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Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes (Not made with strawberry flavoured gelatin!)

May 10, 2013 by 13 Comments

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes | www.foodiewithfamily.com

I find Mother’s Day a surprisingly difficult subject about which to write. I’ve started and stopped this post at least five different ways. I’m a mother (of five boys, thankyouverymuch) and I’m a daughter, and we’re talking about Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes, so what’s the problem?

The problem is that there as many views on Mother’s Day as there are mothers in the world. Besides that, there is a whole group of folks who think Mother’s Day is a made up ploy to sell more greeting cards. How do you hit the right note for everyone? Short answer: you can’t.

I can’t speak for motherhood as a whole, because I’m just one member of the club, so I’ll just tell you what this holiday (made up or not) set aside to honour moms means to me.

It means…

  • …my kids trying REALLY hard to get along. They try so hard, that sometimes they have to yell at their brothers who forgot to try really hard for a minute or two and were caught sitting on the couch.
  • …tepid herbal tea in bed delivered by a small boy child “who made it himself” with a look of adoration on his face. (My husband usually follows this up with a secret cup of strong black tea. Good man.)
  • …my husband and sons exhort each other to “WORK HARDER FOR MOM!” while attempting to clean the house with military enthusiasm.
  • …offers of fishing complete with promises to bait my hooks for me.
  • …the opportunity to get the first turn at ‘Halo’ first today, even though I’ve never played it before.
  • …baby carrot and dry cereal snacks arranged artfully on plates.
  • …handmade cards with silly drawings on them and a couple of discreet hearts.
  • …the remote control is shoved reverentially into my hands after dinner with an encouraging, “Go ahead! You pick what we watch.”

I feel loved every day of the year by my husband and sons, but watching their efforts to make me feel extra special on Mother’s Day is especially touching. Does it end up being a spa day for me? Oh gosh no, but I figure my imperfect efforts at mothering and their imperfect efforts at showing their appreciation are pretty much the perfect match. This motherhood thing is crazy good.

After many requests for strawberry cake that DIDN’T use strawberry gelatin for pinkness and flavour, I finally got down to business and knocked it out of the park. The solution is thawing frozen strawberries and pressing them through a sieve to release the juices. This strawberry juice is reduced in a pan to make it stronger and then added to a standard white cake recipe. (White cake so no yellow yolks interfere with the gentle pinkness imparted by the strawberry concentrate!) Don’t pitch those strawberry solids that were left in the sieve, though! Whip those into the frosting! Granted, you won’t have a perfectly smooth frosting, but how can you go wrong with little bits of strawberry laced through your frosting? That all sounds good already, right? I didn’t leave it alone, though… I opted to make these cupcakes Strawberry Lemonade by adding lemon extract to both the cake batter AND the frosting. The result was a tender, mildly strawberry and mildly lemon cake with rich strawberry lemon frosting studded with tiny pieces of  REAL strawberry.

Strawberries for Strawberry Lemonade cupcakes | www.foodiewithfamily.com

It’s not WHIZZBANG strawberry like a cake mix would give you, but then a cake mix rarely tastes like real strawberries and lemonade as these cupcakes do.

Before I drop this most wonderful cupcake recipe in your lap, I want to offer a little prayer for all the mothers out there this weekend.

May you have the vision to enjoy every stage of motherhood.

May you have the chance to unwind, appreciate your blessings, and may a famished rabbit hop by to help you eat all of your baby carrot appetizers.

May the coffee or tea you are served in bed be as strong as the love and admiration your family has for you.

May the hands that offer you a cupcake be covered with honest dirt and not something worse.

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes | www.foodiewithfamily.com

Happy Mother’s Day, friends.

XO Rebecca

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Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes (Not made with strawberry flavoured gelatin!)

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes (Not made with strawberry flavoured gelatin!)

These light and fluffy Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes use only real strawberries (no flavoured gelatin mixes!) to provide the pretty soft pinkness and delicate strawberry flavour they deliver. The strawberry lemon buttercream topping them is studded with real strawberries, too!

Ingredients

    For the Cupcakes:
  • 1 pound frozen strawberries, microwaved just long enough to get them thawed and juicy
  • 16 tablespoons (2 sticks or 8 ounces, by weight) butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 3/4 cup (12 1/4 ounces by weight) granulated sugar
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon lemon extract
  • 5 large egg whites
  • 2 3/4 cups 11 ounces, by weight) cake flour (you can substitute all-purpose flour, if necessary)
  • up to one cup whole milk
    • For the Strawberry Lemon Frosting:
  • 1 stick (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces by weight) butter, softened to room temperature
  • 4 cups (1 pound, by weight) powdered sugar
  • The strawberry solids left from the cupcake recipe, mashed thoroughly with a potato masher or pastry blender
  • up to 6 tablespoons of whole milk
  • 2 teaspoons lemon extract
    • Optional:
  • Fresh strawberries for garnish

Instructions

To Make the Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes:

Put a fine-mesh sieve over a heavy-bottomed saucepan, pour in the strawberries, and press the strawberries to release as much juice as you can. Put the saucepan over medium high heat and bring to a boil. Stirring frequently, reduce the strawberry juices until you have about 1/3 to 1/2 of a cup and it is darkened and thick. Pour those into a liquid measuring cup and add enough whole milk to bring the level to 1 cup. Use a fork or small whisk to combine the two until even. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a batter paddle, or in a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer, cream together the butter, baking powder, sugar, salt and lemon extract until light and fluffy. Add one egg white at a time to the butter mixture and beat well after every addition, scraping down the bowl as needed.

