The Cupcake

So I decided to post one of my English essays on here. Why? You ask, well because it has to do with baking. It is one of my best essays and I take great pride in it and I want you all to read it!

So here it is :) I hope you like it.

The Cupcake

There is a time of day just before night, when it is not quite dark but the daylight is gone and the rain just starts to drizzle; when all the other animals sedately wander back to their warm and overstuffed bed. This is the time of night that you will find me in the kitchen and my overly attentive dog sitting behind the line of obedience watching me prepare for a night of baking.

My recipe book lies on the counter with my boom box and apron, all patiently waiting for me to appear. I effortlessly slide my apron on; I then move to my boom box increasing the volume bit by bit until I can no longer hear my footsteps.  Finally I thumb through the pages of my recipe book looking for the one that just can’t be passed. I reached the perfect recipe, and without a glance at the title I knew what it was; my double chocolate cupcakes.

Before I can make this marvelous dessert I have to corral my ingredients. I start with the foundation of the cupcake: eggs, milk, flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and powder.  Now I add in the cocoa powder; and adjust the oven to the established degree whether that is 350 or 325. Now it is time to meld the ingredients together. I take my cold worn out stainless steel bowl along with an exhausted electric mixer. The dry ingredients are first, now drop the eggs in one by one; after each egg is dropped I hear a sudden sputter of the engine.  After each addition I make sure the egg is fully beat in; for when I’m finished my batter should be glossy looking like ice on a frozen lake.

In the back of the room sits my broken down and battered cupcake pan. If you look close enough you can see baked-on batter giving the illusion of rust spots. I make the rust spots disappear by adding blue shiny paper cups. I spoon the batter into the cups using my state-of-the-art ice cream scoop, getting equal amounts into each cup. As I slide the pan into the oven and set the timer for 22 minutes I think to myself “what are you going to end up looking like”. While thinking of how they will turn out; my mouth starts to water.  I wonder how chocolaty and moist the cake will be.

As I sit and watch the batter slowly grow into becoming a cupcake I long to open the door and try one. Waiting is always the worst part of baking there is so much anticipation. But the moment when the timer goes off is pure delight, when I took them out of the oven and smelt the delicious aroma of chocolate, my body gave way. My temptations heightened as I transferred them from the pan to the cooling rack for I longed to take a bite out of one. As the little bundles of joy cooled I made their topping. The finish line is near just one more thing to make them perfect; the frosting.

The frosting is the most important part of a cupcake. It is the first thing that people see when walking by, and the first thing that touches the taste buds, it is the bow on top of the present. There is only one type of frosting that goes well with this cupcake, chocolate buttercream. There are only five ingredients that you need: melted chocolate, butter, vanilla, powdered sugar, and shortening. I toss everything into my worn out stainless steel bowl and I gather the beaters to my exhausted mixer; and I start to mix them together; tasting it every step of the way.

I look over to find my dog no longer waiting for crumbs to strike the floor but instead curled up and sleeping soundly on his warm and overstuffed bed. I have finally come to the end of baking and frosting. As I grab one of the cupcakes and exit the kitchen I look over my shoulder only to see a messy kitchen and a sink full of dishes. I slowly wander away while stuffing my mouth with my double chocolate cupcake thinking to myself that someone else will simply clean up after me (after all I did just bake them cupcakes J )

Apple, apple pie

I have to say that this is one of the hardest things that I have ever made. It took me about an hour to core all of the apples. But in the end it all payed off! They are so good.

First off I doubled the recipe. So I made 12 apples. I also decided to to add more sugar. So I used 1 cup of white sugar, and 2 heaping tablespoons brown sugar. I put in 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. I wouldn't use that much again. 

Step 1: Cut off the top of 4 apples off and discard. Remove the inside of each apple with a spoon or melon baller very carefully, as to not puncture the peel.

After I cored the apples, I put them into a mixture of lemon juice and water to keep them from browning.

This is what the apples look like without the 'apple' part in it. 

 This is the tool that I used to cut the pie crust. It is a fondant cutter. 

And this is the melon baller.

Step 2: Remove skin from remaining apple(s) and slice very thinly. These apple pieces will give you the additional filling needed to fill the four apples you are baking. I didn't need to use any extra apples, I just used the stuff that I scooped out. 

