a little zaftig » Recipes for Valentine’s Day

An Understated Chocolate Cake

Laura — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 16:10:10 +0000

This cake has been part of our repertoire for more than a decade; I bet I’ve made it more than 20 times now. It’s from an era when I still cooked and baked from recipes, and one of the rare ones I still pull off the shelf. I make other chocolate cakes, of course, but I find myself returning to this one when we want something understated and bittersweet. I made it for a hen’s night with friends most recently and we ate it with earl grey ice cream, but my Sweet Boy and I celebrated the end of an era with the last slices, straight from the refrigerator with a glass of cold milk, when he got his driver’s license.

We’ve spent a lot of time together in the car these past 18 years: in car-related antics, in conversation, braving bad weather together, and learning to drive. When he and my Honey Girl were little and my Dear Husband’s frequent travel was upsetting to them, we had a set of rituals, for just the three of us, things we would do together only when he was away. It was a way to offset the pain of his departure just a little, and one of the favorites was that during these weeks I would sing ridiculous songs at the top of my lungs in the car as we drove, as many as they requested. Oh how they would giggle in the back seat. We were in a grocery store parking lot one such afternoon and I was singing, in my best Louis Armstrong, “Roll out the Barrel.” My Honey Girl and my Sweet Boy were cheering, “Louder! Louder!” and laughing so hard they bucked against the back of the seat and forward until the seat belts caught them; I was surprised they could get the words out. Then I realized that there were pedestrians in the parking lot looking at me rather strangely as they made their way to cars with carts. They had rolled down the windows in the back of the car. Still, at 21 and 18, they’ll roll down the windows in the car and ask if I’ll do it again. And I’m grateful whenever that happens because it brings us back to that time together, which is ending.

I won’t be driving my Sweet Boy anymore. Won’t be listening to Wiz Khalifa and Mod Sun and all of his music. And he won’t be listening to mine anymore—at least together in this way. I’ll go back only in memory now. To the car pranks, to barreling towards the brick wall of the middle school the first day we set out to learn to drive together, to listening to his stories and concerns. He still comes on errands with me sometimes, but our time together in the car is largely over.

Freddy had just turned six when I first made this cake; he had just finished Kindergarten. Now he’s 18 and has just graduated from high school. There are other cakes that have become part of the family, but this one feels like his. I’ve made it with him in mind almost every time it’s gone into our oven, even for the hens’ night, since I knew he would be here for a slice. This is for you, Freddy. Make it often on your own now, and I’ll make it whenever you’re home.

*Postscript: I found Annie, our little terrier, in my desk chair, licking the cake plate on my desk with her paw on my keyboard. “Mmmmmmmm,” she typed on the recipe. Indeed.

Cake Tips

To line the cake pans with parchment, trace the bottom of a pan onto a sheet of parchment. Then stack three sheets and cut all three circles at once. Butter the pans, smearing evenly with your fingers or a paper towel or a butter wrapper over the bottom and sides of the pans. Then place the parchment in the bottom of each pan upside down, so to speak, so that it does not curl upwards. Butter parchment gently, holding it in place with one hand while you butter with the other. Finish by tapping a couple of tablespoons of cocoa into the first pan. Working over a garbage bin, shake the cocoa over the bottom of the pan and then tip it so that the cocoa comes to rest on the side of the pan. Rotate the pan 360 degrees until the cocoa has coated the sides of the pan. Then tip the cocoa into the next pan and repeat. When you finish the third pan, tap any excess cocoa into the bin.

Measure your flour according to the directions for each recipe you use. Weighing flour is the most accurate method, but, alas, almost no American recipes indicate weights. If the recipe does not indicate a measuring technique, check the front of your cookbook. Cookbook authors frequently include a section on basics and ingredients. There may be notes on whether flour for their particular recipes should be scooped and leveled, lightened and scooped, or spooned in. Scooping and leveling is the heaviest measure of flour—just plunge your cup into your flour container, bring up a heaping cupful, and level it with a knife or other flat implement. To lighten flour before measuring, run a fork or whisk through flour. Then scoop gently and level. To spoon in, simply lift tablespoons of flour from container to cup and level it. For this recipe, I lighten the flour, scoop, and level.

For a slightly more refined texture, sieve the flour when you add it to the cake. You can certainly skip this step. Sometimes it feels a bit fussy to sift dry ingredients, and the cake will be delicious whether or not you bother.

It’s important that you not overbeat cake batter when you add the dry ingredients. You can beat it vigorously and without adverse affect when you are bringing together butter and sugar and other wet ingredients early in a recipe. But when you add the flour, be especially gentle with it. Beat it until it is incorporated, watching carefully and mindfully. Once the flour has disappeared, stop beating. If you overbeat batter at this point, the result will be a tough cake.

I usually bake the cakes ahead. You may wrap them tightly in cellophane and then aluminum foil and freeze them. Allow them to thaw at room temperature. Or bake them the day before you’ll frost the cake, and keep them in the refrigerator wrapped tightly in a double layer of cellophane. You may make the entire cake up to three days before you will serve it. I almost always bake the cakes day one, frost them day two, and serve them day two or day three. The cake will keep after it is frosted for about three days.

Frosting a chilled cake is much easier than frosting one at room temperature, as the texture of the cake is firmer.

Ganache Tips

If you overchill the ganache, let it come towards room temperature. It is best to pay attention during its initial cooling process, as it will have a creamier appearance and mouthfeel if you don’t overchill it. Don’t fret. It’s delicious even if it gets a bit too chilly. It will just look a bit drier on the finished cake.

If you’re new to frosting or you want an especially smooth finished cake, smear a thin layer of ganache onto the sides of the cake and place the cake in the refrigerator for half an hour. Then add a thicker layer of ganache, smoothing it or swirling it with an offset spatula or knife as you turn the cake plate.

