German's Sweet Chocolate Cake

So I learned something tonight. "German Chocolate Cake" is actually "German's Chocolate Cake" due to a dude with the last name German creating the chocolate that goes into the cake. Sneaky!

Either way, it's Jeff's favorite kind of cake. Also it's the cake that was requested for cupcakes at work tomorrow. So I made them.



The recipe is from the German sweet chocolate box, I just made them into cupcakes. Basically I bake them for 15 minutes (my oven is so fast!) and then they are cupcakes instead of a big cake. Convenient! Yummy!

"German Chocolate Cake"
(Makes about 36 cupcakes! Insane!)

1 pkg. (4 oz.) BAKER'S GERMAN'S Sweet Chocolate
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter or margarine
1-1/2 cups sugar
4 egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour, divided
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk
4 egg whites

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Microwave chocolate and water in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1.5 minutes, stirring at one minute. Stir when done. Add sugar; mix well. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating on low speed of electric mixer after each addition until well blended. Add vanilla. Add 1/2 cup of the flour, the baking soda and salt; mix well. Add remaining 1-1/2 cups flour alternately with buttermilk, beating until well blended after each addition.

Whip egg whites until stiff. Fold into the cake mixture. Spoon into cupcake liners. Using dark pans may be the best, as the batter tends to "overfluff" the liners.

BAKE 15ish minutes, depending on your oven. Mine is fast. Cool in pan on wire rack.

Coconut-Pecan Frosting

4 egg yolks
1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
1-1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter or margarine
1 pkg. (7 oz.) flaked Coconut (about 2-2/3 cups)
1-1/2 cups chopped Pecans

BEAT egg yolks, milk and vanilla in large saucepan with wire whisk until well blended. Add sugar and butter; cook on medium heat 12 min. or until thickened and golden brown, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

ADD coconut and pecans; mix well. Cool to room temperature and of desired spreading consistency. I usually let mine sit about an hour before even trying to frost anything.

January Iron Cupcake - Wine

Today I completed my very first baking challenge ever with Iron Cupcake: Earth. January's challenge is "Wine."

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In doing so, I am competing to win the following prizes:

The January ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:

* DOGBONE ART, as well as a pair of cupcake earrings from LOTS OF SPRINKLES.

* PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice - sweet!

As an added bonus for January, our friend at SWEET CUPPIN CAKES BAKERY AND CUPCAKERY SUPPLY will be tossing in another treat as well.

Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS, HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, JESSIE STEELE APRONS, the CUPCAKE COURIER, TASTE OF HOME books. NEW, BEGINNING IN JANUARY; our new friends at UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM will be providing our winner with one of their cute cupcake attitude t's! Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers.

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I did a lot of internet research before I decided what was not specifically a very popular or well-documented type of baking out there. From what I found, champagne cupcakes (or cake) is not that common or at least not well-documented. Unless someone is using cake mix. So, there we went.

They turned out BEAUTIFUL. Note, there WILL BE VOTING. So you should do that. Also if you're interested in Iron Cupcake: Earth, the link is at http://ironcupcake.blogspot.com.




Brut Rose Champagne Cupcakes



3 cups cake flour
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
¾ cup brut rose champagne
3 egg whites
½ cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl and set aside.

In a standing mixer, mix butter until soft. Add sugar and blend until fluffy. Add vanilla and sour cream. Mix on medium-low until blended. Alternate adding dry ingredients with the champagne until blended. If desired, add a teeny bit of pink food gel until you reach the desired color.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold into cake mixture until well-blended. Spoon into cupcake tins and bake 15-20 minutes. Cool.

Prepare champagne syrup while you wait.


Champagne Syrup

1 cup brut rose champagne
½ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Bring champagne to a boil in a small saucepan. Once boiling add the sugar and vanilla, stirring until dissolved. Set aside to cool.

Once cupcakes and syrup have cooled, poke a fork into each cupcake about 4 times. With a basting brush, scoop the syrup and let it soak into each cupcake. Let sit for about 10 minutes.

Brut Rose Champagne Frosting

1 cup softened butter
4-6 cups powdered sugar
¼ cup heavy cream or milk
¼ cup brut rose champagne
2 teaspoons vanilla

Beat the butter until whipped. Add ½ cup of powdered sugar SLOWLY, let mix. Add another cup of powdered sugar. Add the vanilla. Add one-half the milk. Add 2 more cups of powdered sugar. Add one-half the champagne and let mix. Do not add the milk and champagne at the same time or your frosting may (and most likely will) curdle. This is super gross.

Add the rest of your powdered sugar. If the frosting needs more liquid, add the rest of the champagne. If more liquid is needed, you may use the rest of the milk but not until the champagne is well incorporated. Add any food coloring gel desired.

Frost the cupcakes! Decorate! Eat!

Bacon, Gruyere, Olive Bread

So I found a recipe at Chef's Gone Wild for a bread-cake-thing that had many of my favorite things. Meaning olives and bacon. So I made it.



I also added roasted garlic to it, which I thought would be a reasonable addition. I'd actually never used sun-dried tomatoes before and I found them in the bulk bins at the store, which was CONVENIENT.

I like the "bread." It's more like a cake without sugar and then.. well. Non-cakey things in it. I think the next time, I would make it as mini-muffins. It's a bit crumbly. But DEFINITELY good.