Add 1/3 of the flour to the butter mixture. Mix until evenly combined, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, then add 1/3 of the strawberry milk and mix until even. Repeat this process until you reach the final addition of strawberry milk, which should be stirred in by hand to prevent overmixing.

Prepare 24 cupcake liners (either free-standing on a pan or in cupcake/muffin tins). Scoop batter into the cupcake liners until each is about 2/3 full. Tap the pan on the counter once or twice to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Carefully turn the finished cupcakes out onto a wire rack and let cool completely before frosting.

To Prepare the Strawberry Lemon Frosting and Frost the Cupcakes:

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or a mixing bowl with a handheld electric mixer) beat the butter on high until it is light and fluffy. Gradually add in the powdered sugar until incorporated. Then, with the mixer on high, beat in the strawberry solids, lemon extract, and the milk -1 tablespoon at a time- until the buttercream is light and fluffy. Use an offset spatula to smear the buttercream on the cupcakes or load it into a pastry bag with a big tip to pipe on the frosting.

If desired, garnish finished cupcakes with whole or sliced fresh strawberries.

Store leftover cupcakes covered lightly in the refrigerator.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2013/05/10/strawberry-lemonade-cupcakes-not-made-with-strawberry-flavoured-gelatin/

Filed Under: Cakes, Desserts, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , ,

Zombie Apocalypse Tres Leches Cake | Chocolate Tres Leches Cake

November 14, 2012 by 5 Comments

Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be zombies. Isn’t that how the song goes?

Something like that, yes?

My eldest baby is just about to turn fifteen. It’s kind of freaking me out a little bit. I hit major freak out territory when I realized -thanks to his observation- that he’ll be old enough to vote in the next presidential *CHOKE* election *HACK*. I’m sorry. It’s just kind of giving me respiratory distress to think that this sweet little chubby boy I birthed is not only nearly old enough to vote, but is only a year away from driving. (Another of his observations, thankyouverymuch.) Eek!

I’m going to fan myself for a minute. Or get some smelling salts. Do they sell smelling salts any more? I kind of think they should come standard issue for mothers of sons.

The aforementioned son had a few of his best and biggest friends (because WHEN did they all get taller than me? Salts. Gimme my smelling salts.) over to celebrate ahead of time. The guys had a few simple requests.

  • Food. Lots of food. Mostly Cheddar Tailgating Bread, please.
  • They wanted to watch Napoleon Dynamite and Inception.
  • More bread? Maybe more than one loaf per person?
  • They wanted an epic Nerf battle.
  • They wanted cake.
  • They wanted to play Zombie Apocalypse.

I was all in ’til they got to the last part and said, “What?” Zombie Apocalypse, it was explained to me, was pretty much just tag. Well, except that it had to be after dark and the one who was it pretended to be a zombie and eat others’ brains turning them into zombies and thereby… Blah blah blah. That’s where I tuned it out. I asked a the only question I could think of other than ‘why?’ , “Does anyone actually get hurt?” They assured me no one’s brains were actually eaten in the process, so I gave it my stamp of approval and started baking a cake.

Chocolate Tres Leches sounded about right to me. My plan was to hit it with a little chunky strawberry sauce before plating. I got a little distracted by the  screams of horror from the faux zombies inmy front yard while I was blending the strawberries with the other ingredients, though, and ended up with a silky smooth puree. Those Vitamixes are super efficient.

When the Zombie Apocalypse was finished, the newly minted un-dead came in for the cake.

As I drizzled the strawberry sauce over the cake, someone remarked, “HEY! That looks like BLOOD!” and thus, Zombie Apocalypse Tres Leches was born.

Clearly the zombies hadn’t been satisfied by their recent brain feast, because I got exactly zero pieces of the cake before they polished it off.

Nine out of nine zombies agree, this cake is better than brains.

 

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Zombie Apocalypse Tres Leches Cake | Chocolate Tres Leches Cake

Zombie Apocalypse Tres Leches Cake | Chocolate Tres Leches Cake

This chocolate tres leches cake is decadent devil's food cake topped with chocolate pudding, whipped cream and drizzled with a smooth and punchy strawberry sauce.

Perfect for special occasions and birthdays for your favourite zombies.

Ingredients

    For the Chocolate Cake:
  • 1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup dutch process cocoa powder
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups evaporated milk (can substitute whole milk if necessary)
  • For the Good Stuff on Top:
  • 3 cups of your favourite chocolate pudding (I use a double batch of Nana's Spanish Style chocolate pudding.
  • 3 cups heavy cream
  • 3 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
    • For the Zombie Apocalypse Strawberry Sauce:
  • 1 pound frozen strawberries, partially thawed
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Instructions

To Make and Bake the Cake:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grease and flour a 9-inch by 13-inch by 2-inch baking pan.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a batter blade, or with a hand mixer in a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, salt, baking soda, and vanilla until it is fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, stopping the mixer and scraping down the sides after each addition.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour and cocoa powder until no lumps remain. If you can't whisk out the lumps, push it through a sieve or sift it.

Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture to the contents of the mixing bowl. Beat it in on medium low until no dry pockets remain. Add 1/3 of the milk and beat until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue adding the flour and milk alternately, mixing until combined and scraping down the sides of the bowl each time. The last addition should be milk. Mix just until evenly combined.

Spoon the cake batter into the pan. Smooth the top of the batter and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cake pulls away from the edges of the pan a bit and a skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the cake cool in the pan on the rack completely before proceeding.

When cake is cool, use a skewer or chopstick to poke holes all over the cake. Pour the pudding on top of the cake, cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the cake and let it soak for at least an hour but up to overnight before proceeding.

To Make the Zombie Apocalypse Strawberry Sauce:

Put the partially thawed berries, granulated sugar and balsamic vinegar together in the blender and blend on high until smooth. Store in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator until you're ready to serve the cake.

To Top and Serve the Cake:

When ready to serve, whip the heavy cream, confectioner's sugar and vanilla extract together until you reach soft peaks. Spread the whipped cream over the cake evenly. Cut the cake into pieces of desired size. Drizzle individual servings with the Zombie Apocalypse Strawberry Sauce.

Store leftovers tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/11/14/zombie-apocalypse-tres-leches-cake-chocolate-tres-leches-cake/

P.S. Don’t feel too badly for me. I made another one and ate a third of it by myself.

Filed Under: Cakes, Desserts, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: , , , ,

Chocolate Nutter Butter Cake

October 31, 2012 by 16 Comments

For years I had that thin, “shatterproof” tableware because I thought it was easier to care for, cheaper, and whatnot. Over the years, I realized -with the help of my built in high stress advanced material test laboratory that I call my five sons- that those things weren’t shatterproof. Or break proof. Or even remotely capable of standing up to five very energetic and twitchy little boys. Not only were they not sturdy, but they seemed to be built to explode into a million pieces like a Mission Impossible assignment when giving up the ghost.

I carried on, though, because they were dishwasher safe and I already had them on hand. Well-meant gifts of the stuff from people who were weeding it out of their own cabinets kept me going for years although I was becoming disillusioned after cleaning up a bajillion shards of soup/yogurt/spaghetti sauce/ice cream coated, microscopic, razor sharp daggers of shatterproof dishes. Because honestly? Those things never broke when empty and dry. They almost invariably had the messiest most splashy contents to enrobe the little beastly foot jabby bits of glass. I told you we were an advanced materials testing lab.

Yeah. Traumatized? Noooo. Not me. (She says while cradling her poor scarred feet and rocking back and forth.)

A couple of years ago, I slowly but surely started pitching the other tableware: aided by the fact that they kept exploding in the most not-delightful way and replacing them with something ANYTHING other than what I’d had. Salvation Army stores became my haunting grounds. I didn’t care if NOTHING on my table matched… It was better than what I’d had before.

Then, oh mercy, I discovered the joys of pottery. What was mere admiration has grown into a full-fledged fixation that is nudged along by my friendship with a honest-to-goodness potter: Staci Curry of Firefly Pottery in Angelica, New York. Her stuff is beautiful, whimsical, colourful, STURDY, pretty, oven, microwave and dishwasher safe. Did I mention sturdy? Oh Staci… You’re my hero. I want to live in the show room of the store she shares as part of the Three Clay Sisters (including Mud Puddle Pottery and Creek Bed Pottery).

Staci recently made a guh-huh-huh-huh-hooooorgeous cake plate for me. Naturally, I had to make a cake worthy of being on that fabulous cake plate to break (ohdearmedon’tbreak. DON’T BREAK.) it in properly. It had to be an epic cake for an epic cake plate. Enter the Chocolate Nutter Butter Cake… inspired by my perty new cake plate.

Super moist chocolate cake layered and topped with a truly majestic amount of… wait for it… PEANUT BUTTER CREAM CHEESE BUTTERCREAM. It combines crunchy peanut butter (for texture and flavour) AND cream cheese AND butter AND heavy cream. Mmmmmm. It’s so indulgent I almost kind of sort of feel like I should apologize. But then I take a little fingerful (or a paw full) of the frosting and that little spark of worry that was showing disappears in a eye-rolling-to-the-back-of-my-head, fluffy, creamy, sugar rush…

Whether you have a fabulous cake plate or not, though, I want you to make this cake. Nay, I INSIST you make this cake if you have one ounce of cake love in your body. I might go so far as to say it’s the best cake I’ve ever made in my life.

Seriously.

I think I did this cake plate proud.

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Chocolate Nutter Butter Cake

Chocolate Nutter Butter Cake

Super moist chocolate cake layered and topped with a truly majestic amount of... wait for it... PEANUT BUTTER CREAM CHEESE BUTTERCREAM. It combines crunchy peanut butter (for texture and flavour) AND cream cheese AND butter AND heavy cream. Mmmmmm. It's so indulgent I almost kind of sort of feel like I should apologize. I would, but my mouth is full of frosting.

