homemade hostess cupcakes

I made these today for the school bake sale, and I have to say, they came out just how I wanted! They looked just like Hostess (fauxstess, I suppose) cupcakes, and they tasted even better (no chemicals!).

They had shiny chocolate ganache glaze...

Reasonably well-piped swirls (I only piped 7 swirls, but rumor has it the official ones have 8)...

And just the right amount of creamy, marshmallowy, sweet filling.

Although these are not hard to make, they are a multi-step project, which kind of flies in the face of my "dirty as few bowls as you can" philosophy. So I took some liberal short cuts and I don't regret them one bit. In fact, I'll share them with you.

1. To fill the cupcakes, I just poked the round tip in my icing bag straight into the cupcake and gave a little squeeze. No coring the cupcake, cutting out divots. Just straight in. You can't over-fill 'em, though, or the filling will ooze right out the top and you'll crack the cupcake, making it difficult to coat them smoothly with ganache. So go easy with the piping bag, and then let them sit for a few minutes. If the filling oozes up, just use a small offset spatula to scrape away the excess gently. (And if you eat it, I won't tell.)

2. I didn't wait at all for the ganache to set up. I find it easier to dip the cupcakes right away when the ganache is nice and thin and runny. If the coating isn't thick enough, either dip it briefly again, or dab on a bit of extra ganache and smooth it over with the offset spatula. If you work relatively quickly, you'll get them all dipped before the ganache has thickened too much. If it becomes difficult to work with, a few seconds in the microwave and a quick stir will make all right with the world again.

3. And this is the really big tip... I used the same filling mixture to pipe the curlicues on the tops of the cupcakes. (Gasp!) Since you can't fill the cupcakes that much anyway, there is plenty of marshmallow mixture left. Just transfer it to a piping bag with a smaller round tip. No need to make a different frosting. It's white, it pipes easily, and you've already got it made.

See? Easy peasy!

I used my usual chocolate cake recipe (1/3 of the recipe, which is very easily divisible by 3, made 15 cupcakes). I made sure not to overfill the cupcake tins since I didn't want huge, domed cupcakes. I wanted them relatively small and flat on top, which worked out well.

I borrowed the filling recipe from Brown-Eyed Baker. Some recipes online call for making your own filling from scratch, while this one uses Marshmallow Fluff as a base. Folks, we're making a snack cake here. I don't think it's really a problem to borrow a little Marshmallow Fluff. If you are really insistent, you can follow a marshmallow recipe and stop at the point it resembles fluff.

And ganache is ganache. 1:1 chocolate to cream. Heat the cream until it's quite hot, and little bubbles form around the edges, but don't let it boil. Pour the hot cream over the finely chopped chocolate, let it sit for a minute or so to melt the chocolate, and then stir it gently until it comes together into a satiny, glorious glaze. For 15 cupcakes, I used 3 ounces of chocolate (2 ounces of 72% bittersweet and 1 ounce of semi-sweet chocolate chips; all bittersweet was a bit too bitter for me) and 3 ounces of cream.

Basic instructions:

1. Make cupcakes.
2. Cool completely.
3. While the cupcakes are baking, make filling. Place in piping bag with a medium round tip (maybe 1/4" across). Brown-Eyed Baker suggests refrigerating it, but if you're going to use it right away, this is not necessary.
4. Poke the tip straight into a cupcake. Give a little squeeze (not too much!). You'll feel the cupcake expand in your hand and get a little heavier. Let it sit for a second to see if the filling oozes out. If so, fill the next cupcake a little less. If there's a gaping hole, give it a tiny bit more filling. You just want the top to be smooth and flat.
5. Make the ganache.
6. Coat the cupcakes with ganache. Working with one cupcake at a time, hold it by the bottom and dip it straight down into the ganache. Twist it to the left and to the right, and then lift it out and let the excess drip off. Check your work. Is the whole top of the cupcake covered, up to the edge of the paper? If so, good job. If not, use an offset spatula to add a dab of ganache and smooth it. Repeat with remaining cupcakes. If needed, reheat the ganache in the microwave for a few seconds (<10 and="" li="" stir.="">
7. Chill cupcakes in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.
8. Transfer remaining marshmallow filling to a piping bag with a #3 tip (small round tip). Pipe curlicues across the top.
9. Refrigerate until shortly before serving. It's nice if they come back to room temperature so the filling is soft!

Marshmallow Filling

1 cup Marshmallow Fluff

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup (2 ounces) powdered sugar

Beat the marshmallow fluff and butter on medium speed until soft and light, about 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and add the powdered sugar. Once incorporated, increase the speed to medium and beat for another 1-2 minutes, or until very light and fluffy.

Enjoy at a bake sale or any old time!

twin sweet 16

One of our favorite babysitters up and did what babysitters everywhere are wont to up and do: she graduated from high school, moved 3000 miles to go to college, and stopped babysitting for us (except when she's in town - whew!). We still love her, though, and when she texted me to ask if I would make not one, but two cakes - one each for her twin siblings' 16th birthday - of course I said yes. Her brother and sister have very different interests, and so I was asked to make Cassy a cake that had something to do with soccer and Bubba a cake that related to one of his favorite video games, Assassin's Creed. Both cakes were the same size, marble cake, with vanilla frosting, but otherwise, they looked pretty different! Gilly was flexible with how I interpreted her themes, and she was super excited to treat her baby brother and sister to separate cakes to celebrate their big day. (We traded cake for babysitting, and I think I may have gotten the better end of that deal! :-)

Here's what I came up with for Bubba: I made a round cake with the Assassin's Creed logo on the top, but instead of the roman numeral for a particular edition of the game, I substituted XVI for 16.

