Dulce de Leche Buttercream + a cupcake

The past two weeks have been  very, very busy.  Between Miguel's birthday, beginning of school, the Jewish New Year and catering a party for a bunch of "ladies", I am happy to finally be on the other side!

At the last minute, the hostess of the party(that I was catering) called to say they needed some sort of "cupcake" so they could honor the birthday girl.  My original plan for desserts were the bite sized ricotta cheesecakes (here), apple galettes (here), and lemon tartlettes (recipes to follow).  Four desserts was a little over the top.  I opted to swap out the galettes and replace them with these little chocolate cupcakes.  Everyone was glad I did!

I made a batch of my favorite devil's food chocolate cupcake recipe (here).  Topped them with the most delicious dulce de leche frosting and finished them off with crushed, chocolate covered cocoa nibs.  This was one fantastic creation!

Dulce de Leche Buttercream w/devils food cupcakes
yield:  36 cupcakes 2 oz. cupcakes


ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 Tbls. heavy cream
1 tsp. vanilla
4-5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
pinch of salt
3/4 cups prepared Dulce de leche
1/2 cup crushed chocolate covered cocoa nibs

instructions:
• in the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter.
• gradually add the sifted powdered sugar
• add the cream and the vanilla and beat on medium speed until smooth.
• add the Dulce de leche and combine on low speed
• depending upon how you like your frosting, you may want to add more sugar
• scoop frosting into a piping bag fitted with desired tip
• top with crushed cocoa nibs

note: I used 2 oz. souffle cups, filled them 2/3's full and baked them at 350* for 18-22 minutes

Bake Sale for Charity

The kids have been begging me to have a lemonade stand.  After all, it is summer!  What better time to set up our out door retail store than summer? And what better day than on the morning of the 4th of July?

(eli's favorite toy; the kitchen torch)

The kids made posters, I sent emails and we launched our campaign to bake for charity.  I have become somewhat attached to Share our Strength, a charity that wants to make sure that no child in America goes hungry.  I try to remind my kids, daily, how fortunate we all are.  It is nice to come together as a family and as a community to help those not as privileged as we are.

Doing something for others always brings the best out in people.  We sold out in 40 minutes, made $240.00 and even those of you who came by and left empty handed, threw some money our way for this terrific cause.  Just think about it...what if 5 of us did a little something like this each week? We COULD make a difference!

I came up with the bake sale menu and started baking and creating days in advance.  We had s'mores cupcakes = graham cracker, devils food cupcakes with marshmallow cream frosting, butter sandwich cookies (here), sugar cookie bars, peanut butter, double chocolate wedges, homemade marshmallows, and s'mores bars (here).  I also made lemonade and a very delicious pomegranate virgin cocktail.  I will post the various recipes throughout the week.  There was tons of stuff, apparently not enough.  I am going to have to step it up next time!

S'mores Cupcakes
adapted from many, many places
yield: 3 dozen

ingredients:
Graham Cracker Crust
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 11 pieces)
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
6 oz really good bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine

Devils Food Cupcakes
adapted from Recipes from Home
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups organic white-wheat flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. slat
1 cup hot brewed coffee
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Marshmallow Frosting
adapted from Martha Stewart
8 large egg whites
2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. cream of tarter
2 tsp. vanilla extract

instructions:
for the crust:
• preheat oven to 350*
• line 36 muffin tins with paper liners
• melt butter. put graham crackers in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until it becomes fine crumbs.  add sugar and pulse a few times.  add melted butter and mix thoroughly.
• place 1 heaping tablespoon of graham cracker mixture in the bottom of each muffin liner.  I use a 1/4 inch measuring cup to flatten the crumbs.  press down lightly to create a flat, smooth surface.  sprinkle with a pinch or two of chopped chocolate.
• bake for 7 minutes in preheated oven.  cool on wire racks.

for the cupcakes:
• melt the unsweetened chocolate in a bowl set over a pan with simmering water.  once melted and smooth, set aside.
• sift sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.  In another bowl, whisk the hot coffee, sour cream, and vegetable oil.  let cool slightly.  slowly whisk in the eggs, then stir in the chocolate.  add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.  mix until blended.
• fill the cupcake liners 2/3 full.  bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean. rotate pans, top to bottom and back to front half way through baking.  let cool on wire racks.

for the frosting:
• place egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in the bowl of your kitchen aid mixer.  set this over a saucepan with simmering water.  don't let the water touch the bottom of the bowl as you may cook the eggs.  whisk constantly until the sugar dissolves and the whites are warm to the touch.  this could take up to 8 minutes.
• place bowl on the electric mixer with the whisk attachment.  start to beat on low speed, gradually increasing to the high setting. once on high, beat for about 12 minutes.  you want stiff, glossy peaks.  add vanilla and beat until well combined.
• place frosting in a piping bag with a large, fluted tip.  use immediately.

sugar cookie bars, peanut butter-double chocolate wedges

s'mores bar, patriotic butter cookie sandwiches

my girlfriend, kate - the aficionado of all things food, said that 

these were the best cupcakes she had ever eaten!

