Chocolate Cupcakes with Semi-Sweet Chocolate Frosting

I cannot believe that I only got one post accomplished in all of July. It's just been such a busy summer. We travelled, worked, and now are in the process of moving - to a house - with a real kitchen! It's a galley kitchen, which isn't as ideal as a kitchen set up for true entertaining, but it's better than the corner of a room that houses our current straight-out-of-1940s kitchen. I'll have more windows to try out new photography techniques, too.

The idea of moving into a bigger place is so exciting, but packing up everything is awful. My husband has so many memories of our current apartment, too, that it's hard to say goodbye -even though we really do need a bigger place. Even our small kitchen is filled with memories. I remember making brownies for our friends who lived down the hall when I would come and visit from New York. It's where Chris and I mastered Indian Samosas, along with many other delightful dishes. We've created delicious meals - whole Easter feasts - all from a tiny tiny kitchen with literally no counter space. It's taught us to be efficient in our cooking / baking, and it's definitely taught me to clean as I cook, but I'm excited to have a dishwasher in which to plop all those dirty dishes after entertaining!

A good friend had a belated birthday BBQ tonight, and I offered to bring dessert. I deliberated a lot about what to make, and I was somewhat limited because 99% of my cooking supplies are in boxes. So, when I was searching through the recipes I collected from magazines, and came across a huge delicious-looking piece of chocolate cake with the words "one bowl cake" as the title, I was sold. It was delightfully easy. The frosting only required one bowl, too, but I unfortunately had packed my hand-mixer. So, I whipped up this frosting using my immersion blender, and it turned out just great.

This all just goes to show you that no matter what your limitations - small kitchen, poor counter space, limited utensils - you can still make fabulous desserts.

One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes

Adapted slightly from Martha Stewart Living Magazine

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

3/4 cup buttermilk

3/4 cup warm water

3 Tablespoons canola oil

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together (or sift if you're into that) cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl until combined. Add in eggs, buttermilk, water, oil, and vanilla, and stir until smooth (about 3-4 minutes).

2.) Line cupcake pan with paper liners. Fill the paper liners with cake batter until about two-thirds full. Bake until set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the oven. Let them cool slightly for 10 minutes, then remove them from the pan and place them on a cooling rack. Allow them to cool completely before frosting.

(You can also make cake by buttering 8-inch round cake pans (2 inches deep) and then coating with cocoa. Cook cake for 35 minutes. Allow it to cool for 15 minutes before attempting to remove it from the pan.)

Semi-Sweet Chocolate Frosting

Adapted slightly from Martha Stewart Living Magazine

2 cups confectioners' sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Pinch of salt

6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

6 ounces dark chocolate (I bought my favorite chocolate bar), melted and cooled slightly (I just put it in a pan over the lowest heat possible and let it melt)

3/4 cup creme fraiche or sour cream

1.) In a small bowl, sift together sugar, cocoa and salt.

2.) In a separate large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter with a mixer (or immersion blender!!) at a medium-high speed until smooth and well incorporated. Add the cocoa/sugar/salt mixture slowly, beating after each addition. Pour in chocolate and add creme fraiche or sour cream. Mix until well combined.

3.) Frost cooled cupcakes.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I've been in a funk today, and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because after months of practicing yoga, my little 'bird' poses still will not 'fly.' Probably has to something do with my chicken arms, and everyone knows that despite everything delicious chickens offer us, they are flightless birds. Or maybe it's the fact that a vast number of unknowns that are swiftly approaching, mostly related to where the hubster is going to get a job and my upcoming residency applications. Ah, change - it's scary one of the only guaranteed things in life. And, as my yoga teacher is constantly reminding us, life does not come with a set instruction manual, so I should embrace all the fun possibilities that lay ahead!