For Cassy, I decided to make the cake a soccer ball. I baked it in a bowl (which takes forever since it's so deep! just keep baking it until it's done and have faith.) and gave it the number 16 even though I think her jersey number is actually 9. Cutting realistic-looking pentagons out of fondant and placing them properly so all the join lines would align was a pretty big challenge. Let's just hope no one tried to drop-kick the thing since it probably wasn't to scale (and it definitely wouldn't bounce).

I used Absolutely the Best Yellow-Chocolate Marble Cake, which suited the twins' tastes. Vanilla frosting complemented it perfectly (I would have preferred chocolate, myself, but I don't think soccer balls usually come in brown).

I was so happy to help Gilly surprise her brother and sister on their big day. I know they had a great celebration. Now I'm just waiting for finals to be over so we can see our favorite sitter again!

Happy birthday, B and C!

Print marble cake recipe.
Print vanilla frosting recipe.

thin, chewy chocolate cookies

I am trying to get caught up on blogging about a few different cakes I've made recently. But I thought I'd pop in quickly with a note about these thin, chewy, chocolate cookies. Remember when I made gingersnaps with way too much molasses, and they were super thin and chewy? These are like the chocolate equivalent. I love how thin they are, but mostly I love the crunch of the sugar baked into the edges. Plus, they're chocolatey and bendy and you feel virtuous eating a lot of them because they don't seem too indulgent. A commenter on The Pioneer Woman once talked about shipping cookies stacked in a clean Pringles can, and these cookies would be outstanding in that capacity. (Name that movie... go!)

I found the recipe on Shauna's site, Piece of Cake (she's the author of Pure Vanilla, which I've been dying to check out! The vanilla bean cupcakes on the front would woo any sweet tooth.) The recipe is apparently adapted slightly from Martha Stewart, and it's all ingredients you'd have in the house, which makes this recipe a slam-dunk for when you need cookies, pronto.

Thin, Chewy Chocolate Cookies
Makes about 4 dozen

2 cups (8 1/2 ounces) flour
3/4 cup (2 1/4 ounces) cocoa (use good quality cocoa if you can!)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt (or 3/4 teaspoon fleur de sel)
1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups (14 ounces) sugar
2 eggs
granulated sugar or sanding sugar for dipping

Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat together the butter and vanilla until creamy, about one minute. Scrape down the sides and add sugar and eggs. Beat until light and fluffy, about two minutes more. Reduce the speed to low and gradually stir in the dry ingredients until just combined. You don't want any dry pockets. I find it helpful to cover the mixer with a dish towel during this process to avoid cocoa flying everywhere. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silpats. Scoop the dough by level tablespoons and roll each into a ball. Dip the top of each ball into sugar to coat, and then place the balls (sugar side up) on the cookie sheet, about 1 1/2" apart. Bake one sheet at a time. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the cookies are set, but still soft in the middle. Rotate the sheet halfway through baking. You'll see the cookies will puff up and then deflate; they'll be done about a minute after they deflate. (To be honest, I don't remember rotating the sheets, but maybe I've forgotten.)

Cool cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, and then remove to a wire rack to cool. Cookies keep for about a week in an airtight container, and you can freeze them as well.

Print recipe.

dad's 70th birthday lemon cake

My very awesome dad turned 70 this week! I realized this means I've been blogging for more than 5 years, since we celebrated his 65th with a lemon cake and a party. Lemon is still my dad's favorite dessert flavor, so this birthday celebration was no different: we invited lots of cousins over for the afternoon, brought in BBQ from Jay-Bee's on the median strip, and ate lemon cake (with lemon/vanilla bean frosting and filled with lemon curd).

My cousin Amy asked why I didn't make a cake shaped like a bottle of hot sauce, since my father is well-known for his love of all things spicy. I honestly hadn't even thought of it! Clever girl. The flowers may not have been the most manly-looking cake, but I had fun piping them from candy melts. The centers of the flowers are sugar pearls.

I got to try a few other new things with this cake. The cake recipe is Flour Bakery's recipe (printed online here), which my friend, Mary, says is her very favorite yellow cake recipe. Naturally, I had to try it! I added lemon zest and swapped out about 1/4 cup of the buttermilk for fresh lemon juice, and voila! Lemon cake. I actually thought it was delicious. Very sturdy - it held up to being torted and filled and frosted. The cake did not have any of the cornbread texture that yellow cakes often seem to. The flavor was mild, and the crumb was nice. I will probably try just the plain vanilla version again soon so I can really taste it.

For the filling, I used the tried-and-true lemon curd recipe I've made before. It is so smooth, and the silkiness of the butter mellows the tart lemon flavor. I made it without lemon zest this time and therefore didn't have to strain it.

