Girl Baby Shower Treats

This past weekend, my friends and I threw a baby shower for our friend Aurora. "Smush" is a girl whose due date is March 10. Being the 2nd baby, Aurora wanted to keep the shower small.

Lupe is a phenomenal home cook so naturally she was in charge of the afternoon snacks. I have seen Giada made these (Mini) Mascarpone Cupcakes with Strawberry Glaze on her show so it was the first thing that came to mind when figuring out the menu. It's so easy too!

I did double the recipe as I was supposed to make 2 dozen regular sized cupcakes. However, I ended up with 24 cupcakes, measured out at 1/2 cup of batter each, plus enough batter left to make one 9-inch round cake.

As for the glaze, I used 1 full cup of strawberries for double batch. It was getting wayyy to sticky with just 2/3 cup.



The girls enjoyed the cupcakes. The hubby got the round. ;-D

Now for more cutesy shower stuff, inspired by Aurora's undying love for white chocolate covered caramel apples, I decided to make them as party favors.

First, I bought 15 small gala apples which turned out to be just sweet enough after all the coatings. Per the tips I read online, I dipped them in boiling water, wiped off the wax, and let them dry overnight.



Let me tell you, even after Food Inc. experience, seeing the residual wax clinging to the apples after the dip turned me off from store-bought fruit all together. And yeah, some of them I have to re-dipped and re-wiped. Ick.

Now, for the layers, I was VERY generous with the ingredients. READ: I'm so bad at dipping and dripping off excess that I have a nice thick coat of both caramel and white chocolate. Nobody complained, however. I'm sure if you're more patience and frugal, you can squeeze up to 6-7 small apples out of the batch.

For each set of 5 apples:

• 1 bag of Kraft Caramels.
• 3 TBS of heavy whipping cream
• 3 4-oz bars of Ghirardelli White Chocolate. I don't recommend using chips. The reasons are below.
• Parchment paper with a quick coating of non-stick spray
  

First, the caramels. Follow instructions on the back of the bag. However, I substituted 2 TBS of water with 3 TBS of cream. Helloooo, why use water when cream is on hand, right?



Once the caramel is set (mine did in about 15-20 minutes), start up the double boiler and melt the chocolate bars. Dip. Let drip. And spin gently for even coating.

Now, the warning about the white chocolate chips. I found a recipe online that told me to melt 12-oz white chips with 2 TBS of butter. So I did a double batch and the whole damn thing seized. A flash back to the Great Chocolate Seizure of Christmas 2009!!

So I wasted at least half an hour of my schedule running back out to the store, cursing the white chips under my breath all the way there and back. But I digress.

Back to the apples. I waited about 15-20 minutes before I applied the sprinkles. I just held the apple by the stick horizontally and slowly released a handful sprinkles on it as I turned. Some people waited until the chocolate set a little more before applying sprinkles and nuts etc. so it doesn't melt into the chocolate or slide down. I didn't have time.

If you have an hour or more, you can let the chocolate dipped goodness cool in room temperature. However, I was in a rush so I had to stick everyone in the fridge. Even then, it wasn't quite firm enough to put in the plastic bags.

So I took the whole darn tray to the party. We bagged them as the guests were leaving.



Well, that's it. REALLY easy. However, the Ghirardelli bars ain't cheap. About $3.35 a bar at my store. I used 9 although I could've gotten away with 8 or less.

But look at these though. I think they're worth the money, don't you?

Sweet Sensations

Once again, I followed Elizabeth to one of her cooking classes. This time at the Cypress Community Center. A very nice facility with the industrial kitchen which fit 12 people a wee bit too snugly but we managed.

On the menu were three summer desserts: Fruit Crisps, Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, and Dark Chocolate Mousse.

I was happy with my decision to grab a small dinner before heading out the class. The torture some of the hungry students had to suffer while busying themselves with all these lovely ingredients was tremendous, apparently.

Our class was split into essentially 4 groups. 2 to attack the fruit crisps and one each to the red velvet and chocolate mousse.

I was there purely for the chocolate mousse. Brandon LOVES chocolate mousse, and, as I found out from Elizabeth, it's actually a non-dairy dessert. And this whole time I thought it was chocolate and cream! But I digress.

I was in the group with Darlene whom I met before at the basic cooking class at PREP and another girl. Darlene was in charge of the chocolate. The other girl whipped up the yolks. And I did the egg whites and final assembly.

Elizabeth would stop whatever everyone was doing so we could watch the key part about each of the recipe.



For the fruit crisp, she explained how the size of the fruit cubes is important to the texture of the cooked product. Smaller chunks of fruit = mushier fruit filling.

For the red velvet cake, a recipe Elizabeth adapted from her aunt from Arkansas, we watch to see where we'd stop with the red and that the secret ingredient is buttermilk and vinegar.



For the mousse, we watched closely for the "ribbon stage" as we whipped the heck out of egg yolks, and the soft peak for the egg whites. Elizabeth could be heard several times, "Oakley, stop banging on the bowl!". I kept forgetting that hitting the bowl would settle all the air I was trying to whip in. Whoops.



And of course, the fold.

Folding the fluffy ingredients correctly will maintain the airiness. (No. Banging. On. The. Bowl!) I've folded stuff before but put on the spotlight in front of class, somehow I was like a neanderthal being handed a stick for the first time. I was quite frustrated as to why I couldn't fold properly.

