No Moaning Allowed

I just have to say from experience that hearing guttural moaning while at work is just… disturbing.  Even if you are well aware of where the sound is emanating from and the reason for it, it is just not something that is ok.

One of our VPs is retiring, and although I wasn’t able to take on the task of providing lunch for the group attending, I did volunteer to do some cupcakes.  I wanted to come up with something special but not terribly labor intensive.  I came up with two options:  Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes and Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Amaretto Buttercream.

The chocolate cupcakes featured a fresh strawberry gelée inside the cupcake, and a strawberry cream cheese frosting.  And these are what caused the majority of the commotion.  They were made using my go-to recipe for chocolate cupcakes, which are unbelievably moist and delicate.  Once baked, I carved a cone shape out of the center, cut off the bottom portion of the ‘cone’ and then replaced the cap back on the cupcake once I had filled the void with the gelée.  Don’t worry if they turn out a little ugly.  That’s what the frosting is for.  J  You will definitely need to pipe frosting onto these, though, rather than trying to frost them with a knife.  They’re just too delicate and would fall apart.

For the amaretto cupcakes, I used a vanilla bean cupcake recipe, topped them with a buttercream spiked with a little amaretto, and studded the tops with an almond brittle.

Ok, now you know all of my secrets.  Go forth and elicit your own moaning.

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

 2 sticks of butter (room temp)

2 1/2 c sugar
4 large eggs
1 3/4 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 c cocoa powder
1 c milk
2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°.  Line cupcake tin with liners (this will make about 24 regular sized cupcakes).

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter for several minutes light and whipped.  Add the sugar and beat on medium speed for 2 or 3 minutes until sugar is fully incorporated into the butter and the mixture is fluffy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Stir in the vanilla.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder.  Add the dry ingredients a third at a time to the butter mixture, alternating with a third of the milk.

Scoop batter into lined cupcake tins about halfway.  Bake for 22-25 minutes, or until tester comes out clean.  Allow to cool completely.

* * *

Strawberry Gelée

1 cup strawberry purée

1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbs fresh lemon juice
2 Tbs cold water
1/2 envelope unflavored powdered gelatin
1/2 cup diced, fresh strawberries

Heat purée and sugar in a small saucepan just until it begins to bubble, stirring to dissolve sugar. Stir in lemon juice and remove from heat.

Put water in a small bowl and sprinkle gelatin on top. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Add fruit purée mixture to the bowl and stir until gelatin is completely dissolved.

Stir in diced strawberries and chill until set.

* * *

Strawberry Cream Cheese Buttercream

1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened

1 stick butter, softened
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
¼ cup strawberry jelly (I used freezer jam I had on hand)

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until well combined.  Add the jelly and beat until incorporated.  Slowly add the sugar, about ¼ a cup at a time, and mix until frosting is creamy.  Frosting can be made ahead of time and chilled.  Bring to room temp if piping.

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

2 cups flour

1 c sugar
3/4 c milk
1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 egg, at room temperature
1 vanilla bean
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Cut the vanilla bean lengthwise.  In a small saucepan, heat the milk and vanilla bean together until the milk begins to steam. Remove from heat and let cool for about 1 hour, then remove the vanilla bean. Scrape out the seeds from the vanilla bean and add them back to the milk. Discard the remaining bean pod. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°.

In a medium bowl, sift together the salt, flour and baking powder.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well. Alternately add the flour and milk mixture until well combined. Divide batter into about 18 lined or greased cupcake tins. Bake 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

* * * 

Amaretto Buttercream

2 sticks butter, room temperature

½ tsp salt
½ cup cocoa powder
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 – 3 Tbs milk
2 tsp Amaretto liqueur

Beat the butter with a mixer until light and fluffy.  Add salt and cocoa powder, and slowly stir to combine.  Add the confectioners’ sugar a small amount at a time, mixing in between additions and adding the milk, about a Tablespoon at a time once the mixture starts to stiffen.  Stir in the Amaretto.

* * *

Almond Brickle

1 cup sliced almonds

1 cup sugar
½ tsp salt
¼ cup water

In a skillet over medium heat, toast the almonds just until they begin to turn golden.  Remove to a bowl.  Add the remaining ingredients to the pan, turn the heat up to medium high, and allow the mixture to come to a boil.  Allow the sugar to cook, only swirling the pan on occasion, until it turns an amber color.  Add the almonds.  Pour hot mixture onto a greased cookie sheet and allow to cool completely.  When it is completely cooled, break into small pieces.

I Give You… The Harvey Wallbanger Cupcake

I’ve been working at the same place for 20 years now (someone should really talk to them regarding their practice of hiring 12 year olds).   Back in the day, the highlight of the year was the company Christmas party, which was always done in style (at least inasmuch as this neck of the woods, Oregon allows).  Over time it has devolved into more of a get-hammered-and-lose-fake-money-playing-craps kind of a deal.  And our Christmas party (now dubbed the Spring Celebration) is now held in March.

Anyway…  With all of the catering I’ve been doing, I was asked if I’d be interested in supplying all of the desserts for this little shindig (with roughly 300 people in attendance).  And of course, I said yes.  Never mind that I also help coordinate the thing, so… busy much??