The frosting was the biggest difference: I had a lot of egg whites leftover (from all that lemon curd!) and decided to make a half-batch of Swiss meringue buttercream. It is really rich and buttery and speckled with vanilla bean. However, I actually think it is too rich and buttery on cakes. As I did with my sister- and brother-in-law's wedding cake, I mixed about 40% of the "good" buttercream with regular bakery frosting. It tames the overwhelming sugary taste of the bakery icing but doesn't leave your mouth feeling like you've rubbed it with a stick of butter. (Also, to make it lemony, I reduced the amount of milk in the frosting and added some lemon juice.) I actually really like the pale ivory color of the frosting as well as the vanilla speckles (like you get in really good vanilla bean ice cream), though if you wanted a pure white frosting, you'd want to use vanilla extract instead of vanilla bean.

I made a 10" cake, and I cut it wedding cake-style (made a ring, two inches in from the edge, and then sliced it. So there was a 6" center left that everyone kept slicing away at. The cake sat out for an hour or so following dessert, and then I put it in the fridge to firm up before re-wrapping it for the night. Apparently, when my mom went back later to wrap it, she discovered that all the layers had oozed and slid in different directions! Oh well. They stacked it back up and it was none the worse for wear - taste-wise, that is.

Flour Bakery's Yellow Cake

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups (14 ounces) sugar

3 eggs

3 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups (12 ounces) cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and flour two 8" round cake pans. (You could also use 9" or 10" - just adjust the baking times. You may also line the pans with parchment and/or spray with baking spray with flour.)

Cream the butter and sugar together for 3-4 minutes, or until light and fluffy. (This will take 8-10 minutes with a handheld mixer; using a stand mixer cuts down the time significantly.) Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle to ensure everything is mixed evenly.

Whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla. With the mixer on low, pour the egg mixture into the butter mixture. Mix until just incorporated, scrape down the sides/beater again, and then beat for another 20-30 seconds until the mixture is homogeneous.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low, add 1/3 of the flour mixture, mixing until just combined. Add half the buttermilk, again mixing until just barely combined. Repeat with another 1/3 of the flour, the rest of the buttermilk, and finally, the rest of the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and mix again briefly, just until the mixture is combined. Do not overmix. The batter will be thick and almost fluffy. (Original directions suggest adding the last third of the flour and folding it in by hand, using a rubber spatula. This avoids overmixing.)

Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans and gently smooth the tops with a rubber spatula or offset spatula.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and the cakes spring back when pressed in the middle with a fingertip. Cool completely in the pans. (I didn't actually read this - I typically cool my cakes for 10-15 minutes in the pan and then turn them out onto a cooling rack. I didn't notice any problems with this.)

You can frost and layer the cakes once they're cool, or you can wrap the layers tightly in plastic wrap and store them in the freezer to up to a week. Thaw them, still wrapped, at room temperature, and then frost and assemble the layers.

My notes:

To make this into a lemon cake, add the zest of two lemons. Reduce the buttermilk to 3/4 cup and add 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice.

One recipe of cake made a 2" tall, 10" round cake. I made two full layers (made the recipe twice) and torted them, and the resulting cake, once filled and frosted, was well over 4" tall. In the future, 1 1/2 recipes' worth would probably do for a more modest cake.

Happy birthday to my lovely dad!!!

Print yellow cake recipe.

Print lemon curd recipe.

Print vanilla bakery frosting recipe.

Print Swiss meringue buttercream recipe.

hot cocoa cookies

Did you know there's a difference between hot chocolate and hot cocoa? I never once thought about it until I listened to this episode of Spilled Milk, but it totally makes sense! Hot chocolate? Is made with chopped chocolate melted into hot milk. Hot cocoa, on the other hand, is cocoa powder and sugar and milk, heated together. Both delicious, but totally different.

Call these cookies whatever you want. They have both melted chocolate and cocoa in them, a piece of chocolate pressed into the top of the hot cookie makes it literally ooze chocolate, and they're topped with a melty marshmallow. So they have all the key elements of both hot cocoa and hot chocolate. Best served warm, they are decadent and chocolatey and delicious.

Look how yummy:

See how gooey those marshmallows are?

Let's give it a closer look.

Now really close. See that melty chocolate?

The recipe was originally from Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine.

Hot Cocoa Cookies
60 cookies

24 1/2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, divided*
1 stick unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups (6 3/8 ounces) flour
1/4 cup (3/4 ounce) cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups (8 3/4 ounces) brown sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
30 marshmallows, cut in half

Chop 12 ounces of chocolate. In a medium saucepan, melt butter and 12 ounces of chocolate, stirring frequently, over low heat. Let cool for 10-15 minutes. (You can use the microwave if you prefer; heat for a minute, stir, and microwave again if needed in 30-second bursts.)

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

Using a mixer, beat the sugar, eggs, and vanilla at low speed until smooth, about two minutes. Mix in the cooled chocolate mixture until just blended. Add the flour in two batches, mixing on low speed until just combined. Refrigerate the dough for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 325F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silpats. Scoop the dough into 1" balls. Arrange 16 balls on each cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Flatten slightly. Bake until the tops of the cookies crack, about 10-12 minutes.

While the cookies bake, snip 8 marshmallows in half crosswise. Use 7 1/2 ounces of the remaining chocolate and break it into squares. Stick one square of chocolate onto each of the cut sides of the marshmallows.

Remove the cookies from the oven and gently press a marshmallow half, chocolate side down, into each cookie. Return to the oven and bake another 3-4 minutes, until the marshmallows are just softened. (They don't want to burn, or even really turn golden.)