So, today to de-stress, I decided to tackle one of my baking quests: to find the perfect red velvet cake recipe. I actually only tasted my first red velvet cake a few months ago during a visit to Buffalo, but I was instantly hooked. It was moist, delicious, not overly chocolately. I'm not a huge intensely sweet frosting person, either, and this cake was refreshingly served with a tangier cream cheese frosting. Anyway, after that, I decided to do some research and create that lovely cake for myself. I read dozens of recipes online, and decided to settle with one that used canola oil instead of butter, since I personally find that oil makes a moister cake crumble. The first batch I tried were waaaaay to oily and sank in the middle as soon as I took them out of the oven. (Fail...). So, I found a second recipe that used more eggs and flour and decided to adapt that. I kicked up the amount of cocoa powder from 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup, and halved the amount of red food coloring - my cupcakes turned out just as red and without that chemical taste that you can get from coloring.

The overall results is awesome. A super moist, flavorful red cake that bakes up to a perfect dome. The cake is not overly sweet or chocolately, but is so delicious that I ate a whole cupcake before even making the frosting. I cannot wait to make this cake again. You can add on the cream cheese frosting or your favorite frosting of choice! Enjoy!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Adapted from Leslie Sarna: The Dainty Vegetarian

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups buttermilk, room temperature

1 Tablespoon red food coloring

1 teaspoon white distilled or apple cider vinegar

Classic Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 ounces (1 package) cream cheese, softened

8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 pound confectioners' (powdered) sugar

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line your cupcake/muffin tins with paper liners.

2.) If you need to make your own buttermilk, do that now.

3.) In a large bowl (or stand mixer with whisk attachment), whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, soda, salt, cocoa powder.

4.) Add vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract to dry ingredients. Stir. Then, add in buttermilk. Stir again.

5.) Carefully, measure and add the red food coloring. Be careful not to stir/whisk/mix too vigorously or you can end up whipping food coloring all over your kitchen and self!! Then, add in the vinegar and stir a few more times.

7.) Pour batter into prepared pans, filling the cupcake liners roughly 2/3 full.

8.) Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

9.) Remove cupcakes from pan and allow them to cool on a wire rack.

Frosting directions:

1.) In a large bowl, beat (preferably with an electric stand or hand mixer) the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until smooth. Then, add in the sugar and beat until fluffy.

2.) Frost cupcakes when cool.

P.S. - I used my KitchenAid Mixer for this whole recipe, which made it super easy. I also tried out my birthday gift, the beater blade, for the first time, and it is AMAZING!!! It scrapes the side of my mixing bowl while it's mixing. So, no need to stop the mixer and scrapes the sides down myself anymore. I'm a convert. Seriously. Thanks, BFF!!

Buttermilk Pound Cake

It's a warm, sunny night here in Minnesota - perfect for walks, ice cream, outdoor sports events, or campfires with s'mores. However, I'm sitting in the basement of a medical building while my husband finishes a long day's work. He's saving people's lives with math and physics. Seriously. This is what he does. I could try to go into it more, but since it's all above my head, there's really no point because I can't describe it correctly. :) As I sit here entertaining myself, I thought it would be a good time to post this blog - let the creative mix a little with the analytical in this room.

This blog entry has been about a six month (maybe eight year?) adventure. The eight year bit refers to the fact that when I was in college at Cornell, there was this amazing eatery, Collegetown Bagels, where we could grab all sorts of delicious sandwiches, drinks, and pastries. I wish the town I'm living in now had a place like this where you could go and read a book, all while enjoying delicious foods and seasonal drinks. In any case, I am in LOVE with their pound cake. It's dense, buttery, and full of flavor. I buy a piece of it every time I go there. It's just perfect. The six month adventure refers to the fact that a recent-ish Martha Stewart Living had a whole segment on pound cake, and it instantly made me nostalgic for college. So, I decided I would try the "classic" recipe they offered. Turns out Martha makes some gross pound cake. It was dry and not anything like the pound cake I enjoyed so frequently in college. So, I tried another recipe; it was okay, but definitely not worthy of replication. Then, I tried putting fewer eggs in the second recipe and pouring simple syrup over the top (hoping to lock in some moistness). It was still not good and talk about a sugar high! Woah. Then, I gave up. Three pound cakes in a row that tasted gross. I was out.