The apples with the cinnamon and the sugars

Step 3: Mix sliced apples with sugars and cinnamon in a bowl. If you prefer more or less cinnamon make adjustments as desired. Same goes for the sugar.

Scoop sliced apples into hollow apples.

What the mixture looks like after the sugars and the cinnamon have been mixed in. 

Step 4: Roll out pie crust and slice into 1/4 inch strips.  You can also add a strip of pastry inside the top of the apple almost like a liner to add a little more texture/sweetness to the pie.

Cover the top of the apple in a lattice pattern with pie crust strips.

The cut pie dough

Start with 3 strips of pie dough

Fold back the 1st and 3rd strips and lay a strip of pie dough horizontally. You want to do this every other time.
(There is a link at the bottom of the post showing you how to do a lattice pie dough top)  

This is what the apples will look like when the lattice is finished.  

Step 5: Place apples in an 8×8 pan.  Add just enough water to the cover the bottom of the pan. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. 

Close to the end of the second time (about 10 minutes left) I put an egg wash on top of the pie dough and sprinkled it with some sugar. This just makes the crust golden brown and sweet!

Don't they look so good! Well they were delicious!! 

How to make a lattice pie crust. Click me!

Look what is coming!

Look what I am making! Individual apple pies in the actual apple! 

Stay tuned for the apple pie entry!

Here is a little pre view of what they should look like.

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

Who doesn't like cupcakes in rainbow ice cream cones?! I know that I do :)

This was super easy to make. I cheated a little bit and used a chocolate cake mix. 

These are the pretty ice cream cones that I used.

Fist off I made the cake mix, once that was all done and mixed very well I got out my handy dandy cookie maker. Yes I know what you are thinking, 'why is she using a cookie maker if she is making cupcakes?' Well I will tell you cookie makers are smaller than an ice cream scoop. When you are making the ice cream cone cupcakes you DON'T WANT TO OVER FILL THEM!!! 

This is the cookie maker that I used, super simple right?

I would say that this cookie maker is about 1 tablespoon give or take a teaspoon. I put two (2) scoops of the cake batter into the cones.

That was the perfect amount! It didn't overflow, it formed the perfect little dome on top.

I got 18 cupcake cones and 12 cupcakes. In the end I got 30 cupcakes.

I let the cupcakes cool for about 20 minutes (they cool fast) then I iced them with cream cheese frosting and topped it all off with rainbow sprinkles! 

P.S. When icing the cupcake cones try to make the icing look like ice cream. It just makes the cones look even better

Uh oh! Where did the other half go??!!

These cupcakes would be great for any kind of party!

Bunny Cupcakes

I got a new cupcake book for Christmas last year and I have been itching to try it out. So I thumbed through the book looking for a fun Easter recipe. And I found the perfect one, bunny cupcakes! In honor of Easter, I decided to make cupcakes for our local firefighters just to say thank you for all that they have done. 

So the process begins. This is the cupcake book that I used.

To purchase this book go to Barnes & Noble.

This project was super easy! Why? because you use a cake mix. I used Betty Crocker's yellow cake mix. I did a couple of things different though. I used 4 eggs instead of 3 and a cup of buttermilk rather than using water (I found this recipe in the back of the book).

This is the mix I used

First I made 24 cupcakes.

Next I let the cupcakes cool. I have made a lot of cupcakes and in turn I have learned a few tips. To cool the cupcakes faster I put them back into the cupcake pan and stick them in the freezer for about 5 minutes. 

While the cupcakes were cooling I gathered my ingredients for the toppings. 

My ingredients: Malt eggs, chocolate teddy grams, chocolate marshmallows, flat marshmallows, and chocolate and vanilla frostings. 

Next I put about a handfull of teddy grams in a plastic bag and crushed them up.

Before

After

The crushed up teddy grams will be the top of the bunny cupcakes

I then took the vanilla icing and tinted it green. This will be the top of the grass cupcakes.

 After all the cupcakes have been iced. 

Close up of the 'grass' cupcakes

(sorry it is kind of blurry)

Close up of the bunny cupcakes

Once the cupcakes were iced I cut the flat marshmallows into the shapes of bunny feet. 