Transfer the pans to racks to cool for 5 minutes. Grate some of the remaining chocolate over the hot cookies. Use a spatula to remove the cookies to racks and cool completely.

Repeat with remaining dough, marshmallows, and chocolate. If using parchment, you may need to bake each batch on a clean sheet of parchment.

The cookies are good warm, so the chocolate and marshmallows are a little gooey. Heat for a few seconds in the microwave or toaster oven before serving.



*It is helpful to use thin chocolate bars for pressing into the cookies. Trader Joe's has 3-packs of small chocolate bars that work nicely. For the melted chocolate and the grated chocolate, you can also use chocolate chips or thicker chocolate bars. Rachael Ray suggests 7 chocolate bars, 3 1/2 ounces each.

Print recipe.

cucumber and carrot pickle

Total departure from sweet to savory, but I was provoked when my daughter (who is a good eater, but would not readily be described as a vegetable fiend) asked me to make "that coleslaw I like with carrots and cucumbers." She's talking about this:

Homemade carrot and cucumber pickles, inspired by Matthew and Molly's Spilled Milk Podcast on Banh Mi. In that episode, they made their own banh mi sandwiches, complete with awesome (and insanely cheap) baguettes, meat, veggies, seasoning like nuoc cham (basic Vietnamese dipping sauce) and jalapenos, and these pickles. For me, the star of the episode, and of many subsequent Asian-themed dinners in our house, has been these pickles. When you marinate and grill thinly-sliced bulgogi, and serve it with rice, these pickles go perfectly. When you make BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, the pickles go right on top of the pork, under the top bun. They are fresh, crunchy, vinegary, and just a little sweet. Since you're making them yourself, you get to control the flavors from top to bottom. I'll bet you could even spice them up with some jalapeno or red pepper flakes or chili oil.

They take 10 minutes to make, they last a month, and they're great for munching. So. Good.

Spilled Milk borrowed the recipe from Andrea at Viet World Kitchen. I never have daikon on hand, and I'm not as familiar with it, but I almost always have cukes. The little, skinny Persian cucumbers work well here, or English hothouse cucumbers; I prefer either of those, with their small seeds and thin skin, to conventional cucumbers. 

Cucumber and Carrot Pickle (adapted slightly)

Makes about 1 quart jar

3 small or medium carrots, peeled and cut into thick matchsticks

3 Persian cucumbers, seeded and cut into thick matchsticks

1 teaspoon table salt

2 teaspoons plus 1/2 cup sugar (divided)

1 1/4 cups white vinegar

1 cup lukewarm water

1 quart jar

Place the carrots and cucumbers in a bowl. Sprinkle with the salt and 2 teaspoons sugar. Use your hands to knead the vegetables for about 3 minutes, expelling the water from them. They will soften, and liquid will form at the bottom of the bowl. Knead until the carrots are fairly bendy. The vegetables will lose about 1/4 of their volume. Drain in a colander, rinse with cold running water, and press gently to expel extra water. Return the vegetables to the bowl to hold.

In the jar, combine 1/2 cup sugar, vinegar, and water. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Add the vegetables to the jar. It should be most of the way full and the brine should cover the vegetables. Marinate for at least 1 hour before eating. Eat the same day or keep, refrigerated, for up to a month. The vegetables will get tired after that. 

Variations:

- add pickled shallots

- use daikon instead of cucumber

- alter the ratio of sugar to vinegar to make a sweeter brine

chocolate chocolate chip biscotti

On Sunday, I hosted a challah-baking class at my house, and it was a blast! Everyone had a good time and was really excited with their results. Each student turned out a gigantic, 3-strand or 4-strand braided bread. I felt really comfortable talking through what to do and how to do it, and I was even able to share some of the scientific lessons I learned in Pro Baking (e.g., why to use a particular flour with a particular protein content) and some of my skills from years of baking (e.g., how to knead and braid the dough).

While we waited for the dough to proof, which is has to do twice, we whipped up batches of chocolate chip-pecan mandel bread. Mandel bread are a traditional Jewish cookie, similar to biscotti in that they are twice-baked. I tend to think of mandel bread as more crumbly, and biscotti as crunchier, but that may have to do with the particular recipe and baking time.

I had not made biscotti until a couple of years ago, but my husband all of a sudden became a coffee drinker and started buying the chocolate-dipped biscotti at Trader Joe's. In fact, I had sort of been anti-biscotti because I associate them with anise flavor (which I hate). But guess what? Biscotti come in all flavors, with all sorts of options for mix-ins, and anise is not a pre-requisite! So I decided to learn to make them as a surprise.

I found this great recipe for chocolate chocolate chip biscotti on The Italian Chef. They have just the right amount of crunch and bite. Sometimes I put dried cranberries in half (though my kids cannot be fooled). They are just the right amount crunchy, but not too hard. The chocolate flavor comes through really nicely. And I love the extra grittiness on my tongue from the sugar sprinkled on top. (I actually prefer granulated sugar to sanding sugar in this recipe.)