Ingredients

    For the Chocolate Cake:
  • 1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup dutch process cocoa powder
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups evaporated milk (can substitute whole milk if necessary)
    • For the Frosting:
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
  • 1 stick butter (8 tablespoons), softened to room temperature
  • 3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter (if you want super smooth frosting, use creamy peanut butter)
  • 1 tablespoon real vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 to 2 pounds (6 to 8 cups) powdered sugar
  • 2-4 tablespoons heavy cream
  • For Garnish:
  • 15 Nutter Butter Cookies, crushed
  • 1 package Reese's Miniature Peanut Butter Cups

Instructions

To Make and Bake the Cake:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grease and flour three 8- inch round cake pans.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a batter blade, or with a hand mixer in a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, salt, baking soda, and vanilla until it is fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, stopping the mixer and scraping down the sides after each addition.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour and cocoa powder until no lumps remain. If you can't whisk out the lumps, push it through a sieve or sift it.

Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture to the contents of the mixing bowl. Beat it in on medium low until no dry pockets remain. Add 1/3 of the milk and beat until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue adding the flour and milk alternately, mixing until combined and scraping down the sides of the bowl each time. The last addition should be milk. Mix just until evenly combined.

Divide the cake batter evenly between the three pans. Smooth the tops of the batter and bake for 25-35 minutes, or until the cake pulls away from the edges of the pan a bit and a skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the cakes rest in the pans for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

To Make the Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Buttercream:

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, or in a mixing bowl with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese, butter, peanut butter and vanilla extract on HIGH until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Add the powdered sugar to the mixture and combine, starting the mixer on low and stopping it a couple of times until most of the sugar is moistened to prevent a big pouf of sugar. Again, beat on HIGH until smooth and combined. Turn off the mixer and add 2 tablespoons of the heavy cream. Beat on high until smooth. If you want thinner frosting, add more cream, 1 teaspoon at a time.

To Frost the Cake:

Lay 1 of your cakes on a cake plate or large platter (make a square of 4 pieces of parchment paper to lay your cake on to keep the plate clean while frosting if you want.) Add about 3/4 to 1 cup of frosting to the middle of the cake and spread to the edges. Lay another cake on top and repeat with the frosting. Lay the final cake on top and go to town with the rest of the frosting. Spread it thickly over the top and sides. Rim the cake top with mini-Reese's peanut butter cups then sprinkle the crushed Nutter Butters into the center.

Remove the parchment, if you used it, and refrigerate for an hour or so before slicing.

Enjoy!

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/10/31/chocolate-nutter-butter-cake/

Filed Under: Cakes, Comfort Food, Desserts, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: , ,

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake

October 18, 2012 by 8 Comments

I’m not sure where the time went, but my fourth born just turned nine a couple of weeks ago. I’m a little freaked out by it, honestly. Seemingly overnight, he went from a teensy little bundle of squirmy boy to this:

WHAT?!? Are you kidding me? This little guy -or big guy, I should say- of mine is as easy on the heart as he is on the eyes. Sweet, kind, considerate and slow to anger is my boy. Don’t get me wrong; he’s plenty spunky. He’s a total stinkpot. This is the boy who in one day sat on the couch crying a little because he loves dogs so much and “kind of wants to be one” and wanted five more dogs (in addition to the three we already have) then five minutes later gave his baby brother an impromptu and unasked for haircut.

He’s my little drummer boy. He’s a wild man. He doesn’t walk; he bounces.  One time my little sister said, “Can you imagine what great shape we’d all be in if we acted like Leif all the time?” She then tried for five minutes before giving up exhausted.

Remember Leif Ericson, the Viking? Do you also remember his nickname was Lucky Leif? Maybe it’s something about the name… This Leif of mine is THE four-leaf clover finding champion. As in, every time he goes out into our yard and there’s no snow cover, he finds at least five or six of them. There’s been a time or two that he’s found them even when there WAS snow. He finds them in other people’s yards. This is my Lucky Leif.

I like him.

I’ll keep him.

When asked what he wanted as his birthday cake, he exclaimed, “STRAWBERRY CAKE! With that chocolate shiney stuff!” Yes, sir. I’d do anything for you, you sweet little wild child. Well, except get another dog. That’s out. Sorry. The cake though? No problem.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Lucky Leif.

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Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake

This festive, fun, moist strawberry cake is covered in rich dark chocolate ganache. It's like a chocolate covered strawberry truffle!

Ingredients

  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 (3 ounce) package of strawberry flavoured gelatin mix
  • 1 cup butter, softened to room temperature
  • 4 eggs, room temperature
  • 2 3/4 cups cake flour
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 cup whole milk, room temperature
  • 1 cup strawberry puree made from frozen and thawed strawberries
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • butter and flour for the pan
    • For the Ganache:
  • 1 pound dark chocolate chunks (or chopped dark chocolate)
  • 2 cups heavy cream

Instructions

To Bake the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Generously butter and flour two 8-inch or 9-inch cake pans. Set aside.

