Saturday, August 21, 2010

The classic Whoopie Pie

Since I have a really hard to putting this book away... (or I just like to live like a slob)... I've made another recipe out of the book. This time going the traditional way of individual sized whoopie pies.
 All wrapped up for sharing!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

More Peanut Butter/Choc/Krispy Goodness!

My workplace is the oh-so-lucky beneficiary of all my baking adventures... and one of the top hits has been the PB+Chocolate+Rice Krispy+Marshmallow Brownies from Brown Eyed Baker. I don't know how many times I've actually made these... countless really.
and so when I came across a new(er) recipe (from Brown Eyed Baker again, of course!) I knew this would be a hit as well!

Rice Krispies + Peanut Butter Layer + Mini PB Cups = easy peasy!

Cue the melting of the chocolate = CRAP-A-RONI
How is this even possible????? 

So, pass the anger... 
VOILA! Yummy treats to share!

Monday, August 16, 2010

Whoopie Cake

With my new Whoopie Pie book, I decided to make a Whoopie CAKE!
 BTW: This book is amazing!


 
BIG OL' WHOOPIE PIE... er, CAKE!

Filled with Almond buttercream...
Decorated with "dino" and "springtime" spinkles...
Surprise for new co-worker (for sales).

Yumyum!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

another year...

I'm another year older... and of course celebrated with my closest friends!

They all know me so well, and the gifts always show!

And I think that its also a way to make me bake them even more sweet treats...

A new recipe book for whoopie pies (so many great recipes!) and a blank book to write my own recipes in!
Awesome bundt pan inspired by the classic german hugelhopf mold!
and of course, a whoopie pie pan!

happy baking to me!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Strawberry Cupcakes with Basil Cream & Pink Peppercorn Meringue

I'm not 100% sure why I picked these cupcakes out of the few that I brainstormed for the Cupcake Camp OC competition... I guess it was just one of those combination of flavors that I've tried and never really forgot.
So without further ado, the cupcakes!
Strawberry Cupcakes
2.75C AP Flour
0.5C Cake Flour
1T Baking Powder
1t Salt
8oz unsalted butter, softened
2.25C Sugar
3 Large Eggs and 1 Large Egg White
1C Whole Milk, room temp
1.5t Vanilla Extract
2C Diced Strawberries

Preheat oven to 350.
Cream Butter and Sugar. Add eggs (and white) one at a time, mixing after each addition.
Sift together all dry ingredients. Mix together milk and vanilla.
Add wet and dry to mixer. Mix until combined.
Fold in strawberries.
Bake at 350 for 22-25min - toothpick test for doneness.

Pink Peppercorn Meringue
4 Egg Whites, room temp
0.75C Sugar
0.25C Sugar
1.5t Cornstarch
0.5t White Wine Vinegar
1T pink peppercorns, lightly crushed (or ground, if you prefer less concentrated heat)

Preheat oven to 275.
Beat whites until soft peaks. Then add 0.75C sugar gradually until medium-firm peaks.
Mix remaining 0.25C sugar and cornstarch. Gradually beat mixture into meringue until very stiff. Beat in white wine vinegar.
Fold in peppercorns.
Pipe onto parchment lined baking sheet in whatever shapes you like. I used dollops, and did so sloppily for the initial trial run (as seen above).
Bake at 275 for 25min. Then turn off oven, crack open oven door and let sit for 1 hour until dry.
(Can be made 1 day in advance)

 Basil Cream (adapted from Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit)
 6T Basil Syrup (recipe below)
1C Heavy Cream

Beat heavy cream until stiff peaks. Add syrup to taste.

Basil Syrup

0.5C Sugar
0.25C Water
0.75C Packed Basil Leaves - cut up into pieces (you can adjust strength to taste - also, I used the more fragrant sweet smelling basil, not the licorice-y smelling one. Blech.)

Boil sugar and water until clear. Add basil and let boil for a while. Cool to room temp.

I decided to use Basil Buttercream in lieu of Basil Cream on actual competition day.
I simply used a buttercream recipe and added in the basil syrup to taste.

The assembly...
Cool cupcakes.
Frost.
Top with a meringue hat.
Sprinkle a line of ground pink peppercorns across the top.

Ta-da! The "competition dozen" - turns out I really only needed 4 good ones, the rest were served as "donations" anyways.

Cupcake adventure complete!

Monday, August 2, 2010

The cupcake challenge...

Finally, back to blogging! I hate being so busy that I don't even get my time to bake and blog! But while I still have a lot of things up in the air right now, I at least completed the cupcakes for the competition for the Cupcake Cake OC this past weekend! These cupcakes were damned hard work... primarily because of having to bake... hungover in the morning... after my birthday.

But alas, I never (ok, rarely) give up. In fact, both Ila and I were suffering hangovers, and decided to just drop off our cupcakes and bone out of there before the event even started. It was a good cause, and we supported it.

It was pretty cool though to see blogs/vendors that I follow... in real life! I felt that it would have been very "groupie" of me to say - OMG I READ YOUR BLOG! So I refrained. Check out the donors & friends page.

Here are the few pics I snagged that short time we were there. Post on actual cupcakes to follow!

Ila's Ginger Sesame Carrot Cupcake

My Strawberry Cupcake with Basil Cream & Pink Peppercorn Meringue

We both entered into the "Unique/Exotic Flavor or Ingredient" category.

Here are some followup reads on Cupcake Camp OC!