Chocolate Biscotti (adapted slightly)
Makes 3-4 dozen

4 eggs, divided
1 cup (7 ounces) sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (you can use up to 1 teaspoon, but I find that too strong)
2 1/4 cups (9 5/8 ounces) flour
3/4 cup (2 1/4 ounces) cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (4 1/2 ounces) chocolate chips)
1/2 to 3/4 cup dried cranberries (optional)
sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350F and line two baking sheets with parchment. (I prefer parchment to a silpat because you are going to slice the cookies after the first bake, right on the cookie sheet. You don't want to slice through the silpat!)

In a large bowl, whisk together 3 of the eggs and the sugar until light and fluffy. Whisk in melted butter and almond extract until combined.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Stir into the egg mixture, and then fold in the chocolate chips and dried cranberries, if using.

Divide the dough into fourths. Using 1/4 of the dough, drop by large spoonfuls into a line on the cookie sheet to form it into a log. I prefer the log to have a bit of height (not be too wide). Dampen your hands slightly so the dough will not stick to them, and form the dough into a smooth log. Repeat with another portion of the dough on the same cookie sheet, and form two more logs on the second cookie sheet. Beat the remaining egg in a small bowl and brush the tops of the dough very lightly with egg; sprinkle generously with sugar.

Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes. Spray lightly with a water bottle to make them easier to cut. Use a sharp knife (or a serrated knife) to cut each log diagonally into slices. I usually cut them about 3/4" thick, but you can do them thinner or thicker depending on how you big you like your cookies. Separate the cookies slightly to let the air surround them evenly. Return the cookie sheets to the oven and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, depending on how hard you like your biscotti.

You can easily halve (or double) this recipe, and the biscotti freeze very well. Store in a sealed container at room temperature for several days; up to a week if they last that long!

Print recipe



I'm very satisfied with this recipe for traditional, crunchy biscotti, though I received a new challenge: the chewy deliciousness of fig biscotti from a special bakery in New York... this is a texture unlike any I've tasted before. They have areas of crunch with soft chewiness - almost cakey - from the large bites of fresh or dried fruit. Delicious, and a conquest for another day...

delicious new challah recipe

I am so excited! This weekend is a first for me: I am teaching my very first cooking class! It's actually part of a fundraiser for my kids' school - I am hosting a challah baking class, and my four students' "tuition" is a donation to the school. I have wanted to host a Party Book party for a while, but the formerly-shy person in me was nervous, so I decided to start small. I will be teaching a group of 4, as that is all the oven space I have. I know that baking with yeast can be intimidating to people who don't bake too often, so I thought it would be fun to share some knowledge with friends and get them comfortable with a new skill. Because baking bread takes so long, I'm planning a secondary baking project while the dough rises (mandel bread!), and we'll eat lunch while our bread bakes. It should be a really fun, challenging morning, and I am so looking forward to it.

Although my family challah recipe is delicious, I was really captivated by the new recipe I learned in my Pro Baking 1 class at the New School of Cooking. It is soft and just a touch sweet and eggy. Kind of like good, bakery-made challah. I've only made it the once, but I knew I wanted to try it again for the class. The picture is not gorgeous - it was taken on the work table during class - but the bread was fabulous!

I'm not sure if sharing the New School's recipes is on the up-and-up, so I will not post it here, but let me know in a comment if you are interested. I'll follow up to share if the class goes well!

chocolate bundt cake with chocolate glaze

I have made this chocolate bundt cake from Joy the Baker twice, and it really is delicious. It's a perfect dinner party cake. Dressy enough for company but not at all fussy. It makes for great leftovers. And with the exception of the sour cream, I typically have all of these ingredients in the house. I'd imagine plain Greek yogurt (or even vanilla) would be a reasonable substitute, for that matter.

Doesn't it get your mouth watering?

These pics are from the second time I made the cake. I think the frosting is so thick because I let it sit longer before frosting the cake, and it thickened as it cooled. However, I actually like the look (and taste!) of the thick frosting; it reminds me of the Creative Cakery bundts we ate growing up. 

The first time I made the cake, I poured the frosting on when it was still pretty warm (though the cake had cooled completely). It pooled in the center (not a bad thing, certainly) and covered the cake in a thinner, even layer. I liked it this way, too. More like a Texas sheet cake in bundt form, I suppose.

Here you can see how moist and dense the cake is. Sooo good with a glass of very cold, skim milk (or a cup of coffee, if you like that sort of thing). 

One thing that was weird/disappointing: the frosting was gorgeous and glossy when I first applied it. As directed, I kept the cake at room temperature covered under a cake dome. When I removed the cake dome, the frosting had lost its glossy sheen. I was so disappointed! The second time I made the cake, I served it the same day I made it, so it didn't have a chance to dull. It didn't affect the taste at all, but I thought it looked prettier shiny. Also, I quickly realized that I really needed to sift the powdered sugar - a step I often skip completely or substitute with whisking - but in this case, it's easy to end up with tiny lumps of powdered sugar that don't completely absorb into the frosting, and I didn't like how that looked.

All in all, this cake is easy and delicious, and I would absolutely make it again for company or just to have in the house!

The Best Chocolate Bundt Cake with Chocolate Glaze (from The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook)
Makes a 10" bundt cake

Cake:
1 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon brewed coffee
3/4 cup (2 1/4 ounces) cocoa powder
2 1/4 cups (15 3/4 ounces) sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon buttermilk
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/8 cups) canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (11 1/8 ounces) flour, sifted

Glaze:
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
3 cups (12 ounces) powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1/4 cup brewed coffee, cooled

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F and place oven rack in the center of the oven. Grease and flour a 10" bundt pan and set aside.

