworker's birthday was the perfect occasion to test out some gingerbread cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I found a neat idea for a lemon frosting on epicurious.com. This recipe combines your basic cream cheese frosting with lemon zest and juice. I jazzed up the lemon factor by using meyer lemons. I absolutely adore meyer lemons. They have a slightly sweeter and brighter flavor.

Rich molasses batter.

The cupcake batter came together very easily. The recipe indicates that the mixture will look curdled after adding the boiling water to the molasses mixture. This could not be more accurate. It looks kind of gross, but once mixed into the flour the batter begins to look normal again. The molasses is so dark that the batter almost looks chocolate.

Fresh out of the oven - these smell like Christmas!

Dress them up with lemon cream cheese frosting!

Out of the oven, the gingerbread has an intense molasses flavor, which gingerbread lovers will appreciate. The ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves adds warmth and depth. The gingerbread is complemented by the tangy, sweet cream cheese frosting. The meyer lemon adds a slight tartness and brightness that lightens up the dark cake. Definitely be sure to refrigerate before frosting, as the juice makes the frosting a bit runny before refrigeration. The combination of flavors is really perfect for the holidays.

Sprinkle with crystallized ginger.

Hope you all enjoy!

Gingerbread Cupcakes:

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) plus 2 tbsp unsalted butter (softened)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup unsulfured molasses

1 large egg

1 tsp baking soda

8 oz cream cheese (softened)

1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp grated lemon zest

2 tsp fresh lemon juice

1 tbsp thinly sliced crystallized ginger

In a bowl sift together, the ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and salt. In another bowl, cream 1/2 stick of the butter, add the granulated sugar, and beat the mixture until fluffy. Beat in the molasses and the egg, beating until the mixture is smooth. In a measuring cup combine the baking soda with 1/2 c boiling water. Stir the mixture until dissolved and add to the molasses mixture (the mixture will appear curdled). Add molasses mixture to flour and stir until well combined. Line twelve muffin tins with paper liners and spoon batter into the liners, filling halfway. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool.

For lemon cream cheese frosting:

In a bowl cream together cream cheese and remaining 2 tbsp of butter. Add the confectioner's sugar and vanilla and beat until fluffy. Beat in zest and lemon juice. Chill frosting for 30 minutes and spread on cupcakes. Top with crystallized ginger.

September was the Month of Birthdays

September is one of the busiest birthday months. I celebrate my mom's birthday, my best friend, Jenny's, AJ's, Natalie's, and Cammy's. And let's not forget important blog birthdays - This Food is My JAM celebrates its 1st birthday, reaching 10,000 hits in under a year! We have had far more readers than I could have imagined, so thank you to everyone who continues to read. I would also like to give a shout out to my friends of Matzo and Rice who recently just celebrated their 1st birthday as well!

Being on the West Coast for the first september meant that I couldn't be there in person for everyone's bday. But luckily I was able to celebrate AJ's birthday during our first year living together! We had some friends over for a dinner party. I served a menu using mostly local and organic produce, per the birthday boy's request.

Mint chocolate chip ice cream Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache.

Caprese salad, paninis, asparagus, watermelon, sweet corn, guacamole, salsa, and chips.

This meal was an amalgamation of fresh ingredients -which was great because it meant I didn't have to do much to make this meal tasty. For starters I made homemade salsa, guacamole, and chips. Chips and salsa are always crowd pleasers. AJ and I also made two great sangria - a risesling/pinot grigio with citrus, peaches and apples, and a cabernet sauvignon with raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and apples. We added a touch of vodka, and sugar, which made the fruit quite potent (Note: the key to good sangria is to let it sit overnight.)

The remnants of our dinner.

For dinner I served sweet corn on the cob, asparagus with lemon juice, watermelon with mint, and roasted red pepper, portabello, and zucchini paninis with goat cheese and pesto. We took our plates and ate outside. It was a great way to savor the last warm summer nights.

Even the boys love Sangria.

For dessert I made Georgetown cupcakes' chocolate cupcakes. I froze them and then topped them with mint chocolate chip ice cream and chocolate ganache. They were amazingly messy and amazingly delicious. I need to figure out the timing for defrosting the ice cream, these were a little melty. But I don't think I heard any complaints. :)

What a Hoot!

As you all have probably learned by now, I love cupcakes. I love eating them, I love baking them, I love decorating them. I came across this cute idea for cupcakes from one of my favorite blogs: "How to Eat a Cupcake". Who doesn't enjoy a cupcake shaped like animals, especially owl mamas and babies. This recipe comes from the book, "Hello Cupcake" by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson.