The cake will be lovely and delicious whether you choose an informal and haphazard swirled frosting method or a perfectly smooth finish. Don’t be intimidated by frosting. This cake is so delicious that no one will mind if its appearance is casual.

Cocoa Cake with Bittersweet Ganache
Adapted from Gourmet magazine, June, 2001
Yield: one eight-inch, three-layer cake; about 12 servings

Ingredients:
1 c. unsalted butter, softened but cool
2 c. brown sugar
4 eggs
½ c. Scharfenberger* cocoa, plus extra for dusting the cake pans
¾ c. hot water
½ c. whole milk
2 t. Kalhua* coffee liqueur (optional) (or substitute 1 t. vanilla extract)
2 c. all purpose flour (I prefer King Arthur*.)
pinch of salt
1 ¼ t. baking soda

…
21 ounces Lindt* bittersweet chocolate (white wrapper), ground in a food processor or chopped into fine slivers with a sharp knife
2 ½ c. plus 2 T. heavy cream

*I’ve listed specific brands in this recipe as I’ve made this cake dozens of times and it turns out best using these ingredients. You may substitute others if you wish, of course.

Method:
Cocoa Cake

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter three 8-inch cake pans. Line them with parchment paper, butter the paper, and then coat them evenly with cocoa powder. Tap off the excess cocoa over a garbage bin and set them aside.

In a large bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter and brown sugar until they are pale and lofty.

Add one egg at a time, beating well between additions.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the cocoa, water, milk, and coffee liqueur.

Run a fork or whisk through the flour in your bag or container. Add one cup of flour, the baking soda, and the salt to the butter and sugar mixture and beat it until it is nearly incorporated.

Add half the cocoa liquid and beat it until it is nearly incorporated.

Add ½ c. flour and beat gently until nearly incorporated.

Add the remaining cocoa liquid and beat until nearly incorporated.

Add the last ½ c. flour and beat until just incorporated.

Divide the batter evenly between the three pans and smooth their tops with a spatula.

Place two of the cakes on the top rack in your oven and the third on the middle rack.

Bake for 10 minutes. Then rotate the cakes on the top rack to the middle of the oven, and the cake in the middle to the top. Bake for 10 minutes. The cakes in the middle of the oven will likely be done at this point, and the cake on the top rack will need about an additional two minutes. To check the cakes for doneness, insert a thin toothpick into the center of each cake. It should have only a moist crumb or two clinging to it. The tops of the cakes will also appear dry and spring back when pressed lightly with a fingertip. Allow the cakes to cool in their pans.

Ganache

In a large saucepan, heat the cream until it is hot but not yet at a simmer.

Remove the cream from the stove and stir in the chocolate until it is melted and uniformly smooth.

Pour the ganache into a large bowl and place it in the refrigerator. Stir the ganache periodically and check its texture. It will take between one and three hours to bring it to a good spreading consistency, depending on the temperature of your refrigerator and the surface area of your bowl. When it is creamy and spreadable, frost the cake.

Frosting

When the ganache is ready and the cakes completely cool, place a bit of ganache on the center of your cake plate. Center a cake over it, flat side up. You may tuck in strips of parchment or waxed paper around the cake so that your plate remains clean if you wish.

Place a dollop of ganache on top of the cake, perhaps ½ cup. Spread it evenly over the top of the cake. No need to bother with the sides of the cake yet.

Place another cake layer on top and repeat the process.

Finish with the third layer of cake, flat side up.

Frost the sides of the cake with a thick layer of ganache, smoothing it with an offset spatula as you turn the cake plate.

I usually fill a pastry bag with the remaining ganache and decorate the top and base quickly, though it’s unnecessary.

I keep this cake in the refrigerator. Bring it to room temperature before serving, which improves its texture, or eat it straight from the refrigerator, which is also delicious.

The cake requires no accompaniment, but barely sweetened whipped cream and ice cream are nice additions. I have divided the cake layers in half and added very thin layers of ganache between each to make a six-layer cake, and I have also added a thin layer of homemade raspberry jam or lemon or tart orange curd to the layers before adding the ganache. Delicious.

Midnight {triple chocolate} Cookies

Laura — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:25:55 +0000

This triple chocolate, slice-and-bake cookie is made with black cocoa, raw cacao nibs, and ground dark chocolate. It’s chewy with just a little crunch from a roll in turbinado sugar. The ultra-Dutched cocoa, dark chocolate, and raw cacao give the cookie great depth. If you don’t want to hunt down or special order ingredients, substitute conventional or dark cocoa and any kind of chocolate, and skip the cacao nibs and the turbinado sugar. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Midnight {triple chocolate} Cookies
Yield: about 30 cookies

Ingredients:
½ c. plus 3 T. unsalted butter, soft but cool
1/3 c. sugar
2/3 c. brown sugar
2 t. good vanilla extract
1 1/3 c. all purpose flour
1/3 c. black cocoa*
½ t. baking soda
2 T. raw cacao nibs
4 oz. 70% cocoa dark chocolate, ground in a food processor
3 T. heavy cream

*Black cocoa, and other baking supplies, may be ordered here.

Method:

In a large bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar until they are creamy.

Add the vanilla and mix until well combined.

Add the flour, cocoa, baking soda, cacao nibs, and ground chocolate and mix gently only until the dry ingredients are incorporated. Do not overmix.

Add the cream and mix until the dough begins to come together. Do not overmix.

Divide the dough in half and place each half on a large piece of cellophane. Wrap the cellophane over the dough and roll the dough into cylinders about 2” in diameter. Wrap the ends and refrigerate the dough until it is cold, at least one hour. The dough may be refrigerated for a couple of days at this point if you would like to bake the cookies later.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.