Put brewed coffee and cocoa powder in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Remove from the heat and let come to room temperature.

Using the stand mixer with the whisk attachment, mix together sugar, salt, baking soda, eggs, and egg yolk on low for about 1 minute. Add buttermilk, oil, and vanilla, and mix on low for another minute. Add the flour and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add the cooled cocoa mixture and mix on medium speed for 3 minutes. The batter will be very runny.

Pour into the prepared cake pan. Bake for 1 hour or until a cake tester inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool the cake completely in the pan and then invert it onto a cooling rack.

When the cake is getting close to cool, make the icing. Chop the chocolate into small pieces and set them in a medium-sized bowl over a pot of barely simmering water. Melt the chocolate slowly and remove from the heat when all the pieces are melted. Melt the butter separately, and then whisk it into the melted chocolate until thoroughly incorporated. Mix in half the powdered sugar. Add the sour cream and whisk to combine. Stir in the rest of the powdered sugar and whisk until smooth. The glaze should be thick and shiny. Add the coffee and whisk to create a glossy frosting.

Pour the glaze over the cake. If it is thinner, it will cover the cake completely. Thicker frosting may just cover the top and inch its way down the sides. It's great either way. Store the cake at room temperature until ready to serve.

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coffee-caramel bars (should have been coffee-toffee bars)

One of my favorite, old, not-sure-where-I-got-it recipes is for Coffee-Toffee Bars.* The odd thing about this, of course, is that I hate coffee. But I like these the way I like Coffee Heath Bar Crunch Ice Cream, which is to say, sometimes I make exceptions for the right flavor combo. The taste of coffee doesn't overwhelm the bars, and it complements the toffee nicely. The bars are thin (baked in a jelly roll pan), a little chewy, but with a little snap, and they are covered in a thin layer of chocolate.

This particular day, I had no toffee chips**, but I did have caramel bits. I wondered if they would be as good a complement to the coffee and chocolate flavors, so I substituted them.

Truthfully? It didn't work quite as well. Whereas the tiny toffee bits integrate well with the batter, the caramel remained very separate, and the pieces hardened once the bars cooled. They were not at all chewy, and I didn't like the textural contrast of the bar and the caramel. I also missed the nuttiness of the toffee flavor. Not a substitution I'd make again.

* When I went to grab the recipe, I searched through my recipe box and couldn't find it... Then I realized it is in one of the cookbooks I have had the longest: Cookies: A Cookie Lover's Collection. Whoops!
** And for what it's worth, I think I'm in a fight with Heath Bits (with or without chocolate). Every package I open smells rancid to me. From now on, I'll chop up some Heath or Skor bars rather than using pre-packaged.

Here's the original recipe:

Coffee-Toffee Bars
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules (I'd probably substitute espresso powder)
1 teaspoon hot water
2 cups (8 1/2 ounces) flour
1 cup (7 ounces) brown sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 ounces toffee chips (I'd probably substitute chopped Heath Bars or Skor)
2 cups chocolate chips
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted (optional; I've never used them)

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large mixing bowl, combine instant coffee and water. Add flour, brown sugar, butter, egg, baking soda, and salt, and mix together until combined into a soft dough. Stir in toffee bits. Spread into an ungreased 10x15" jelly roll pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove from oven, sprinkle evenly with chocolate chips, and bake for one more minute. Remove from oven and use an offset spatula to smooth the melted chocolate evenly across the bars. Sprinkle almonds evenly over (if using). Cool and cut into squares.

brave cake with swirl/tie-dye frosting

I have a favorite new way of frosting a cake with colored frosting, and I've been dying to post about it! I first saw it on Sweeatpolita's site, and I think it is brilliant. (Especially for someone who went to Berkeley and sleepaway camp and has a lifelong, though suppressed, love for tie-dye.) Rosie calls it a "swirl" cake, and I think it goes well with all the ombre cakes out there now. Essentially, you spackle on different colors of frosting rings around the sides of the cake, and then use an offset spatula to smooth them, which subtly blends the colors together. Like so:

And here's how it looks on the side of the cake itself. This is two shades of blue, one of which is also on the top of the small layer, plus white, plus three shades of green. Subtle, but I love how it looks!

Now, to tell you what this cake is actually all about... it's a Brave cake! A preschool friend of Boy-o's just turned 6, and she wanted a Brave cake. Her mom wanted to buy the cake toppers (phew! didn't have to sculpt Merida and a horse out of fondant) and I decided to put them on a green cake to look like the hills of Scotland, with a blue sky.

I built a tree out of fondant.

With a zillion tiny leaves of fondant.

Aren't they cute?

I purposely kept the frosting a little rough to give it a hilly texture and to prevent the colors from getting too integrated. Use your imagination: close your eyes and think of Scotland. It's refreshing not to have to get the frosting perfectly smooth, and I think I could have made it even more textured.

The cake was chocolate inside, and I kept the filling frosting white because I think it looks a little garish to open up a cake and find it filled with green or turquoise frosting. I pressed drinking straws down through the base layer, underneath where the top layer was going to sit, then snipped them off just above the height of the cake. This makes a nice support for the top layer to sit on without sinking into/squishing the bottom layer. It was such a hot day that some of the frosting did stick when we removed the top layer, so I know I made the straws a little too short, but I am always afraid if I make the straws too tall, the top layer will slide off. To hide where the layers join together, I just spackled on a little more green frosting and smoothed it out.