Cream together the butter, sugar and dry strawberry gelatin until light and fluffy using a stand mixer or hand mixer. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine the flour and baking powder in a mixing bowl with a whisk. In a measuring cup, blend together the strawberry puree, milk and vanilla extract.

Add about 1/3 of the flour blend to the butter and beat in, scraping down the sides after mixing it in. Add about 1/3 of the strawberry mixture and mix in. Repeat with the flour then strawberry mixtures until done. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.. Cool the cakes in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Gently turn the cakes out onto the wire rack to finish cooling completely before icing with the ganache.

To Make the Ganache:

Put the chocolate chunks or chopped chocolate into a heatproof bowl. Pour the heavy cream into a small saucepan over medium to medium high heat until bubbles form around the edges. Pour the cream over the chocolate and let sit, undisturbed, for 5 minutes. Use a whisk to stir gently in one direction until thick and glossy. Remove the whisk and place the bowl, uncovered, in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes, stirring and scraping the edges every couple minutes, just until thickened enough to spread instead of pour.

To Assemble the Cake:

If necessary, level the cakes by trimming off any domed top.

Place one cake round on a cake plate. Scoop about 3/4 cup of the chocolate ganache into the center of the cake. Spread gently over the cake to the edges. Center the second cake over the first one. Spread the remaining ganache over the top and sides of the cake.

Let stand long enough for the ganache to firm up. This can be sped up by placing the cake in the refrigerator.

Store uneaten cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. It tastes best if served at room temperature.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/10/18/chocolate-covered-strawberry-cake/

Filed Under: Cakes, Desserts, Recipes Tagged With: , ,

Pumpkin Cake with Maple Frosting and Apple Cider Caramel

September 18, 2012 by 23 Comments

Fall.

Autumn.

It’s just around the corner. As in, it’s four days away. Could you pardon me for a moment?

(FALLFALLFALLFALLFALLFALLFALL YAY! WAHOO! WHOOPWHOOPWHOOP! Zippity hippity hoppity doo dah! YEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!AU-TUMN! Uh huh, uh huh, uh huhuhhuhuhhuh. Happy DANCE! )

Um, thank you. I kind of needed to get that out of my system. I wait from February fifteenth (there’s something so romantic about snow on Valentine’s Day) to -oh, say- September twenty first of every year to get to fall. I love pumpkins and apples and squash and brightly coloured leaves and crisp air and apple crisps and oh my gosh… I just love everything about it.

I love drizzly, cold days and grey skies. I love driving down the road and seeing all the pumpkins for sale. I am passionately insane over winter squash. Butternut squash makes me swoon. Pumpkin. Pumpkin makes me flip my lid. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin custard, little bitty pumpkins stuffed with rice and sausage, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin ravioli, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin soup. I’m like the Benjamin Buford Blue (a.k.a.the Bubba in Bubba Gump) of pumpkin.

I could eat pumpkin in just about any form, but my favourite is dessert. There’s something about pumpkin desserts that bridge that savoury/sweet line with such ease. It’s a vegetable so it almost feels like desserts made from it are health food. Hoo-yeah.And this cake I’m about to show you today… It has a vegetable and a fruit. That’s so healthy it’s almost disgusting.

It’s everything autumn; super moist pumpkin spice cake with a maple sugar glaze and apple cider caramel. Rawrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Just look at this.

 

Can you guess how long that cake lasted at our house? I can’t give you an exact time, but I can tell you it was less than twelve hours and probably less than eight. Time is a little fuzzy. We were kind of on a bit of a pumpkin high…

There’s a bonus -as if the cake wasn’t good enough by itself- the apple cider caramel portion of the recipe makes more than enough for the cake. In other words, you have some apple cider caramel leftover. In other other words, EXTRA CARAMEL for more cakes later or for drizzling on oatmeal or stirring into coffee or tea or hot cider or over ice cream or just plain on a spoon.

Oh gosh, I so love fall.

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Pumpkin Cake with Maple Frosting and Apple Cider Caramel

Pumpkin Cake with Maple Frosting and Apple Cider Caramel

Super moist pumpkin spice cake -redolent with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves- topped with a silky smooth maple sugar frosting and drizzled with tangy, sweet apple cider caramel. This is pure fall!

Ingredients

    For the Cake:
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix) or homemade pureed pumpkin
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature
    • For the Maple Frosting:
  • *Note: If maple sugar is not available, substitute dark brown sugar for a brown sugar frosting.)
  • 1/2 cup maple sugar
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 3 tablespoons milk (preferably whole milk)
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
    • For the Apple Cider Caramel:
  • 1/2 cup Boiled Cider Syrup also available through Amazon.com or King Arthur Flour
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 4 tablespoons of butter, cut into four pats

Instructions

To Make the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Grease a bundt pan with oil or non-stick cooking spray then flour the pan. Tap out the excess and set the pan aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the batter blade (or in a bowl with an electric mixer) cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides and add the eggs, one at a time, blending and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. When the eggs are fully incorporated, blend in the pumpkin and vanilla. It may look curdly and horrid, but that's okay! Keep going!