Place some turbinado or other coarse sugar onto a cutting board. Roll the log in the sugar, pressing the sugar into the dough.

With a sharp knife, cut the dough into ½“ slices and place them 2” apart onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. The cookies spread quite a bit.

Bake the cookies in the center of your oven until they appear dry at the edges, about 12 to 15 minutes. As this is a chewy cookie, the middles should be soft but not liquid.

An Old-fashioned Minnesota Blizzard & Rich Hot Chocolate for Two

Laura — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 00:48:30 +0000

After a taste of spring, we are in the midst of another good old-fashioned Minnesota blizzard. I love a blizzard. Here in Minnesota, snowfalls come and stay for the winter every year, but a real pileup, one that sends people en masse to the markets and shops the day before it’s to hit, is always exciting.

When we lived in the city and our Honey Girl and Sweet Boy were little pips, we had a blizzard tradition. We would haul out a little wooden sleigh, pile on the snow clothes—the hats and mittens and scarves and coats and snow pants and wooly socks and boots—and I would pull them to our neighborhood ice cream shop for a blizzard ice cream cone. We’d clear the snow from our eyelashes and wipe our noses and brush off and warm up a little bit while we licked our cones and watched the snow, fierce or gentle, bring down a hazy blanket of white. Then I’d pull them home and we’d make hot chocolate to warm up. It was a triple treat, all that snow and ice cream and hot chocolate. It was fun for me to celebrate like a kid again. We often wondered why the faithful people at the Grand Ole Creamery were open in the winter, let alone during a blizzard; we always seemed to be the only customers on those days. But we were thrilled they were. We don’t live in the neighborhood anymore, but whenever we have a blizzard, I think about pulling my little ones on that sleigh over for another cone. Now I just make an extra yummy mug of hot chocolate: one for me and one for my Sweet Boy, since our Honey Girl is away at college. We toast to winter and watch the snow blur and soften the world outside again.The hazy blue light of the blizzard is so lovely.

Rich Hot Chocolate for a Blizzard
Yield: two servings

Ingredients:
3 ½ c. whole milk
½ c. heavy cream (I love Cedar Summit Farms.)
2 T. high quality unsweetened cocoa powder
2 T. high quality bittersweet chocolate, finely ground in a food processor or chopped
2 T. sugar

Method:

Gently warm the milk and cream in a small saucepan over low heat.

When it is hot, whisk in the remaining ingredients until smooth.

Sip.

Hand-pulled Cotton Candy

Laura — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 15:14:49 +0000

I stumbled on a photograph of pişhmaniye on the Honest Fare blog this week and had to make it. My niece Elisabeth was coming to spend the morning with me yesterday, so we added it to the list of projects for the day. She liked making smoothies, chocolate cookies, coconut macaroons, waffle fries, and Reubens, but she flipped for this. Cotton candy in the United States, this gossamer candy is called papa’s beard in France, dragons’ beard in China, pashmak in Iran, pişhmaniye in Turkey, fairy floss in Australia, and candy floss in Britain, Ireland, South Africa, and Canada. Whatever you happen to call it, it’s delicious, and it’s easier to make than you might imagine. You have to watch temperatures as it heats and cools, but the pulling process is simple and fun. And the finished candy is almost too pretty to eat.

As promised, Miss Elisabeth, here are the step-by-step photos for your birthday party tonight. I hope you have a ball! xo

You begin with the boiling sugar syrup. Watch the temperature closely as it approaches 269 degrees. Remove it from the heat when it is about one degree away.

When the syrup cools to 212 degrees, divide it evenly between four one-quart containers.

When the containers of candy reach room temperature, they are ready to be pulled. Place a bed of cornstarch on a baking tray.

To remove the candy from the quart container, gently squeeze the container as you rotate it. It takes a little patience, but it will come out. Just keep squeezing and turning.

With your thumbs and forefingers, burrow a little hole into the center of the candy. If your sugar syrup cooked improperly and your disc of candy is hard in the center, microwave it for a few seconds at a time until you can make an indentation in the center of it.

Now begin to work the candy into a bigger circle. Use gentle pressure, and keep the candy a uniform thickness.

And a little bigger.

And a little bigger. Keep everything even, and keep using gentle pressure.

When the candy gets about this big, loop it into a figure eight.

And bring the two halves of the figure eight together like this.

Now the real pulling begins. Hold the candy in both fists. The front hand remains stationery. The back hand ever so gently pulls on the candy.

Bring your back hand to the front position. The candy rotates. Now pull gently again. And rotate the candy and your hands again.

As you pull and rotate, the candy will get thinner and thinner. When it’s about this big, make another figure eight by twisting your hands.

And bring the two halves together.

Begin pulling again.

And rotating and pulling.

And pulling. Until it’s time to make another figure eight.

And to bring the two halves together.

You’re getting the feel for it now. Keep pulling and rotating.

Make a figure eight.

And bring the halves together.

Keep pulling.

And pulling.

And making figure eights.

And bringing them together.

Every time you make a figure eight and bring the strands together you are doubling the number of strands you are pulling.

You can work a little faster now.

Just keep everything moving through the cornstarch so that the strands will remain separate.

Working the candy until it is about this length and then making another figure eight.

Keep going.

And going.

Until you’ve done between ten and fourteen turns.

After fourteen turns, you’ll have 16, 384 strands of hand-pulled cotton candy.

Hand-pulled Cotton Candy Tips
You are bringing the candy up to 269 degrees, and you want it to take between 20 and 25 minutes. If you have a powerful gas burner (22,000 BTUs), medium heat is perfect. If you have a conventional gas or electric burner, try medium high or high heat. Watch the temperature closely. If it is rising too slowly or too quickly, adjust the heat accordingly.

If you have sugar crystals on the side of your pan, wash them down with a wet brush.