The birthday girl loved the cake, as did a friend of hers... I ended up making a second one for a different birthday girl a few weeks later! Happy 6th birthday, E, and thanks for giving me a chance to try out this new way of frosting!

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A's first birthday aquarium cake

At the end of November, my youngest niecelet turned one. The whole family had been together for Thanksgiving in Southern California, and the next weekend, we turned around and drove up north to celebrate A's big day. Lucky me, I got to make the cake! (Cupcakes, too... more on that in a minute.)

The party did not have a particular theme, but I thought it would be fun to make an aquarium: fondant fish and kelp; blue, swirly frosting to look like water; and Rainbow Nerds around the bottom of the cake for the pebbles. With a little extra fondant, I made a fondant initial "A" on the top. Very simple and fun!

I liked this big, fat fish the best. The one on the far right was yellow with purple stripes, which was pretty cool, too. (I laid strips of purple fondant on top of the yellow, then rolled them flat with a rolling pin, incorporating the colors and creating stripes. Then I cut out the fish freehand.) I actually thought the kelp was really fun, too. I made all the fondant pieces ahead and brought them to northern CA with me, so I wasn't exactly sure how big to make everything (since I baked the cake there). I approximated, and it worked out fine.

I also kept the cupcakes simple. Purple frosting, and half had confetti sprinkles and the other half had fondant A's in a variety of colors with contrasting-colored fondant polka dots. I liked the continuation of the theme with the polka dots and confetti sprinkles. Coincidentally, the party decorations had dots, too!

Cupcakes and cake were both chocolate (naturally - my sister's and my favorite, so we have to introduce A early on!), and we used vanilla frosting so we could tint it as needed.

The birthday girl did not dive face first into the cake, but she ate some, led by her big sister. Not only that, we had cake at her naming ceremony the night before the party (chocolate, as well!) so it was a sweet, delicious weekend of treats and family fun.

Happy first birthday, A! 

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this is the year of 40

I turned 40 this year, and a lot of my friends have turned 40 this year as well.

Not long ago, I was honored to make a Tiffany box cake for a family friend's wedding shower. This 40th birthday cake was for the same family. The birthday boy's big day fell on the night of his stepbrother's rehearsal dinner. (They have a big family.) Here's the funnier story: our parents had been friends for years, and Jason and I went to college together but had never met. Maybe because there were 35,000 students and we didn't study the same subjects. They constantly bugged us to look one another up, which of course, we resisted. (Do we ever listen to our parents?) Junior year, I moved into an apartment, and Jason and four or five of his friends ended up living immediately downstairs from my three roommates and me in this converted Victorian house with an insane landlord. We may or may not have illegally spliced cable out the window of the second story. (Hey - it was the '90s - we couldn't miss BH 90210!) Of course, Jason and his friends turned out to be really fun to hang out with, and I am glad we finally met.

Cut to 2012, and we're all old.

Jason's dad and stepmom asked for the same flavor profile as his sister-in-law's shower cake: chocolate cake, filled with chocolate buttermilk frosting, covered in ganache, and then covered again with fondant. They requested it be shaped like a 40, recommended silver and black for the colors, and left the rest up to me. I decided to go with an abstract, geometric design edged with a little bit of red to tie it together.

I started with two, 9x13" cakes and parchment templates for a 4 and a 0. Because I was going to cover them with fondant separately before putting them on the half-sheet board, I also cut out cardboard templates to put directly under each cake. I torted the cakes (cut them into three layers), stacked them unfrosted (so they wouldn't wiggle around), laid the paper templates on top, and carefully cut out the shapes. They are pretty easy shapes to cut, but you still have to be careful to keep the knife straight and go slowly. A serrated knife works well here. Once the layers were cut, I frosted in between them. I had to be a little careful transferring the 4 because it had small edges I didn't want to break. Once the two cakes were filled, I stuck them in the fridge, which made the cakes sturdier and easier to work with. I didn't want them to get too cold because then the ganache would harden more quickly, but I also didn't want the layers to slide around.

Next, I covered each cake with ganache. It is super nice to work with because it goes on so smoothly. Just to be safe, I did a very sheer crumb coat, and then applied a slightly thicker layer. This just ensured the whole thing was nice and smooth. I also wanted the edges of the 4 to be fairly sharply defined.

Once the ganache set, it was time for the fondant. One cake at a time. This is the part that always makes me most nervous! I eased into it with the 0, which was more straightforward. To figure out how big the fondant needs to be, I measure the length and width of the cake, add inches for the height on either side, and then add another inch or so for good measure. So if your cake is 8x12" and 3 inches high, the fondant would be about 15-16" wide by 19-20" high. It takes a surprisingly big block of fondant to roll out that big! I wanted to be careful it wasn't too thick or too thin. Too thick, and it doesn't look great; too thin, and the fondant can tear and be hard to work with. I aim for about 1/4", but really I'm just approximating.