Grilled Cheeses of Doom

I can no longer justify a grilled cheese made on sliced bread with American cheese, which I used to consider being the only way to make one or eat it.

These days, it absolutely has to be on sourdough bread. It absolutely needs to have unsliced cheese (until you're ready) and if possible, at least two kinds of cheese.

And then a shake of Italian seasoning and a shake of chili powder. REALLY. Do it.

I read about this somewhere several months ago and started making them this way. It is SO GOOD and SO NECESSARY. Never eat the white bread-plastic wrapped cheese-kind again.

But, oops. I forgot a photo. Next time! :)

Red Velvet Cherry Cupcakes

I generally greatly dislike red velvet and definitely do not understand the fascination with them. Super red flavored cupcakes? Why not blue? Or purple? Plus, I'm pretty sure that the distinct taste of these are because they contain lethal amounts of red food dye.

BUT, I love my friends who requested them and therefore searched for a recipe that I could use. My #1 favorite, Neverbashfulwithbutter has a red velvet cherry recipe that sounded just about right. I took it and altered it a bit for myself as I usually do.. and it came out edible AND good. The cherry flavoring balanced out the weird sour taste of the red velvet, so they were not too weird and not too sweet.

Red Velvet Cherry Cupcakes
(Adapted from Neverbashfulwithbutter's recipe)

1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon red food coloring paste
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 1/2 cups cake flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cherry extract (I used 1/4 cherry candy flavoring)
1 tablespoon maraschino cherry juice
1 tsp almond extract
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Mix in one egg at a time, mixing well after each egg. Add red food paste and cocoa, beating on low until mixed well.

Sift together the flours, salt, and baking soda and set aside. Stir buttermilk, cherry juice, cherry flavoring and almond extract together in a separate bowl. Alternate dry and wet mixtures into the sugar mixture, until blended on low. Mix just until blended. Add sour cream and beat on low until combined.

Fill muffin cups 2/3 full and bake for 18-20 minutes or until the cupcakes done (my oven is often weird). Finish on cooling racks.

This recipe made 30 cupcakes for me, I topped them with pink cream cheese frosting, a pinch of pearl dust and nonpareils.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick softened butter
8 oz cream cheese, softened
4-5 cups of powdered sugar
1/4 cup of milk (I like heavy cream, myself)
1/4 teaspoon pink food coloring paste

Mix butter and cream cheese until blended with a hand or stand mixer. Slowly add in 1 cup of powdered sugar, slowly. Once it's combined, add a tablespoon or two of milk. Add powdered sugar 1-2 cups at a time, until blended. Add a tablespoon of milk at a time to reduce the thickness of the frosting. Add 1/4 teaspoon of pink food coloring paste, blending until completely mixed in. Apply as desired.

:)

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes

I had an inspiration to make chocolate peppermint cupcakes, but not just any! I wanted them to be different.

So I took a vegan recipe, de-veganized it, and added my own twist! They came out really yummy! If you want to keep them vegan, just use soy milk instead of regular milk. Otherwise, it's pretty much the same.

Chocolate Cupcakes

2 cups milk
2 teaspoons vinegar
1.5 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups cake flour (it really matters, it does)
2/3 cup cocoa powder; dutch processed is preferred
1.5 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350. Line cupcake tins.

Combine milk and vinegar and let sit to curdle. Combine sugar, oil and vanilla and let mix. Add milk mixture and beat until foamy. In another bowl, sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add slowly to the wet mixture, beating only until combined.

Pour into cupcake liners, about 2/3 of the way. Bake 15 minutes or so. I made mini cupcakes and it really did take that long. Larger cupcakes may take 18-20 minutes, but I'd keep an eye on them. My oven is actually pretty evil.

Let cool.

Peppermint Candy Ganache

Unwrap all the candies in a bag of candy cane flavored kisses. Melt them slowly over a double boiler, or just really slowly without double boiling. Once they are melted, spoon the candy over the top of the cupcakes as a ganache. Sprinkle with a tiny bit of crushed peppermint candy.

Let the candy cool. Done! Yay!

Making Your Own Pumpkin - Overachiever's Pumpkin Pie

Or "How to Risk Stabbing Yourself".

WOW, cutting pie pumpkins is way harder than I thought. Seriously. The whole time I was envisioning how it would feel to stab myself with the big ass knife I was using.

Anyway! Pumpkins are cut up, scooped out and in the oven.

Recipe for making your own pumpkin:

1. Cut up the top off the pumpkins, halve them.
2. Do not stab yourself. This is harder than you think.
   
3. Scoop out the guts and seeds.
4. Keep the seeds for further roasting.
5. Cut the pumpkins into fourths or eighths.
6. Do not stab yourself.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
   
8. Cool.
9. Scoop out the pumpkin. Throw away the skin.
   
10. Blend, food process, mash.. whatever works best for you.
11. If it's too watery, strain it.
12. If it's too dry, put water in it.
13. Tada!

Well, since I do not currently own a fancy Cuisinart, I used the blender. It did need some water, but it did not come out overly watery. It was in fact, perfect. I loved the richer flavor of the pumpkin. Would totally do it again.

Note to self: Get a bigger, safer knife. Possibly some body armor.