One-quart plastic containers are perfect for this recipe. You could divide the candy into other containers, but be sure they are made of flexible material so that you can pop out the discs of candy when they are solidified.

You need a fine powder to keep the candy from sticking together as you pull it into strands. Cornstarch works well and is neutral in flavor. Cocoa powder mixed with cornstarch also works well. You may mix any ratio you like.

If your candy is too hard to work, microwave it for a few seconds at a time until it is pliable in the center.

As you work the candy, keep it moving through the cornstarch so that its strands remain separate.

Cutting the candy with a scissors will glue the strands together. Pull it until it tears if you wish to separate portions.

Hand-pulled Cotton Candy
Converted for American kitchens from the French Culinary Institute’s Tech’N Stuff blog, Cooking Issues
Yield: four generous bundles of about 16,000 strands each

Ingredients:
4 1/3 c. sugar
2 c. water
1 t. vinegar
scant ½ c. corn syrup
1 drop food coloring (optional)
cornstarch for working the candy

Method:

Place all of the ingredients in a medium saucepan and stir them together extremely gently, so as to not get any sugar crystals on the side of the pan.

Bring the mixture to a boil.

Insert a candy thermometer and watch it closely. When it reaches 268 degrees, remove it from the heat.

Allow the candy to cool to 212 degrees in the pan.

Then divide it evenly into four one-quart plastic containers.

When the candy reaches room temperature, remove it from the container by squeezing gently as you turn the container.

Place a generous sprinkling of cornstarch onto a baking sheet with sides.

Roll the candy in the cornstarch and rub off the excess.

Now with your thumbs and forefingers, burrow a hole into the center of the candy.

Using gentle pressure, enlarge the circle. Keep the candy a uniform thickness around the rope.

When the rope becomes long, twist it into a figure eight and bring the two halves together.

Now you begin pulling the candy in earnest. Hold the candy in both fists. Your front hand remains stationery while your back hand gently pulls. Rotate your hand positions and the candy and continue pulling until the strands are long.

Make a figure eight, bring the two halves together and continue pulling.

Pull the candy for ten to fourteen turns.

Refer to the step-by-step photographs above and to this excellent video from the French Culinary Institute’s Tech’N Stuff blog.

Bittersweet Chocolate Cookies

Laura — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 02:32:00 +0000

This is a recipe coup like I haven’t celebrated in years. The last two really whoop-worthy were a particular restaurant chocolate soufflé cake that my Dear Husband adored around 1998, and my ikebana-sensei’s daughter-in-law Nori-chan’s goma dare (now that’s a mouthful) around 1989 in Osaka. Every once in a while I really can’t figure out how to recreate something at home. I get twitchy about it and can’t let it go, have to putter in the kitchen with a proverbial bee in my bonnet until it’s as good as the real McCoy. These bittersweet chocolate cookies, which are our current obsession at Rustica bakery in Minneapolis, took some guesswork and tinkering, but here they are, ready for their glass case moment (and, dare I say, even better than the originals—especially when you get to eat one straight from the oven).

These coal black cookies are seriously good. They defy description, really. They’re definitely a cookie, but they’re somehow more than a cookie. They’re intensely dark with black cocoa, and layered with large discs of Belgian dark chocolate. They’re also soft and moist in a distinctly non-cookie way, almost cookie meets flourless chocolate cake.

One Sunday morning when my Honey Girl was in Kindergarten, we were at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Tokyo at a post-service coffee. Up she marched to a woman we didn’t know but whom she had decided was rather out of sorts to reveal that if she needed some emergency chocolate, her mother always had some in her purse. If you love chocolate like I do, drop everything and bake a batch of these cookies. (Maybe even keep one or two in your purse.)

Bittersweet Chocolate Cookie Tips
Black cocoa is ultra Dutched, or alkalized. It is used to make Oreo cookies. It is available here.

Measure the cocoa powder by packing it into a cup measure and leveling it.

Measure the all purpose flour by running a whisk or fork through the flour, scooping it gently into a cup measure, and leveling it with a knife.

Cream of tartar acts to activate the baking soda in this recipe. Look for it in the spice aisle.

Belgian Belcolade bittersweet chocolate discs are available here.

Bittersweet Chocolate Cookies
Yield: about three dozen cookies

Ingredients:
1 ¼ c. European-style butter, softened
1 2/3 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 ¼ c. sour cream
1 t. vanilla
1 1/3 c. black cocoa
2 c. all purpose flour (I prefer King Arthur.)
½ t. coarse salt
¼ t. baking soda
¼ t. cream of tartar
½ pound Belcolade chocolate discs or other high quality bittersweet chocolate pieces

Method:

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar.

Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.

Add the sour cream and mix well.

Scrape down the bowl.

Add the cocoa powder, flour, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar and mix until incorporated.

Stir in the chocolate discs.

Cover the bowl with cellophane and chill it in the refrigerator, at least several hours or overnight.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and line three baking sheets with parchment paper.

Roll the dough into balls about the size of a ping pong ball, dip them in sugar, and place them on a baking sheet about three inches apart.

One sheet at a time, bake them for five minutes. Then rotate the baking sheet 180 degrees and bake an additional five minutes.

Heart-shaped Red Velvet Baby Cakes with Pink Cream Cheese Frosting

Laura — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 19:13:06 +0000

My Sweet Boy’s sweet girlfriend Taylor is over tonight again to bake. We picked out a recipe for red velvet cake and decided to bake it into little baby cakes decorated with cream cheese frosting tinted pink. Our first batch erupted like so many little red cocoa volcanoes, and it looks like an ode to all sentiments anti-Valentine’s Day sitting on the stove right now, pockmarked and sunken and Vesuvial. We had a good laugh when we pulled them from the oven. When you’re improvising an adaptation, these things happen sometimes. Our second batch came out perfectly. (Now, that’s more like it!) We couldn’t bring ourselves to put a third of a cup of red dye into the batter, so our red velvet is decidedly more cocoa in hue, but if the color is paramount to you, go all in. It’s Valentine’s Day after all!