With the cakes covered, I transferred them to the half-sheet board. I kept enough space between them that I could maneuver between to apply the silver fondant (actually, grey fondant that I painted with luster dust, mixed with a little vodka, to make it shiny). I laid strips of grey on top of the black, made sure I had them where I wanted them, and then used "fondant glue" (water with a little fondant melted into it) to adhere them. I was aiming for varied widths and angles, but it was harder than I thought to get the look of the strips the way I wanted them in my mind. It was helpful to be able to make adjustments before everything was stuck together.

I added the red rope around the edges and to show off the centers of the 4 and the 0 - it was just nice to have a little bit of contrast. And that was it!

I'm told the birthday boy - as well as the wedding guests - enjoyed the cake. Happy 40th, Jason!

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thomas!

We never watched a lot of Thomas at our house, but he is certainly a staple with many toddlers. For a cute little 3-year-old guy's birthday, I was asked to make this sweet, simple cake. The family requested a minimal amount of fondant, so I kept it to just a few accents, using it to create a little depth while following the elemental gray, turquoise, black, and red colors of the tank engine. It was easy to cut long strips of black and red for the edges, but I was surprised how difficult it was to apply it evenly, without it stretching or breaking. (I hid the seams in the back.) I piped extra frosting for the cheeks, nose, and eye sockets, then smoothed it out the best I could to make the face seamless.

My favorite part of the cake was the smoke stack. The top is a whole cupcake, and the base of a second cupcake is glued underneath. I frosted it together and draped it with black fondant.

Unfortunately, gray frosting isn't that all appealing, but I figure a true Thomas fan wouldn't mind. To make the cake more visually appealing for grownups, when I have to use weird frosting flavors, I typically pipe untinted vanilla frosting between the layers.

The design was super-straightforward, and yet this cake took hours to finish (as my friend, who kept me company, drinking wine and listening to music into the wee hours, can attest!). It was a good reminder that simple designs require that everything is executed well - there's nowhere to hide any errors! 

The recipes are my favorite usual chocolate cake and vanilla bakery frosting:

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Happy birthday to this cutie Thomas fan!

lemon and sea salt focaccia

Although I've only posted about it here once, I'm a bit obsessed with focaccia. Inch-and-a-half thick, chewy, squishy focaccia, sprinkled liberally with sea salt and olive oil, to be precise. And it wouldn't hurt if there were a thinly-sliced potato or onion layered on top. My friend Gina would say it's the Italian snob in me. I think it's just good common sense.

I recently read a recipe that requires 15 hours to rise. When you've got focaccia on the brain, who's got that kind of time? So when I ran across The Kitchn's Lemon and Sea Salt Focaccia, and saw that it required only the typical 3ish hours (2 for the first proof, 30 minutes for the second, and 30 minutes to bake), I was all over it. Make-your-own sandwiches with leftover grilled chicken, crisp bacon, creamy avocado, and Russian dressing were on the menu for tonight, and I knew even the kids would love this soft white bread (so long as I left off the foreign ingredients like lemon slices and rosemary).

This recipe was delicious. It was nice and soft, with a relatively fine crumb. The onions and salt sprinkled on the top, plus the delicious olive oil brushed on before baking, enhanced the flavor. The olive oil sort of gets trapped in the little dimples on the surface of the bread. Yum.

The thing about focaccia and a lot of other breads, especially flat, yeasted breads, is that they are really best the first day. Bread benefits from cooling completely before eating. (Try to control yourself. Bread, hot from the oven, is hard to resist, but the texture and flavor really do improve!) But beyond that, you want to eat it when it's super fresh. To trap it in its perfect consistency, I actually wrapped and froze half of it. When we're ready to eat it, I will defrost it in the fridge, and then reheat it just a bit in the oven to refresh it. It won't be as perfect as the first day, but it'll be a close second.

Lemon and Sea Salt Focaccia
Makes four 8-inch rounds

Dough
1 envelope (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1 3/4 cups warm water, divided
6 tablespoons really good extra virgin olive oil
4 cups bread flour, plus more for kneading
2 teaspoons salt

To Assemble
Really good extra virgin olive oil
leaves of 2-4 branches of fresh rosemary, chopped
2 lemons, washed and very thinly sliced into rounds
coarse sea salt (or flaked sea salt)

For the dough, dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup warm water in a medium bowl. Stir in 1 1/4 cups water and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil.

Pulse together the flour and salt in the food processor or stand mixer. Add the yeast mixture and process until a rough ball of dough forms, about 1 minute. Briefly knead the dough on a floured surface until smooth. Shape into a ball. Put 2 tablespoons olive oil into a large bowl. Roll the dough around in the bowl until it is covered with oil. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

Pour a thin film of oil into each of four, 8-inch round cake pans. (You can also spread the dough out in a rimmed cookie sheet lined with parchment that has been oiled.) Use your fingertips to spread the dough out in each pan. If it resists stretching, let the gluten relax for about 5 minutes. It's going to rise again, and then it will fill the pan. Cover each pan with a damp towel and let rest for 30-60 minutes, until it has risen again. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450F.

Uncover the pans. Use your fingertips to poke dimples into the dough. Brush the dough liberally with olive oil, then sprinkle with sea salt and rosemary and arrange lemons (or thinly sliced onions or potatoes or grapes or olives or whatever you like on your focaccia) on top. Drizzle again with olive oil.

Bake until golden brown, about 20-30 minutes. Cut into wedges to serve.

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