The recipe requires a basic chocolate cupcake recipe. I went with Martha Stuart's one-bowl chocolate cupcakes. Malia and I made these for our bday, and they were a hit. They are also super easy to make. For this recipe you are going to need a regular cupcake tin, and a mini cupcake tin. I halved the recipe and ended up with 6 regular cupcakes, and around 16 minis.

Assembling the cupcakes, frosting starts first!

Let me tell you, assembling these cupcakes was NOT as easy as baking them. I recommend making these when you have a couple hours with nothing better to do than devote your life to making the perfectly shaped owl beak from an M&M. Okay, so they weren't easy, but I did enjoy myself for the most part. It was fun seeing these owls come alive.

These iris-devoid owls look a little creepy.

In order to decorate these owls you are going to need chocolate frosting, oreos, mini oreos, junior mints, mini M&Ms (I used regular sized M&Ms), and runts (I used yellow M&Ms for the beak). In essence you will need two halves of oreos (with creme) for the eyes of the mama owls. You will use two mini halves for the baby owls.

While I thought these came out pretty well, they certainly were nothing like the perfect owls shown in the first picture. I mean to get out all of the crumbs in the creme would take another two hours in and of itself! The mini M&Ms were hard to come by, so I ended up using regular M&Ms for the baby owls. The orange M&Ms certainly made for some interesting expressions. I do like how the regular M&Ms accentuate the large iris to white ratio.

All in all these cupcakes were pretty cute, and they were a hit with my friends and coworkers.

Hoot!

Organic Cupcakes?!

Banana cupcake with cream cheese frosting.

AJ and I have talked about turning my love of baking into a career. If I were going to open a bakery it would be a cupcake bakery. But my cupcake bakery would differ in that I would try whenever possible to use organic and locally sourced ingredients. What a brilliant idea. Too bad someone has already thought of this and turned it into a reality. It's not all bad news though, I still get to eat these cupcakes.

Kara's Cupcakes all started with Kara Lind, the executive pastry chef. A former ad sales executive turned her love of home baking into a career with a small cupcake catering business. The high demand led to the opening of her first store in San Francisco. Four other stores opened up in the Bay Area shortly thereafter. We headed to her Palo Alto location.

Kara's premium, fresh, local ingredients are translated into unique flavors such as fleur de sel and raspberry dazzle. I always have a hard time choosing a flavor. I usually would like to try them all. On this particular occasion I was in the mood for something light (as light as a cupcake can be). The banana cupcake with cream cheese icing seemed like the perfect fit. Moist and fluffy with excellent banana flavor, this cupcake was a winner. The cream cheese frosting was creamy, tangy, with the perfect touch of sweetness.

AJ chose the fleur de sel and the vanilla chocolate. The fleur de sel, certainly piqued my interest. The popularity of the fleur de sel caramel has been sweeping the nation, and so it seems natural that Kara's cupcakes would create a cupcake in its honor. Fleur de sel is a sea salt that is scraped off the top layer of salt before it sinks to the bottom of the salt pans. It is rare and thus rather expensive. A dark chocolate cake is filled with a creamy, thin caramel filling. Topped with chocolate ganache and fleur de sel, this cupcake is the epitome of decadence. The caramel, chocolate, and fleur de sel work very well together. If you're in the indulgent mood, this one is for you.

Pretty pink boxes to house these lovely cupcakes.

The vanilla chocolate is a nice yellow cake topped with chocolate frosting. This classic pairing was done very well. The chocolate frosting had excellent cocoa flavor and wasn't too sweet.

If I were to compare these to some other cupcakes I have had recently, I would say they are smaller in size, but cost the same as larger cupcakes sold at places like Sprinkles and Icing on the Cake. If you've ever been to Georgetown cupcake, these cupcakes bear a similar resemblance, in size and in appearance. I enjoyed these cupcakes, and especially their mission of using local and organic ingredients. However, the cake wasn't as fluffy as some cupcakes I have eaten at Sprinkles and Icing on the Cake.

Bottom Line: If you are all about supporting local/organic farmers, and love cupca kes, head on over to Kara's cupcakes.

Sprinkles Cupcakes - Palo Alto, CA

Chai and Strawberry Cupcake

AJ and I took a trip over to Sprinkles to try out the famed West Coast cupcakes, which may have started the whole cupcake craze. The story behind Sprinkles is pretty interesting. The husband/wife team left their jobs as investment bankers to make cupcakes! Apparently they work more hours now than when they were working in banking. You can read more about their story on their website.