Heart-shaped Red Velvet Baby Cakes with Pink Cream Cheese Frosting
Yield: about 3 dozen baby cakes

Ingredients:
1 batch red velvet cake batter (recipe below)
1 batch pink cream cheese frosting (recipe below)
edible pearls

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Divide the red velvet batter into about 36 mini heart-shaped pans. Do not fill them more than half full.

Bake the cakes for about 20 minutes, rotating them 180 degrees halfway through, until they spring back when pressed lightly in the center.

Allow them to cool completely.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a star tip with the frosting. Twist the bag at the top and apply gentle pressure at the twist to frost the cakes.

Decorate with edible pearls. A tweezer is helpful here.

Red Velvet Cake Batter
From Confetti Cakes by Elisa Strauss
Yield: enough for about 3 dozen baby cakes

Ingredients:
3 ½ c. cake flour
½ c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ½ t. salt
2 c. canola oil
2 ¼ c. sugar
3 large eggs
1/3 c. red food coloring (We used only 1 T.)
1 ½ t. vanilla extract
1 ¼ c. buttermilk
2 t. baking soda
2 ½ t. white vinegar

Method:

In a large bowl whisk together the cake flour, cocoa powder, and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the oil and the sugar. Beat on medium speed until they are incorporated.

Add the eggs one at a time at low speed, mixing well between each addition.

Add the red food coloring and vanilla in a slow stream and mix to combine.

Scrape down the bottom of the bowl.

Alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk in two batches, starting with the flour. Beat until well combined.

In a small bowl, whisk together the baking soda and vinegar. With the mixer on medium speed, add the mixture and beat for 10 seconds.

Pink Cream Cheese Frosting
Yield: enough to modestly frost about 3 dozen baby cakes

Ingredients:
16 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
¾ pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 t. vanilla extract
4 drops pink food coloring
1 ½ pounds confectioners’ sugar

Method:

Beat together the cream cheese and the butter until they are smooth.

Add the vanilla and the food coloring and mix to incorporate.

Add the confectioners’ sugar and mix on low speed until the frosting is smooth and creamy.

Heart-shaped Jam Doughnuts Rolled in Pink Sugar

Laura — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 02:47:37 +0000

It doesn’t happen to me very often anymore—the last time was a disastrous shepherd’s pie over which we spent half an hour literally doubled over in laughter while making up alternate names for the recipe before we chucked it in the bin and headed to a restaurant for dinner—but I still have flops here and there. I have never made yeast doughnuts before, and perhaps this is what a homemade yeast doughnut is supposed to taste like, but I had higher hopes. When I began making the dough, I was envisioning a pillow of pastry, light and airy and almost weightless, the kind of doughnut that defies the logic of its size. These are dense and a little chewy, somewhere between a deep-fried ciabatta and a Pullman loaf. They taste nice, but they don’t belong in a Krispy Kreme lineup.

I thought these might be sweet for Valentine’s Day, a breakfast-in-bed surprise for someone who loves doughnuts. So I used a small heart-shaped cutter, filled them with good seedless raspberry jam, and rolled them in pink sugar. They are awfully sweet. Serve them warm with a cup of strong coffee or a glass of ice cold milk. And if you give them a whirl with loftier results, send me your tips.

Heart-shaped Jam Doughnuts Rolled in Pink Sugar
Yield: about ten doughnuts

Ingredients:
Ten yeast doughnuts (recipe below) made using a 3-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter
½ c. sugar
3 drops pink food color
6 ounces good seedless raspberry jam (or other jam)

Method:

Place the sugar and pink food color into a kitchen storage bag and massage until the sugar is uniformly pink.

Pour the pink sugar into a bowl and roll the doughnuts in the sugar while they are still warm.

Fill a piping bag fitted with an open tip with the raspberry jam.

Twist the bag tightly at the top and insert the tip into the side of each doughnut. Apply gentle pressure at the twist to pipe jam into the center of each doughnut.

Yeast Doughnuts
From Donuts by Elinor Klivans
Yield: about 10 3-inch doughnuts

Ingredients:
¾ c. whole milk
3 T. unsalted butter
3 ¼ c. all purpose flour
1/3 c. sugar
½ t. salt
1 package (2 ½ t.) rapid rise yeast
2 large eggs
½ t. vanilla extract

Method:

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the milk and butter and heat, stirring, until the butter is melted and the mixture is hot but not boiling (about 125 degrees on an instant read thermometer). Remove from the heat.

Fit a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. In the mixing bowl, combine 2 ½ c. of the flour, the sugar, salt, and yeast and beat on low speed to mix.

Add the hot milk mixture, raise the speed to medium, and beat until well blended.

Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until fully incorporated, about two minutes.

Add the remaining ¾ c. flour and beat until the dough is well blended and smooth, about one minute longer. The dough will not pull away from the sides of the bowl and will still be somewhat sticky.

Scrape the dough into a large bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let stand in a warm place until well risen and increased in bulk, about 45 minutes. (It may almost double in size.)

Line a baking sheet with waxed paper or cellophane and brush it with oil. Line a second baking sheet with paper towels.

Turn the dough out onto a generously floured work surface. Using a 3-inch pastry cutter, cut out as many rounds as possible. Use a wide spatula to transfer the doughnuts to the oiled paper. Gather up the scraps and repeat rolling and cutting out doughnuts.

Cover the doughnuts with a clean kitchen towel and let rise for 30 minutes. The doughnuts should look soft and puffy, but will not double in size.