Then, recently, as I was surfing through Tastespotting (my new addiction), I saw a picture of beautiful, moist pound cake and instantly clicked on it. I was led to a baking blog by this amazing 17-year-old: 17 and baking. Her pictures and writing are beyond enviable! Maybe someday I'll be able to come close to the classiness of her blog. Anyway, her post on Buttermilk Pound Cake reinvigorated my drive to find a great pound cake recipe. So, I made hers, and... it was delicious! It was lighter than the version I had at Cornell, although I didn't wait the two days she suggested before cutting into it. Delightfully, it was very moist, with just the right balance of tart - with the lemon and buttermilk - butter, and sugar. It's the type of pound cake that can be enjoyed alone, or with a pairing of whipped cream or berries. So, although I may still keep searching and experimenting to find how to make a dense pound cake like Collegetown Bagels, this pound cake is seriously delicious and will stay in my recipe book for a long time.

Buttermilk Pound Cake

From 17 and baking

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature (plus more for pan)

3 1/2 cups flour (plus more for pan)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 1/2 cups sugar

4 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup cultured buttermilk (click to find recipe to make it with things you probably have laying around)

Juice of 1 lemon, strained

1.) Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Butter and flour a 9" bundt pan.

2.) In a small bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside. In a separate bowl, make buttermilk if you don't have a can of it laying around. Set aside.

3.) With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar together. Add in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Then, beat in the vanilla extract.

4.) Add in 1/4 of the flour to the mixture and beat. Then, add 1/3 of the buttermilk and beat. Continue to alternate between the flour and buttermilk, finishing with the flour. Stir in lemon juice.

5.) Smooth the batter in to the prepared bundt pan. Bake for roughly 75 minutes - or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 20 minutes in the pan, then invert and allow the cake to cool on a rack.

6.) Then, the secret ingredient: time. As Elissa says:

E- told me the secret ingredient was time. She’d discovered that if she waited a day or two before cutting into it, everything about this pound cake improved – the flavor, the texture of the crumb, its dynamics. The slightly sugary crust that formed along the edges, giving it a bit of a crunch? The sweet, gentle tang of buttermilk? All side effects of her patience.

Enjoy!!

Chocolate Pudding Cake

My girlfriends and I had a virtual dinner this past weekend. It's so nice to share meals together despite being far away. We had cream of tomato soup, 'wedding' salad, grilled cheese, and pudding cake. All were delicious, but this particular post will focus on dessert.

I'm a big cake lover, but unless I've set aside the time to do it, I hate spending time making frosting and then frosting the actual cake. Although it's fun to spend time decorating, I just think its a lot of work for not that much taste reward, and I'm all about taste rewards. That's why I love this chocolate pudding cake. When it comes out of the oven, it's ready to be eaten! No frosting or other work necessary to perk up this cake. Plus, I really think this cake is magical: before going into the oven, you pour chocolate chips, brown sugar + cocoa powder, and boiling water on top of the cake batter, and after it bakes, the pudding is on the bottom. Magic!

Whisk together all the dry ingredients.

Add in the dry and whisk until smooth. The batter is almost a frosting-like consistency.

Pour the batter into a 9-inch pan.

Layer on the chocolate chips and then the brown sugar + cocoa powder mix.

Unlike this picture indicates, the next best move would be to put the cake on the oven rack and then pour in the boiling water just before you close the oven door. Otherwise, you're going to have to carefully carry a very full pan topped with boiling water to your oven, which is not a fun task.

After baking, magic! Cake on the top!

Once you cut into the cake, though, you discover the delicious warm chocolate pudding hiding. It's definitely not the prettiest cake ever, but I promise you that it's tasty.

Recipe can be found on cookingfriend: right here.