Suffice to say, their hard work pays off, the cupcakes at Sprinkles are moist and fluffy, with the perfect amount of frosting. They offer a plethora of flavors, which allowed us to indulge our sweet tooths by getting four cupcakes, instead of two. I mean we had to try a couple different flavors, right? Plus their chai cupcake is only on the menu once a week - what luck! Don't worry we spaced out our consumption.

Chai Cupcake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting.

After a couple minutes of scanning the long menu, we decided on the pumpkin, strawberry, chai, and chocolate marshallow. Each cupcake comes with a decorative sugar button on top. The colors distinguish one cupcake from the next. While cute, these buttons were not tasty.

After discarding the button, a bite into the chocolate marshmallow revealed an intense dark chocolate frosting - with a slightly bitter taste. Fans of dark chocolate will be pleased in that the ganache isn't cloying. The chocolate cake was moist and filled with a marshmallow creme. While enjoyable, this homage to the hostess cupcake wasn't my favorite. Again, diehard chocolate fans will be pleased.

The strawberry and chai cupcakes were similar in that they were extremely light. The flavors were somewhat muted. I enjoyed the strawberry cupcake, but would have liked a more intense strawberry flavor to the cake. Again the chai spices were toned down in the cake.

The hands-down favorite was the pumpkin cupcake with cinnamon cream cheese icing. The cupcake was bursting with pumpkin, like cinderella's carriage after midnight. The cream cheese frosting had the perfect balance of sweetness and slight tanginess.

Bottom Line: At 3.25 these cupcakes are rather large, but the cake is so light, you won't feel bad eating another. And trust me, you won't be able to eat just one.

Sprinkles
393 Stanford Shopping Center
Palo Alto, CA

Oreo Cupcakes

Oreo Cupcakes

A couple weeks ago I had been baking up a storm. I made these delightful oreo cupcakes to bring along with me when I searched for jobs at bakeries. At least one baker seemed to appreciate my efforts. I first made these cupcakes for my friend Jenny's birthday, because she is a huge oreo fan. AJ loves oreos as well, so I made these with another oreo lover in mind.

I place an oreo at the bottom of each cupcake liner, in addition to adding oreos to the batter. To top it all off, I decorate these with half an oreo. There is no dearth of oreo in this recipe! The oreo at the bottom softens up, which makes these cupcakes easy to eat.

Recipe is as follows.

Oreo Cupcakes

2-¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1-2/3 cups sugar

1 cup milk

½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 egg whites

1 cup crushed chocolate sandwich cookies (about 10 cookies) plus additional for garnish

1 recipe buttercream frosting

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease 24 standard (2-1/2-inch) muffin pan cups or line with paper baking cups.

2. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together in large bowl. Stir in sugar. Add milk, butter and vanilla; beat with electric mixer at low speed 30 seconds. Beat at medium speed 2 minutes. Add egg whites; beat 2 minutes. Stir in 1 cup crushed cookies.

3. Place one oreo cookie in each muffin cup. Spoon batter evenly into prepared muffin cups, filling two-thirds full. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean.

Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes to racks; cool completely.

4. Frost cupcakes; garnish with additional crushed cookies.

Buttercream Frosting

1/2 c. (1 sticks) butter (softened)

3 1/2 c. confectioner's sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2-3 tsp milk

Beat butter until light and fluffy. Beat in sugar. Add vanilla and milk to thin to the proper consistency.

Cupcakes - I want S'more!

S'more Cupcakes!

I love to bake, but sometimes I can't justify making a whole cake or 2 dozen cookies for just AJ and I (I am too tempted to eat them all myself!). Luckily a pool party this past Sunday gave me a reason to whip up a batch of cupcakes. I like to challenge myself and decided to try Blondie's S'more cupcakes (of Blondie and Brownie).

Mixing the cocoa, milk, and sugar.

The recipe definitely requires a little effort, but the combination of marshmallow, chocolate, and graham crackers really had me salivating. A s'more in cupcake form is definitely worth a little sweat, blood, and tears (well, maybe no blood or tears). The cupcake batter was fairly standard. I accidentally put an egg into my whipped butter before I had added the sugar! Luckily the cake still came out moist and fluffy. This recipe calls for alternating dry with wet ingredients. I had always wondered what purpose this served.

Whipping up that batter!