Judging from the fact that there weren’t even crumbs leftover, the dessert table was a big success.  I had mini cheesecakes with three different toppings, key lime parfaits (basically my key lime pie in cup form), a variety of cookies and three types of cupcakes.  There were chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting (always a favorite), Snickerdoodle cupcakes, and a fairly new find.  I ran across a recipe for these and decided to adapt it for cupcakes.  This is a ‘cheaters’ version, since it starts with a boxed cake mix, but you could easily adapt your favorite yellow cake recipe, substituting the liquids you would normally use with the ones here.

I baked these two days before the party and applied the glaze to them, which kept them perfectly moist.  It’s hard to describe the taste of Galliano, but it has vanilla, citrus and spice tones to it.  Don’t think it will ever replace Frangelico in my heart, but it’s not too bad.  Would make an interesting, grown-up snowcone.   Hmm….

Harvey Wallbanger Cupcakes
adapted from Saveur

1 box yellow cake mix
1 small box vanilla instant pudding mix
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
¼ cup Galliano liqueur
¼ cup vodka
¾ cup orange juice

½ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp orange juice
1 tsp Galliano
1/2 tsp vodka

1 8 oz package cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar
½ tsp vanilla
1 Tbs Galliano

Preheat oven to 350°.  In a large bowl, combine the two mixes, oil and eggs.  Mix on medium speed (if using a stand or electric mixer) for about a minute, or until the ingredients are well combined.  Add the liquids.  Turn to medium-high speed and beat for about 3 minutes more.
Pour batter about ¾ of the way up lined muffin tins (this will make about 48 mini cupcakes or 24 regular sized cupcakes).  Bake about 20 – 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Meanwhile, combine the ½ cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp orange juice, 1 tsp Galliano and ½ tsp vodka in a small bowl.  Stir to combine, adding more of the juice if the mixture is too thick.  It should be a runny glaze consistency.
As soon as cupcakes are removed from the oven, poke each several times with a toothpick.  Slowly pour a spoonful of the glaze over each cupcake, allowing to soak in.  Allow the cupcakes to cool (at this point, they can be covered until you’re ready to frost them).

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth.  Slowly add in the powdered sugar, about ¼ cup at a time and mixing in between additions.  Add the vanilla and Galliano.  If the frosting is too runny, add more powdered sugar.
Frost the cupcakes as desired.

Showers and Showers

I knew September was going to be insane, but it truly seemed to go by in a blink of an eye. So cliché, but so true. Many doctor visits, multiple catering jobs, endless car juggling and two baby showers, not to mention trying to get a nursery in order and launching our annual fundraiser at work to buy coats for local school kids.

Needless to say, most of the cooking I did last month was not for me and mine. We ate what I was feeding everyone else.

But it was all good, everyone survived, and here it is October. And insta-Fall here in Oregon. Not two weeks ago we were all complaining marveling at our late September temperatures in the mid to upper 80s. This week it’s raining, and I think we’ll be lucky to hit 60. But I’m not complaining. This is, after all, my favorite time of the year.

I did manage to snap a few frantic pictures and will be sharing those in upcoming posts. For now, I thought I’d share the culmination of our busy month with some photos of O2’s second baby shower. She had one thrown by friends at the theater, and we had it outside in the park. Weather was beautiful. A week later we had another thrown by her best friend, and hosted by a dear friend of mine, as a ‘school friends and family’ kind of a thing (and luckily indoors as it was much chillier, and a little gloomy looking outside).

I wanted to keep the buffet fairly small and simple. Probably a good thing as we had about a third of the people we were expecting. One of my biggest peeves is people who say they’re going to attend something and then never bother to show. They seem to have zero understanding of the time and expense that is put forth on their behalf.

Anyway, I’ll save that rant for another time.

So, the buffet…

These little guys just HAD to make an appearance again, only this time they were sporting binkies and bottles…

We had some really simple umbrellas (as a nod to our ‘showers’), made from Babybel cheese and bendy straws…

I put together another fruit tureen since it was so popular at the first shower, and also a little baby buggy filled with fresh fruit…

And since I needed all of 2 pretzel rods to make the trees for the first shower cake, I opted to use the rest of them here, dip them in white chocolate and roll them in sprinkles…

Rounding out the buffet were cucumber rounds topped with a smoked salmon spread that O2 put together, as well as little canapés topped with the chicken salad recipe I stole borrowed from C after our last ‘dinner extravaganza’ (which I realize I have yet to share). We also had jalapeno popper dip and chips at the mom-to-be’s request. And E made a blue punch that we could float a little duck family in.

And since the cake itself was so popular at the first shower, I thought I’d just make the spice cake portion of it again for this shower, but this time turn it into cupcakes topped with little animal faces, which I have to say were just a blast to make. Fondant is like adult play-doh, I swear.

Spiced Cake
adapted from epicurious.com

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
4 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup whole milk

Sift all dry ingredients (except for sugar) onto a piece of waxed paper, or into a bowl. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350º. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter and sugar. Cream together at high speed about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, until well combined. Alternate adding dry ingredients and the sour cream and milk until everything is incorporated.

Line 2 cupcake pans with liners (24 regular sized). Spoon batter into liners about ¾ of the way full. Bake until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 22 minutes. Allow to cool completely before frosting (I used a cream cheese frosting).