Pour oil to a depth of 2 inches into a deep fryer or deep, heavy sauté pan and heat until the oil reads 360 degrees on a thermometer.

Carefully lower two to five doughnuts into the hot oil and deep fry until dark golden brown in color, about 1 ½ minutes. Turn over and cook until dark golden on the second side, about one minute.

Transfer to the towel-lined baking sheet.

Repeat to fry the remaining doughnuts, allowing the oil to return to temperature between batches.

Bubble Gum Ball Surprise Cupcakes with Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream & Pink Rock Candy Crystals

Laura — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 17:40:25 +0000

I dreamed up these playful cupcakes for my niece Elisabeth. Elisabeth is ten, and she loves funny stories. Whenever we are together she always mines me for more—details about her mom and I dancing around in front of the sliding glass doors where our mother would scold that our neighbors might see us, about our misadventures at summer camp, silly things we did or said as we were growing up together. This is for you, Bunny. Happy Valentine’s Day! I love you!

In 1977 when I was ten:

I was longing for a powder blue satin disco jacket and my own skates with matching yarn pompoms to bring to the roller rink.

Shawn Cassidy was doing a lot of wiggling that year, and your mom and I made up dances in the basement to this song; if I recall correctly, she advocated for a lot of hair flipping, which I didn’t think was a real dance move.

This was my favorite song. I sang it at the top of my lungs all the time.

Your mom and I got the giggles whenever we saw performances like this and this. We were quite silly.

Almost every Saturday night I watched The Love Boat.

Grandma permed my hair that year. I looked more like Richard Simmons than Julie McCoy.

Earth shoes were my school shoes that year, and I had a selection of knit pants and crocheted vests, which I wore over sensible blouses. Your mom was always the stylish one.

These vanilla chiffon cupcakes have a sweet little surprise. I scooped out a little cake and tucked in a big pink bubble gum ball before I piped on a lofty twist of strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream and sprinkled them with pink rock candy crystals. I hope you like them.

xo, Auntie

P.S. When are you going to come over to bake together?
P.P.S. You could make these all by yourself. Just use a boxed cake mix and a can of strawberry frosting.

Bubble Gum Ball Surprise Cupcakes with Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream & Pink Rock Candy Crystals
Yield: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:
24 vanilla chiffon cupcakes (recipe below)
24 pink gum balls (available here)
1 batch strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream (recipe below)
pink rock candy crystals (available here)

Method:

Bake the cupcakes and allow the to cool completely.

Using a melon baller, scoop out a little cake from the center of each cupcake.

Place a bubble gum ball into each cupcake.

Fill a piping bag or a kitchen storage bag with the frosting. Use any decorative tip you like with the piping bag, or cut off the tip of the storage bag. Twish the top of the bag, and using gentle pressure at the twist, pipe frosting onto each of the cupcakes.

Sprinkle the frosting with the rock candy crystals.

Cake Tips
Cream of tartar helps to stabilize egg whites as they are beaten. It may be found in the spice aisle.

When you are beating egg whites, the term soft peaks refers to a stage in the beating process. Look for ripples that remain as you move the beaters and a glossy appearance.

When you are beating egg whites, the term firm peaks refers to a stage in the beating process. Look for a peak of glossy egg white that remains upright when you pull the beater out of the egg whites vertically. Here is an excellent video on beating egg whites.

Folding is the process of gently incorporating ingredients into a fragile batter or mixture. Folding is the gentlest mixing technique, and protects air bubbles. To fold, place a spatula in the center of your bowl. Slice down through your batter or mixture to the bottom of the bowl. Pull through the bottom of the bowl, scooping as you come around and up. Turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat. Continue this process, until your ingredients are uniformly folded into the batter or mixture.

Vanilla Chiffon Cupcakes
Adapted from The Joy Of Cooking
Yield: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:
2 ¼ c. sifted cake flour
1 ¼ c. sugar
1 T. baking powder
1 t. salt
5 large egg yolks at room temperature
¾ c. water
½ c. vegetable oil
2 t. vanilla extract
8 large egg whites at room temperature
½ t. cream of tartar
¼ c. sugar

Method:

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Place the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk the ingredients together until they are well combined.

In the bowl of an electric mixer or in a large bowl using a handheld electric mixer, beat together the egg yolks, water, vegetable oil, and vanilla until they are smooth.

Stir this mixture into the flour mixture until it is well combined and smooth.

In another large bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add the ¼ c. sugar and beat until glossy, firm peaks form. Do not beat until the peaks are dry.

Using a rubber spatula, fold ¼ of the egg whites into the cake batter. Then gently fold in the remaining egg whites.

Divide the batter into cupcake pans lined with paper liners. Fill each cup about ½ full.

Bake the cupcakes for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Adapted from The Joy of Cooking
Yield: enough to modestly frost about 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:
8 large egg whites at room temperature
1 ½ c. sugar
¼ c. water
½ t. cream of tartar
1 ½ pounds (6 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
6 ounces strawberry jam, strained

Method:

In a large stainless steel bowl, whisk together the egg whites, sugar, water, and cream of tartar.

Set the bowl over a wide, deep skillet filled with about 1 inch of simmering water. Make sure the water level is at least as high as the depth of the egg whites in the bowl.

Beat the egg whites on low speed with an electric mixer until the mixture reaches 140 degrees on an instant read thermometer. Do not stop beating while the bowl is in the skillet, or the egg whites will overcook.

Beat on high speed just until the mixture reaches 160 degrees, two to four minutes.

Remove the bowl from the skillet and beat on high speed for three to five more minutes. The mixture should hold glossy, marshmallowy peaks.

In another large bowl, beat the butter until it is creamy, about 30 seconds.

Beat a large dollop of the meringue into the butter until well combined. Continue to beat in about half of the meringue in large dollops. Scrape the remaining meringue into the mixture and beat until smooth and fluffy.