This recipe calls for alternating dry with wet ingredients. I had always wondered what purpose this served. In an effort to learn more about the chemistry of baking I went to that wonderful vessel of knowledge - the internet! The "KitchenSavvy" website iprovided some great insight into this method. In baking you want to avoid the formation of gluten, which is a combination of wheat proteins and water. Gluten is an elastic substance, which inhibits the effectiveness of chemical leavening agents (such as baking soda). If the baking soda can't work, then your cake won't rise, resulting in a rather dense and gummy product. Beginning with the dry ingredients allows the wheat proteins to become coated with the butter and eggs. The fat protects the proteins from water and inhibits gluten formation. You might be asking yourself, "Why not add all of the dry ingredients at once? "  Adding a large quantity of wheat flour to fat would result in a lumpy mixture. By alternating with wet ingredients, with minimal mixing, you can achieve a smoother batter.

 

Ashley likes cupcakes. And I like Ashley. :)

When the batter is made, fill the muffin liners 3/4 of the way full. I did not make a graham cracker crust, but would consider using one the next time. Bake for 18-20 minutes. While the cupcakes are cooling you can begin on the frosting. This was my first time making 7-minute frosting. It didn't come together as well as I would have liked, but I did try to tweak the recipe. I would recommend going ahead with the original one posted on Blondie's blog. The frosting was still delicious, but a little on the runny side. You should frost these cupcakes right before serving, as they are best served fresh. If you have a blow torch, I would definitely use it to create that toasted marshmallow effect. But you don't lose too much without it. I topped mine with bits of graham cracker and semi-sweet chocolate.

A tray of beautiful marshmallow, chocolate, and graham cracker goodness.

The rich chocolate flavor, and gooey marshmallow frosting was wonderful with the bits of graham cracker and chocolate. Everyone thought these were delicious! 

Icing on the Cake - Los Gatos

A mouth-watering display of cupcakes

One of the first places I went to in Los Gatos was Icing on the Cake, which I reviewed previously. With AJ's family in town, we felt another trip was necessary. AJ's uncle is a huge fan of this quaint bakery, purchasing a cake every week. We ventured over to the bakery on a lazy Sunday, hoping to grab some treats for after lunch. The bakery closes on Sundays at 2pm, so get there early if you want to serve something after dinner.

From top left (clockwise): swirly cakes, mint chip cupcakes, and chocolate cake.

I love cupcakes and had been delighted with the light and creamy caramel cupcake I ordered the last time. It was feeling like a cupcake kind of day yet again. The cupcake choices were almost overwhelming: pumpkin, lemon, very berry, mint chip, among others. What was a girl to do. I decided to go with the mint chip. AJ chose a banana and a swirly cake. With any luck I would get a nibble out of both of his.

Raspberry truffle, mint chip, and banana cupcakes.

With much restraint, we stashed our cupcakes in the car, and headed off to lunch. With a minor mishap in the car, we retrieved our cupcakes mostly unscathed (One of the mint chips resembled more of a pancake than a cupcake). Heather got a flourless cupcake - the raspberry truffle. This rich and dense cake was definitely more reminiscent of fudge than cake. Extremely rich, it could have used more depth of chocolate flavor.

Mint Chip - chocolate cake with mint frosting and chocolate chips.

AJ's banana cupcake was light, moist, and fluffy. The banana really shone through, and the cream cheese frosting added a nice tang, with a subtle sweetness. I must say this was probably my favorite. The mint chip consisted of chocolate cake with mint frosting dotted with bittersweet chocolate chips. While the cake was moist, with excellent chocolate flavor, the mint frosting was piled on in excess, often overpowering the cake. While I liked the flavor of the frosting, I would probably have used half the amount. The addition of the chocolate chips added a nice textural contrast to the fluffy frosting - mimicking the mint chocolate chip ice cream experience.

Jeremy and AJ both tried the "swirly cake". This homage to a childhood favorite was absolutely adorable, and certainly blew away the hostess cupcake in terms of taste. The moist chocolate cake is piped with a cream filling. The almost marshmallow like cream contrasts nicely with the rich ganache frosting. While I prefered the lighter essence of the banana cupcake - the swirly cake is the perfect choice for the chocolate lover.

AJ asked if I prefer these to Georgetown Cupcake, my hometown favorite. These cupcakes certainly win in terms of size and frosting - with probably 2x the amount of cake, and 3x the amount of frosting. However, I am more of a frosting minimalist. While I think some of their cupcakes reveal a knack for showcasing unique flavors and the perfect amount of restraint with frosting, some of their chocolate cupcakes play to the desire to indulge.