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour with the rest of the dry ingredients. Add about 1/3 of the flour to the butter mixture and blend until incorporated. Add 1/2 of the buttermilk and blend in completely. Repeat with another 1/3 of the flour and blend. Finish mixing the batter by adding the final 1/2 of buttermilk, mixing, then adding the final 1/3 of flour.

Spoon the cake batter into the prepared bundt pan, gently smooth the top and bake the cake for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the thickest part of the cake comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly with your finger.

Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let rest for 5 minutes before carefully turning out onto the rack to cool completely. While the cake cools, make the caramel...

To Make the Apple Cider Caramel:

Bring the boiled cider syrup and brown sugar to a boil over medium heat. Boil for 3 minutes. Whisk in the heavy cream and return to a boil. Boil for 2 more minutes then drop the heat to low. Add the butter one pat at a time, whisking it in until it's fully incorporated. When all of the pats of butter have been added and incorporated, pour the hot caramel into a clean pint jar, reserving any excess for drizzling over the cake. Let cool completely before drizzling on the cake.

To Make the Maple Frosting and Assemble the Cake:

Bring the maple sugar, butter, and milk to a boil, whisking constantly. Boil for 1 minute, still whisking constantly. Remove the pan from the heat and add the vanilla extract. Be careful, it will boil up!

Gradually whisk in the powdered sugar. Continue whisking it gently until smooth, cooled slightly and thick, about 3-5 minutes.

Place the cooled cake on a cake plate or serving platter and immediately pour warm maple frosting over the cake. Let the frosting rest for 5 minutes, then drizzle with the apple cider caramel.

Store leftovers, well covered, at room temperature for up to 3 days.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/09/18/pumpkin-cake-with-maple-frosting-and-apple-cider-caramel/

 

Filed Under: Cakes, Desserts, kid food, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Brownie Cake with Nutella Peanut Butter Frosting

August 21, 2012 by 18 Comments

Salty sweet. Salty sweet. Salty sweet. Salty sweet. Salty sweet.

Despite the prevalence of desserts here on Foodie With Family, I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. I think that is why I’m so picky about my desserts. When I DO want a sweet, I don’t want just any sweet. I want the best.

Oh, hi. I’m high maintenance on desserts. There are certain things that are almost guaranteed to make me happy: dark chocolate, Nutella, and peanut butter or any combination thereof.

During a rare attack of my sweet tooth last week, I turned to one of the fastest ways to satisfy; I made brownies. They weren’t just any brownies, though, oh no. They were THE brownies. The fail-safe, fool-proof, can’t-mess-’em-up brownies I’ve been making for years. I’ll tell you know, they’re cakey. I kind of think of them as brownie cake rather than br-ow-nies. Brownies are, to me, just this side of fudge. And I don’t know what possessed me, but this brownie cake that I’ve made so many times and left plain? I had to go and frost it. Simply had to do it. I was compelled.

Into the stand mixer went butter, Nutella and peanut butter. Because, well, I don’t know. Because I could? Whatever the reason was, I’m awfully glad I did it because I ended up with the fluffiest, Nutella-y-est, peanut buttery-est frosting ever to get licked from the bowl. I grabbed ye olde offset spatula and put an entire batch of the frosting on the big brownie.

Then thought to myself, “EGADS. That is going to be sweet. SALT! I’m going to put salt on it.” A little shower of Maldon sea salt flakes later, I sat down in front of the cutting board and cut off a corner of the now frosted and salted brownie cake to take a bite.

Have you ever had salt with your chocolate? Do you know what it does to you? There is a scientific reason behind why it is do dadburned good. Salt makes your taste buds wake up and take notice of what it rides in on. When you put salt on chocolate, the chocolate tastes more chocolatey. You know that’s a good thing.

I do have one little bit of warning, though. Don’t make this when you’re going to be home alone. Just don’t. Not that I ate too much of this by myself… But hey, if you’re in the neighborhood, maybe you could roll me out to my pilates mat?

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Brownie Cake with Nutella Peanut Butter Frosting

Brownie Cake with Nutella Peanut Butter Frosting

This fool-proof, fail-safe, crowd-pleasing, deep-chocolate brownie cake is topped with fluffy Nutella and peanut butter frosting and then sprinkled with Maldon Sea Salt flakes.

Ingredients

    For the Brownie Cake:
  • 4 ounces (4, 1oz squares) unsweetened baker's chocolate, chopped
  • 2 sticks (8 ounces or 16 tablespoons) butter
  • 2 cups raw sugar (can substitute granulated white sugar if necessary)
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 cup (4 1/4 ounces by weight) all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
    • For the Nutella Peanut Butter Frosting:
  • 1 stick (4 ounces or 8 tablespoons) butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1/3 cup Nutella
  • 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
  • 1 pound (4 cups) powdered sugar
  • 2-4 tablespoons whole milk or heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
    • For Serving:
  • Maldon Sea Salt Flakes

Instructions

To Make the Brownie Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9"x13" baking pan with foil and spray lightly with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

Unwrap and add the 2 sticks of butter and the chopped chocolate to a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Place the pan over very low heat and stir until the butter is melted and the chocolate is almost completely melted. Remove from the heat and stir until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Pour into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a batter blade (or a mixing bowl in which you can use an electric hand mixer.) Add the sugar and mix on medium until combined.

Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

In a separate bowl, quickly whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add it to the mixer all at once and mix on low just until combined and there are no more dry pockets. Pour the brownie batter into the prepared pan and tap the pan on the counter two or three times to even it out.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or just until the center is set. Do not overbake! Remove the pan from the oven and let the brownies cool completely in the pan.

Use the foil to help you transfer the brownie cake from the pan to a cutting board. Carefully pull the foil from under the brownie cake.

To Make the Nutella Peanut Butter Frosting:

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, blend the softened butter, Nutella, and peanut butter on high until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and start and stop the blender a couple of times to prevent a POOF of powdered sugar from flying into the air. Once you're sure you're in the clear, turn the mixer to high and blend until it is even. Pour 2 of the tablespoons of milk or cream and the vanilla extract while the mixer is running. Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix on high again until smooth and fluffy, adding some of the additional milk if necessary.

Frost the cooled brownie cake. Cut into squares and sprinkle with Maldon Sea Salt Flakes -grinding them between your fingers over the frosting- just before serving.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/08/21/brownie-cake-with-nutella-peanut-butter-frosting/

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Breakfast Foods, Cakes, Chocolate, Comfort Food, Desserts, kid food, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Earl Grey Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream

August 10, 2012 by 26 Comments

 

Last week was a beautiful, fantastic whirlwind.

My house was filled with out-of-town family members who had converged to celebrate the wedding of my baby brother, Luke, to the woman of our, er, his dreams, Elvi.

Luke is a poet and I do not mean that esoterically. He’s an actual poet. He’s finishing up his master’s degree in poetry this year and I am not referring to limericks.

Elvi is an artist and I don’t mean that figuratively, either. She’s a working multi-media artist who does incredible things. Everything she does looks like art, even passing communion…

If you’re thinking that the wedding of a poet and an artist would be a feast for the senses you’d be one-hundred percent right, but of all the magical things there were on that day the most wonderful of them all was the love radiating from Luke and Elvi.

Gosh, I love these two so much.

Their car did not cooperate with the wedding plans. It you-know-what-ed the bed in a big way just a couple days before the ceremony. Did they let that get ‘em down? No way! My little sister and her boyfriend led a contingent of little kiddles in decorating the happy couple’s  bikes so they could ride away in matrimonial style. Off they went into the Buffalo sunset for a celebratory wedding coffee, seltzer cans rattling and streamers snapping behind them…

I think Luke summed up all our feelings with one victorious little hand gesture.