Ding Dongs - My Way

Isaac has a new found love, Ding Dongs.  He went to a party a few weeks ago and was introduced to the little round cakester.  He is hooked.  I am a tad embarrassed to admit this, but I grew up on Ding Dongs, Ho-Ho's, and Scooter Pies.  Those were my snack of choice. With that said, I would NEVER think of buying them for my kids.  Although I remember them being quite delicious, I just couldn't bring them into my house.

I need a birthday cake for an upcoming celebration and after searching some books as well as my own personal library, I was not inspired.  I turned to Tastespotting and did a search for "ding dong".  I found a few but the one that caught my eye was Smitten Kitten's blog post dated February 26, 2008.  I went back and fourth as to whether I should do hers or do the recipe I used for Eli's birthday cupcakes.  Because I had just made the cupcakes, I went for something new.  Plus, hers were cake specific and I didn't have a lot of time to test and re-test.

I made her cake in a large sheet pan.  I went back and forth as to whether I should cut out circles, thus what to do with the scraps or to just cut in 2 1/2" squares.  You all know me, I can't waste.  So, I went for the squares.  When the cake was removed from the pan, I loved the thickness.  It was almost the perfect "ding-dong" height.  However, when I cut them up, sliced them in half and filled them, they were uber-thick.  Almost too thick.  Regardless, continued on with the mission.  While the cake was cooling, I made the butter cream.  I love this butter cream.  It is, if I must say, perfect.  I also used the Lacquer Glaze from Rose's Heavenly Cakes.  I love Rose and love this book.


Next time, provided there is a next time, I will make them round.  I will also, try to pipe the butter cream into the center rather than cut them in half.  Don't get me wrong, they were delicious, I was just hoping for them to better replicate the "original" !  I made them too big.  Big, small, whatever, everyone LOVED them...the were a huge hit.  

Chocolate Devils Food Cake
adapted from Smitten Kitchen 

ingredients:
2 oz fine-quality semisweet chocolate
1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee
3 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not dutch processed)
2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/4 tsp. salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
3/4 tsp. vanilla


directions:
• preheat oven to 300*, grease pans or cookie sheet (I used a large 10" x 15" cake pan ).  line bottom with parchment and grease again
• chop chocolate + combine with hot coffee, let mixture stand, stir after 2 minutes and keep stirring until the mixture is smooth.
• sift sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, & salt.  in the bowl of an electric mixer, beat eggs until thickened.  slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla, + melted chocolate/coffee mixture.  add sugar/flour mixture and mix until just combined.
• pour batter into prepared pan.  bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (about 50 minutes to 1 hour 10 minutes).
• cool completely to room temperature.  invert cake and peel off parchment.
• at this point, I cut the cake into 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" squares.  then i cut them through the center, creating two equal halves.  cut out a hole in the middle with a melon baller and then piped in some cream filling. put the top back on and then froze them on parchment lined cookie sheets.  

Basic Butter Cream
4 oz. softened butter 
4 cups sifted confection sugar 
1 Tbls. vanilla
3 or more Tbl. milk (depending upon how thick you like it)
•mix to your desired thickness


Chocolate Glaze
Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum
ingredients:
1/4 cup cold water
2 tsp. powdered gelatin
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 Tbls. plus 1 tsp. corn syrup
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbls. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup heavy cream


directions:
• in a small bowl, place 1/4 cup cold water and sprinkle the gelatin over the top.  stir to moisten and allow to rest for 5 minutes.  cover tightly with plastic wrap to prevent evaporation.
• in small sauce pot, over medium heat, whisk sugar and 1/4 cup of water.  stir constantly until sugar dissolves.
• remove the pan from the heat and gently whisk in the corn syrup & cocoa until smooth.  the mixture should be glossy.  stir in the heavy cream with a silicone spatula.
• return the pan to medium heat and stirring constantly, bring the mixture to the boiling point (190*).  small bubbles will start to form.
• remove the pan from the heat and strain into a medium bowl.  cool to 122*-140*.  stir in the softened gelatin until dissolved.
• strain into a heatproof glass measuring cup.  cool, stirring gently.  the glaze coats best at 80*.  this glaze is best used right away.  this glaze is yummy.