It wasn't until I got home did I realize that DO know how to fold. I usually hold the spatula in my LEFT hand, folding to the right. Elizabeth was showing the class with the right hand going to the right and that was how I held the spatula, and THAT was why I couldn't do it right.

Ah, the joy of being ambidextrous.

In the end, we all enjoyed the fruits of our labor--almost literally. The fruit crisps were yummy. The red velvet cakes were just right...even the little baby ones!



The dark chocolate mousse? It definitely rivals my all-time favorite Belgian Chocolate Mousse from Fresh & Easy.

Oh god. Now I crave the rich chocolatey goodness. ARGH!

St. Patty's Feast 2009

Here's the preview of tonight's dinner for 12.



Yep. The massive vat of Guinness Stew is back. (Not in picture, a pound of carrots. And actually, I only used 3 potatoes, one box of stock, and 1.5 bottles of Guinness.)

I made the stew last night and Brandon hauled it into the fridge for me. He will graciously haul it back out and start the simmer when he gets home.

Here's the finished, piping hot product.



And now something that will be consumed this morning my office hungry vultures.



That's the Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with the Bailey's Cream Frosting I made last year for the house party. Now I can watch my unsuspecting colleagues stumble through the office. Hehe.

The dozen kids tonight, instead, will have the Nigella's Chocolate Guinness Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. [ETA: This recipe has become such a huge hit that I've been making it for just about every occasion now. Hahaha!]

Behold, the decadence!



The cake was an experiment on Saturday night. I was going to take it to my friend's birthday party but someone else was already bringing a cake. Then again, the cake looked so good I figured I'd keep it in the fridge for today's party.

I'm sure it would be yummier fresh; but after a couple of days in the fridge, it's still very tasty.

Erin Go fricki'n Bragh, y'all!

Black and Tan Cake and Cupcakes

My Saint Patrick's Day tradition of the Guinness stew continues this year as I just put the big ol' vat of the stew in the fridge, awaiting tomorrow's reheating.

*UPDATE -2010* I have since found a different Chocolate Guinness Cake recipe by Nigella's recipe that is a complete and total hit. I will not let you suffer through this dry cake so I have removed the recipe and link for this one.*

For dessert, this year I am going with the Chocolate Guinness Cake, a recipe directly from Guinness Proposition 317 campaign kit. But instead of using the chocolate granache that came with this recipe, I frost the cake with the Bailey's Dip/Frosting I made last year.

Not only you will have yummy Guinness treat, the color of the chocolate and the cream frosting does look like a pine of Guinness, the black and the creamy foam on top!

I made a regular cake version of this for Paul's birthday yesterday. The cake was a little dry, but the frosting saved the day. Today, I made the cupcake version of it with the whole bottle of Guinness instead of one cup in attempt to add more moisture--it's only a splash more beer than a cup anyway--and it worked okay.

Can you keep a secret?

For this year's Talk Like A Pirate Day, I made Devil's Food Cupcake with Chocolate Rum Frosting. It's a gigantic hit. The only complaint I received was that there just wasn't enough rum. LOL. Well, first of all, I only add so much rum to the frosting because I wasn't sure if the frosting would hold its structural integrity with too much liquid added. And secondly, I was taking this to the office so I wasn't sure how much rum would be appropriate.

But then again, my CFO showed up with butter rum cake that had so much rum you had to eat the center of it with a spoon. LOL.

A few of Brandon and my colleagues even commented that these were the best cupcakes they've ever had.

Well, kids. Sorry to disappoint you, but I ain't all that. :)

Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Devil's Food Cake Mix. I was introduced to this fantastic mix by a few of Giada's recipes. Just follow the instruction on the box. The only thing I did different to is that I add maybe a minute or two to the beating on high. It seems to make the final product lighter and fluffier.

The big can of Whipped Chocolate frosting + 4-6 teaspoon (I lost count) of rum.

Chocolaty AND Refreshing

For the office birthday party this week, I decided to bake the cupcakes instead of buying them. So, I went with Giada's recipe for Chocolate Orange Cupcakes with Limoncello Frosting because a) it sounded good at the time and b) it gave me a valid excuse to buy my first bottle of Limoncello.

Again, I used Duncan Hine's Devil's Food Cake Mix and I beat it on high a little while longer. Instead of the manufactured orange juice, I used the fresh squeezed organic one from Trader Joe's. As for the chocolate chips, I used semi-sweet.

The cake was moist and fluffy, not too sweet. Even the sweet icing had a little cut from Limoncello and zest. Despite the rich, chocolaty flavor, the cake was surprisingly refreshing. Perfect in every way for a summer day. (I know, the recipe was for Halloween...but it was a VERY summery cake!)

The only obstacle I had with this recipe is finding the candied orange peel. I went to Trader Joe's. No dice. Even Bristol Farms doesn't have any, to my surprise.

Oh god. The endive flashback!

Thank goodness, as a back up plan, I looked up Giada's candied orange peel recipe ahead of time. So while at Trader Joe's, I picked up 2 navel oranges.

I followed the recipe except that I use 2 oranges instead of one. Come to think of it, I think you can even candied peels from 3 oranges with all the sugar there was in that pot. And of course, I didn't chocolate-dip the peel.

At first I was worried. After I left the peel out to cool/dry over night, it was still sticky in the morning. But by the time I got home later that afternoon, they were dry. And they were perfect.