You know it, little brother. Welcome to the family, Elvi, we like you more than ice cream. I know you know that’s big…

~~~~~

So why the cupcakes? Yours truly was in charge of baking, decorating and bringing the wedding cake.

The wedding cake presented some -how to say it, ah yes- big challenges. Namely, it didn’t behave well but that’s a story for another day. Also, my children -shockingly- were not willing to give up eating for three days for me to perfect the cake. So selfish, those children.

In short, the cake was made, but the Earl Grey Cupcakes that were planned as “dessert insurance” (in case the cake went too quickly) were tossed onto the “good idea but not do-able in time” pile. Instead, I drank all but one batch’s worth of the tea-infused milk and just got around to making the cupcakes yesterday. What? Noooo. I didn’t do that on purpose so that I could eat a whole batch of cupcakes by myself. I’m not that kind of girl. On Thursdays.

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Earl Grey Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream

Earl Grey Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream

These lightly Earl Grey flavoured, super-moist cupcakes are topped with a fluffy lemony buttercream. Serve these for afternoon tea or as an elegant dessert.

If you want to amp up the Earl Grey presence a little more, you can use some of the chilled, infused milk in the buttercream in place of the heavy cream.

Ingredients

    Ingredients for Earl Grey Cupcakes:
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 5 Earl Grey tea bags
  • 1 cup butter, at room temperature
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • Ingredients for Lemon Buttercream:
  • 1 stick (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces by weight) butter, softened to room temperature
  • 4 cups (1 pound, by weight) powdered sugar
  • 6 tablespoons heavy cream or chilled infused Earl Grey whole milk
  • 2 teaspoons lemon extract

Instructions

To Make the Cupcakes:

Pour the milk into a heavy-bottomed saucepan with a tight fitting lid. Scald the milk (heat until it is steaming and many tiny bubbles have formed in the milk around the edge of the pan. Add the tea bags, remove the pan from the heat and put the lid in place. Let the milk cool to room temperature like this. When the milk is cool, squeeze the excess liquid from the tea bags and discard them. Measure one cup plus 2 tablespoons of the cooled infused milk and reserve the rest.

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a mixing bowl with an electric hand-held mixer) beat together the butter and sugar until lighter in colour and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat well.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter/egg/sugar. Beat on low just until combined. Add about 1/3 of the infused milk that you measured. Again, beat just until combined, scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl and repeat -flour, milk, flour, milk- until both flour and milk are completely incorporated.

Line 24 muffin/cupcake wells with cupcake liners and spray lightly with non-stick cooking spray. Fill the liners about 2/3 full of cupcake batter.

Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until they spring back when pressed lightly or a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.

To Make the Lemon Buttercream:

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or a mixing bowl with a handheld electric mixer) beat the butter on high until it is light and fluffy. Gradually add in the powdered sugar until incorporated. Then, with the mixer on high, whisk in the cream or infused milk and the lemon extract until the buttercream is light and fluffy. Use an offset spatula to smear the buttercream on the cupcakes or load it into a pastry bag with a big tip to pipe on the frosting.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/08/10/earl-grey-cupcakes-with-lemon-buttercream/

 

Filed Under: Cakes, Comfort Food, Desserts, Holiday Food, kid food, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With:

Whole Cherry Clafoutis (Cherry Custard Tart) | Classic French Dessert

July 13, 2012 by 12 Comments

Plrb.

That’s the genteel version of ptooey. Which is what you’re inevitably going to have to do if you eat a clafoutis whilst in France. This brings me, rather quickly, to two very important points.

  1. Clafoutis -for the benefit of those who haven’t yet had it- is seriously good stuff. It’s a warm or room temperature custardy dessert that is usually studded with fresh fruit, usually cherries. It’s kind of a big deal in France.*
  2. In the aforementioned Belle France, cherry clafoutis are usually made with whole fruits. Translation: they leave les pits in les fruits.

*As in a really big deal. Clafoutis is to France as apple pie is to the U.S.A.

And this is why the spitting. As an American, born and raised, I was unaccustomed to cherry desserts avec pits. I was used to having the pits removed before they reached my plate and ploughing through cherry pies at lightning speed. Thankfully, a kind soul was aware that most Americans didn’t eat pit-intact cherry desserts and warned me, otherwise, I could’ve become intimately acquainted with the dental system in France. While I’m sure it’s a wonderful system, I’m really okay with not knowing it from the inside.

Why would you want to leave the pits in when you could remove them and be done with the whole thing? There are actually two very good reasons. (Today’s post brought to you by the number Two!)

  1. Leaving the pit in the cherries preserves the beautiful round shape of the cherries as they bake. It’s visually appealing.
  2. The cherry pit -believe it or not- brings a lot of flavour to the party. It contributes a subtle hint of almond. This is where the bells and chimes ring out. Yes. Cherry and almond. The pairing is not an accident! If you leave the pits in place, you don’t have to add almond for that classic flavour combination.

Negotiating the pits while eating dessert is not as disconcerting as you might think, speaking from personal experience. When the cherries cook in the custard-like batter, the pits free themselves from the fruit. As you bite down, the pits tend to slip right out of the cherries and you can tuck them into your cheek to be discreetly plrb-ed or ptooeyed (depending on the company) into a napkin or into the spoon and then deposited in a small bowl next to the dessert plate.

While cherries are still at their peak of availability, try a whole cherry clafoutis. Put a little Edith Piaf on the stereo. Throw in a Gallic laugh for good measure. And do summer like the French do: with style and great taste.

P.S. These are, like most custard-based tarts, at their very best when served fresh and at room temperature. They are quite good, though, cut into wedges when cold.

 

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Whole Cherry Clafoutis (Cherry Custard Tart)

Whole Cherry Clafoutis (Cherry Custard Tart)

A simple, creamy, custard-based classic French dessert made with fresh cherries. Enjoy with a generous dusting of powdered sugar.

Ingredients

  • 1 pound of fresh, sweet cherries
  • 3 large eggs, room temperature
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup whole milk (DO NOT SKIMP ON THE FAT. You will regret it bitterly.)
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • soft butter
  • powdered sugar, for serving

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350°F.

Remove the stems from your cherries, but leave the pits intact. Generously butter the sides and bottom of a deep pie plate. Scatter the cherries as evenly as possible over the bottom of the pie plate. Set aside.

Vigorously whisk the eggs until they are frothy.

Add the sugar, salt and vanilla and beat well again with a whisk until the sugar is incorporated. Whisk in the milk and cream. Sprinkle the flour over the surface and -once again- beat enthusiastically with the whisk until you have a perfectly smooth batter. Let the batter rest for 5 minutes at room temperature then pour over the cherries in the prepared pie plate.

Bake the clafoutis for 40-50 minutes, or until puffy and golden brown in the center (but still jiggly) and darker brown at the edges. A knife, when inserted in the center of the clafoutis, should come out clean. It may be damp, but it should not have uncooked egg clinging to it.

Let the clafoutis cool in the pan on a cooling rack until it is barely warm to the touch or room temperature. Dust the clafoutis generously with powdered sugar and serve in wedges with a small bowl or napkin for the pits.

Store tightly wrapped leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/07/13/whole-cherry-clafoutis-cherry-custard-tart-classic-french-dessert/

Filed Under: Breakfast Foods, Cakes, Comfort Food, Desserts, Eggs, Happy Healthy and Wise, kid food, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars, Uncategorized, Vegetarian
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