I cut the chocolate marshmallows in half and used them as the bunnies tails.

I attached the tails and the feet with chocolate icing.

To make the bunnies more realistic I added foot pads on the marshmallow feet. 

I used chocolate icing to do this. 

To add the finishing touches to the grass I used the end of the metal spatula to make the icing stand up, making the icing look like grass, and then put the chocolate malt eggs on the top. 

This is the finished product.

The picture really doesn't do it justice. But they do look nice, well I think that they do. 

Ultimate Chocolate Cake

This week instead of doing thin mint cookies, I had the task of making a birthday cake for my grandma's friends. I went through cake recipes that I had stashed away and I also looked on the internet. I came across Martha Stewart's website. I was amazed. Not only did she have an ample amount of recipes she had pages after pages of crafts and fun things to make and do. So I went and looked through her cake recipes and came across The Ultimate Chocolate Cake recipe. It looked so yummy and so chocolaty I just couldn't resist making it.

So I have to say that this cake is not for a baking beginner! It takes a lot of time to prepare, to make and to assemble. In total it took me roughly about 6 hours from start to finish. And this wasn't my first dosey doe with a cake.
All in all the cake came out perfect.

The first thing that I did was butter the two 8 inch pans and then lined them with parchment paper. This took me at least 20 minutes on each pan. You would not believe how hard it is to line the sides with the special paper. Your hands are covered in butter from the first part and your trying to hold onto the pan but it's slipping and then your trying to put the paper in.
Believe me I get it, I completely sympathize with you.

This is the buttered pan

This is the pan (finally) lined with parchment paper

The next step was to butter the parchment paper and then dust the insides with cocoa powder. The recipe calls for cocoa powder that I have never heard of. Valrhon coco powder. I used Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder, to me chocolate is chocolate

This is what the parchment lined pans look like dusted with cocoa powder

Close up

Next came the hardest part. Mixing 3 sticks of butter by hand with a rubber spatula until light a fluffy. The recipe says it will take about 2 minutes, well it took me at least 10 to get it to the light and fluffy stage; keeping in mind that I am a girl with not a lot of arm muscle
(don't make fun of me. haha)
I will give you before and after pictures.

Before light and fluffy stage

After light and fluffy has been achieved. 

The way you can tell is the butter changed color. It went from a dark yellow to a pale yellow. 

Next I added the sugar, vanilla and the eggs. This took me about another good 20 minutes. Why? you ask, well because you have to slowly add in the sugar and you can only mix in one egg at a time. So you can estimate each egg will take about 2 minutes to mix in so when you have 4 eggs that's almost 10 minutes. And that's why it took so long.
Like a said this cake is not for a beginner.

Yes I know it doesn't look that good now but it will, I assure you.

The dry ingredients came next. I mixed them together and then sifted them into a medium sized bowl. You will need this mixture in a little bit.

Now for the chocolate part of the cake.
I took 3/4 cup strong boiling coffee and added 1 cup milk and 1 cup cocoa powder, and whisked it together. This mixture you need to let cool completely before adding it to the butter and sugar.

This is when the cake really started to smell good.

Next I combined the butter and sugar mixture with the chocolate coffee liquid, and whisked it until it was fully incorporated with each other.

Next add the flour a little at a time. Being sure to mix it in well.
(This is showing the flour going into the liquid above. It should not be left like this!)

Next divide the batter between the two pans and voila you are almost done with the cake.

The batter in the pans

I baked the cake for about 45 minutes in 20 minute intervals, each time rotating them.

Once the cake was finished (when a toothpick comes out clean from the middle) I took them out and put them on a cooling rack for 10 minutes.
I inverted the cakes onto another wire rack and they came out of the pan like a charm.

Once they were completely cooled (I waited about 3 hours) I leveled the tops, then filled and frosted it.

This is the finished product.

I put a pretty design on the top and bottom, just to cover my edges.
Top view

Side view

Enjoy making this wonderful cake. It really is worth all of the mess and all of the hard work. It tastes delicious.

Here is the link to the recipe for the cake:
Ultimate Chocolate Cake      <--- Click the link

Here is the link the the recipe for the frosting:
Chocolate Frosting               <--- Click the link