Bottom Line: If you think cupcakes should go big or go home, go with a swirly cake. But if you are looking for a lighter touch, go with a banana or caramel cupcake.

Havana Nights Birthday Celebration!

"Moros y Cristianos" (black rice and beans - those cubans are so clever).

The gloomy and cold winter days don't inspire celebration, so Malia and I had to think up something good for our February 15th birthday party. We wanted a theme that would exude heat, and inspire dancing! What better place to get away to than Havana? This would also give us an opportunity to cook up some great Cuban dishes.

We knew we wanted to do some empanadas, black beans and rice, and cuban sandwiches. For dessert we strayed a little from our theme - baking up some vanilla and chocolate cupcakes with some bright festive colored frosting.

We had a lot of cooking to do, luckily my mom agreed to make the black beans and rice. We found the recipe on cookinglight.com. While this recipe isn't totally authentic, using canned beans and turkey sausage, it certainly was tasty!

Spicy sausage and potato filling.

Cutting out the empanada dough. 

Filling the dough!

Fresh outta the oven! 

The most time consuming of our dishes was the empanadas. We made the dought the night before, but when we took it out of the refrigerator it was quite cold and hard. Punching the dough out was certainly a good way to get rid of some aggression. We thought to ourselves, isn't it OUR birthday? Why are we doing all of this work. But it was totally worth it. The empanadas were warm and flaky with a spicy pork filling that warmed the belly.

Cooking our cuban sammies in the skillet.

Mmm toasty. These little babies were the hit of the party.

While I had never actually had a cuban sandwich before making these, I knew this traditional dish was a must have at the party. I searched for cuban bread at the grocery store but found none. If I had more time I might have attempted to make my own, but a nice soft italian or french loaf (don't use a baguette) works very well. We roasted a pork tenderloin, carved it up and piled it on the toasted bread. Topping with ham, swiss, yellow mustard and dill pickles. Our friends devoured these! I think we could have made twice as many and they would have all been gone by the end of the night.

You can't have a birthday party without cupcakes!

Malia and I have become cupcake fiends, finding any occasion worth baking for. We decided to make martha's one bowl chocolate cupcakes in mini version. Not wanting to discriminate, we baked up some yellow butter cupcakes as well. We made our own buttercream frosting - making a chocolate version as well. Malia and I couldn't find any mini cupcake liners, so these cupcakes baked up like little balls. They were the moist, bite size, and the perfect way to end our cuban feast!

Recipes follow.

Empanadas

(Based on a Tyler Florence recipe)

4 waxy red poatatoes, peeled and sliced.

1 tsp salt

1 lb spicy pork and provolone sausage, casing removed

1 yellow onion

2 garlic cloves

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried oregano (JAM Note: used Italian seasoning)

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 recipe empanada dough

Directions:

Put the potatoes in a large pot and cover with water; add the salt and bring to a boil, uncovered. Simmer until fork tender, about 15 min. Meanwhile, place a large skillet over medium flame. Add the chorizo, and cook for 5 minutes until renders its fat and gets crispy. Add onion, garlic, and seasonings. Cook and stir for 5 minutes, until mixture is soft. Pour broth in and simmer for 3 min. Drain potatoes and fold them into pan. Break potatoes up into nickel-size pieces. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Allow filling to cool. Can be made the night before and then when assembling the empanadas the next day.

Empanada Dough:

1 1/2 c all-purpose flour

1 c masa harina

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 c unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 large egg beaten with 1 tbsp water for egg wash

Butter for greasing pans.

Directions

In a large bowl, sift flour, masa harina, baking powder, and salt. Stir in melted butter. Gradually add 1/2 c to 3/4 c water, working it in with your hands to incorporate; the dough should be easy to handle and not sticky. Form the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes, up to overnight. The dough will be hard and cold the next day, but should soften up with 5-10 min of kneading.

Lightly flour the countertop and rolling pin. Divide the dough in half and roll out to 1/8 inch thickness. Using a 4-inch cookie or biscuit cutter (or large glass mug) cut out circles of dough. Roll out scraps to make more circles. Repeat with second half.  Spoon 2 tbsp of filling into the center leaving a 1/2 inch border. Brush the edges with the egg wash and then fold dough over to enclose filling and form a semi-circle. Tightly seal by crimping edges with your fingers or a fork. Chill at least 30 min before baking, if not using ingredients that have been chilled overnight. Preheat oven to 375 and place empanadas in greased baking sheet. Brush tops with eggwash and prick with a fork (JAM Note: we omitted this step). Bake 30 min until golden brown.

2 out 3 JAMs