Very gently fold in the strained strawberry jam.

This frosting keeps in the refrigerator for up to six days. Soften it before using.

White Chocolate Sour Cream Cupcakes with Dark Rum and Vanilla

Laura — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 14:55:12 +0000

My mom took a lot of classes when we were growing up in the 70s. Our house was full of macramé plant hangers and wall hangings and Christmas decorations. We had Santa and all of his eight reindeer and Rudoph. There was cast pottery painted by numbers—smaller pieces plus a huge barn scene that hung in our family room above the mantel. And there was a parade of decorated cakes. My mom bought shortening by the five-gallon bucket and would practice making roses in the kitchen on a little metal flower nails. They were beautiful but, blech, watching shortening, sugar, and dye being mixed ended my frosting eating days. I still remember her asking me what I thought I had been eating whenever we ordered a bakery cake. It was a seminal moment; frosting faded from magical to an adumbration, and all the rainbow-colored foods of childhood suddenly seemed too good to be true. The rising popularity of true buttercream 20 years later didn’t help much. I couldn’t wrap my head around eating that much whipped butter and sugar either.

This is a frosting that has even me feeling lickerish. It brings me back to the 80s, when white chocolate was having its moment, before we sorted out that white chocolate, well, wasn’t really chocolate. Real white chocolate is made with cocoa butter, a product of the chocolate making process, but it does not contain chocolate liquor, or ground roasted cocoa beans, which characterize chocolate. Since my Honey Girl isn’t a conventional chocolate lover, I usually try to make something fruity or white for her on Valentine’s Day. She would love these cupcakes. The frosting is a creamy whipped ganache which substitutes sour cream for heavy cream. Flecked with vanilla bean and laced with a little rum, it might even restore my faith in frosting. I wish I could mail off these cupcakes to her at college in a pink care package.

White Chocolate Sour Cream Cupcakes
I don’t know whom to credit for this recipe. It’s online on three sites identically without any attribution. Thank you to whoever developed the recipe.
Yield: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:
2 c. all purpose flour (I prefer King Arthur.)
1 2/3 c. sugar
¼ t. salt
4 oz. high quality white chocolate beads or bar, cut into shards (I used E. Guittard.)
½ c. water
½ c. unsalted butter
1 c. sour cream, at room temperature
1 t. vanilla extract
1 ½ t. baking soda
2 eggs

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Line 2 cupcake pans with paper liners.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the flour, sugar, and salt.

In a double boiler over simmering water, melt the chocolate with the butter and water. Allow it to cool slightly.

Add the melted chocolate to the flour and mix until combined.

Add the sour cream, vanilla, baking soda, and eggs and beat for 2 minutes.

Divide the batter evenly into your cupcake pans and bake for 20 – 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

White Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting with Rum and Vanilla
Adapted from E. Guittard
Yield: enough to modestly frost a dozen cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 pound high quality white chocolate beads or bar, cut into shards (I used E. Guittard.)
½ c. sour cream
1 t. dark rum
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

Method:

Place all of the ingredients into a double boiler over low heat and stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth.

Remove the vanilla bean, and refrigerate until it is firm, about two hours.

Whip the frosting with an electric beater on high speed until it is fluffy and creamy.

To frost the cupcakes, fill a pastry bag or kitchen storage bag with the frosting. Use any decorative tip you prefer on the pastry bag; snip off the tip of the kitchen storage bag. Pipe a modest amount of frosting onto each cupcake in a swirling pattern, beginning at the center of the cupcake and working your way in concentric circles toward the outside.

Rose Water, Hibiscus, & Dark Cocoa Macarons with Rose Water and Hibiscus White Chocolate Ganaches

Laura — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 20:04:03 +0000

My Sweet Boy’s lovely girlfriend Taylor is over to bake today, and we are taking on macarons. We’ve had to hearten ourselves along through a string of failures—macarons are notoriously temperamental—but we are having fun, and spending six hours together on them has been an unexpected and happy surprise. We’re on batch four now this afternoon, with fingers crossed. They may not be camera perfect, but they are tasty, and I think that’s what matters most. I think after a few more batches, we’ll be macaron pros. I’m including recipes for three of the variations we made, plus all of the little tricks that helped us transition from total failure to pretty-as-a-picture. If you have to pick just one to make, my favorite are the dark cocoa with hibiscus white chocolate ganache.

Macaron Tips
Former pastry chef, blogger, and macaron guru Helene Dujardin of tarteletteblog.com was kind enough to email to me her authoritative article on the art of macarons. I missed a few hints skimming the article (yes, haste makes waste), so here they are in a bullet form, which I hope will be helpful. You may link to a macaron tutorial on her site here.

Ageing your egg whites seems to be an important step. Separate your eggs three to four days before baking and keep them in the refrigerator. Alternately, microwave your egg whites for about 15 to 20 seconds before using them. We had relative success without taking this step, and I imagine our macarons will be that much closer to perfection if we use this tip when we next make them.

You can pick up an inexpensive scale for under twenty dollars at convenience stores like Target. Link

If you purchase blanched almonds rather than almond flour for this recipe, grind them in a food processor and then add the confectioners’ sugar. Sift the mixture to ensure that there aren’t any almond pieces.

Helene recommends avoiding bargain brands of confectioners’ sugar, as they may contain higher percentages of cornstarch.

The folding is the key step in this recipe, and the challenging part. Over mix and your macarons will flop. Under mix and they will puff and crack and be unsightly. Helene suggests that you begin folding rather quickly to begin to break down the mixture. In our most successful batch, I gave perhaps ten quick strokes and then slowed dramatically. The batter should remain fairly lofty. As soon as it is beginning to yield and soften slightly, slow down to a stroke-by-stroke evaluation. Helene’s test is to place a small amount on a plate, and if the top flattens by itself, it’s ready. I found that I was still overbeating. The tops will remain in a soft peak, but will appear like they will fall with resting. Err on the side of under folding, and coax any little peaks down with a finger.

If you don’t have piping bags, simply use a large plastic storage bag. Fill it, seal it, and snip off the tip. When you use it, twist the bag at the top and hold it tightly. Use a little pressure at the top of the batter or ganache to pipe.

If you’re using a proper piping bag, a large tip about ½ inch in diameter is perfect for the macarons. A small round tip works well for piping the ganache.

The macarons should peel easily from the parchment. If they are sticking, pop them into the oven for another minute.

Macarons
From Helene Dujardin’s tarteletteblog.com
Yield: about 16 macarons

Ingredients:
100 grams aged egg whites, or about 3 ½ egg whites from large eggs
50 grams white sugar
200 grams confectioners’ sugar
110 grams almond flour or ground blanched almonds

Method:

Place the egg whites into the bowl of an electric mixer and mix until they are foamy.

Gradually add the sugar.

Beat until you have a glossy meringue and until the meringue doesn’t move when you invert the bowl.

In a small bowl, stir together the confectioner’s sugar and the almond flour or ground almonds.

Fold the almond sugar mixture into the meringue. See tips above.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and pipe the batter into small rounds about 1 ½ inches in diameter about 1 to 2 inches apart.

Tap the sheets a few times to release any air bubbles in the cookies.

Allow the macarons to dry for an hour. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.

Bake the macarons for ten to twelve minutes.

Allow them to cool for about 10 to 15 minutes. Then remove them from the parchment.

When they are completely cool, pipe ganache filling onto half of the macarons and sandwich them together with the remaining macarons.

For Rose Water Macarons, add a small dribble of rose water and two drops pink food coloring to the egg whites.
For Hibiscus Macarons, add about 1 t. of ground, dried hibiscus flowers to the almond flour mixture. You may grind the flowers using a mortar and pestle or in a dedicated coffee grinder.
For Dark Cocoa Macarons, add 3 heaping T. double Dutch dark cocoa powder to the almond flour mixture.

White Chocolate Ganache
From Helene Dujardin’s tarteletteblog.com
Yield: about enough to fill two batches of macarons

Ingredients:
1 ½ c. white chocolate (I used E. Guittard pure white chocolate.)
½ c. heavy cream (I love Cedar Summit Farms.)

Method:

Heat the cream in a small saucepan over low heat.

Add the chocolate and stir until it is melted and smooth.

Allow the ganache to cool in the refrigerator until it is a piping consistency.

For Rose Water White Chocolate Ganache add a small dribble of rose water and one drop pink food coloring to the cream.
For Hibiscus White Chocolate Ganache add about 1 t. ground dried hibiscus flowers to the cream.

Heart-shaped Brownies with Fudge Frosting

Laura — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 17:13:03 +0000

Before we moved out of the city, we lived on Hague Avenue in the Merriam Park neighborhood of St. Paul. My sister Molly and I walked to school at St. Mark’s and to Don’s Country Boy on the corner of Selby and Hamline Avenues by ourselves, where we would pick out a candy bar for a nickel. It was always tough to decide between taste and size, and we often fell for the Charleston Chew or the long ropes of Bubs Daddy, promising ourselves that next time we would get a Charms Sweet N Sour Pop no matter how small it seemed. Next door lived the Marose family: Jeannie and Dick and their four sons, Ricky, Jerry, Billy, and Donny. Jeannie’s house was always perfectly clean—we could hear her vacuum running every day as we played outside—and Jeannie was always dressed beautifully. The Marose boys were all older than me, but they were always so kind and polite, and when Chris Drews started bullying me on the way to and from school, Billy and Donny walked me to and from, though I know they silently hated it. I was embarrassed, but I was thrilled. It was only a four-block walk, but Chris Drews could get up to a lot of good terrorizing in that short time, and I was only five. Jeannie would ask after me as we arrived home and whether Billy and Donny were being helpful, and sometimes I would get one of her delicious brownies. All of that kindness, and the brownies, made it all better in my five year-old world. Here is her recipe, which I baked in little aluminum foil heart-shaped pans for Valentine’s Day, topped with my mom’s recipe for fudgy chocolate frosting. I hope they make your world a little better, too.

Brownie and Frosting Tips
If you are using the shaped baking cups, fill them half full with brownie batter. You may have a bit leftover. If so, bake it off in a little pan. You can cube it into ice cream later.

This frosting sets up with a lovely sheen, but only if you pour it quickly and don’t fuss with it. It will crack and wrinkle if you move it while it’s setting.

These are awfully yummy served warm straight from their little pans. They are also nice at room temperature.

Jeannie Marose’s Brownies
Yield: 12 heart-shaped brownies or a 10×15 pan of brownies

Ingredients:
1 c. sugar
1 stick unsalted butter
4 eggs
1 can Hershey’s chocolate syrup
1 t. vanilla
¾ c. walnuts (optional)
1 c. flour
½ t. salt

Method:

Melt the butter.

Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until combined.

Pour the batter into a 10 x 15 pan, or into disposable heart-shaped pans (available at most Target stores).

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes if baking them in the large pan or about 15 minutes if you are baking them in the little heart-shaped pans.

Sheila Casey’s Chocolate Fudge Frosting
Yield: enough frosting to generously frost the brownies or a cake

Ingredients:
1 c. sugar
5 T. unsalted butter
1/3 c. milk
6 ounces chocolate chips

Method:

Combine the sugar, butter, and milk in a small saucepan.

Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Boil one minute.

Remove from the heat and add the chocolate. Stir until melted.

Pour onto the brownies immediately and do not disturb them until the frosting is dry.