Caramel Latte Cupcakes--Oooh!....

I'm a frosting person. Yep...that's why I go to weddings--for the frosting.  It can't be too sweet, and it should perfectly balance with the cake. Most of the time I go for light and airy cakes and frostings. I don't know why--maybe it's a throwback to a childhood miserably spent without Twinkies?  I make a lot of cakes that are light--like Twinkies but with better ingredients. Here's one with an incredible caramel latte filling that I just love!

This incredible filling is balanced by plain butter cupcakes. But in order to make the whole thing light and airy...I used whipped cream frosting to balance it all out. It worked!! Decoration? --an easy little squiggle of caramel on the top.  Almost as good as kissing my husband! 

Butter Cake:

Ingredients:

16 T unsalted butter...softened
3 C cake flour...sifted
2 1/2 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 C milk
2 t vanilla
1 1/2 C sugar
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put 24 cupcake liners in cupcake pans. Set aside. Whisk together in a bowl: flour. baking powder and set aside. Combine milk and vanilla in a small bowl and set aside. In a medium bowl fitted with a paddle or with a hand mixer...cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs...one at a time...beating well after each addition. On low speed... add dry ingredients in 3 batches and wet ingredients in 2 batches. Increase speed to high and beat until batter is smooth...about 5 seconds. Divide batter among cupcake pans. Bake about 15 minutes until center springs back when touched with a finger. Let cakes cool for 10 minutes in pans then invert onto wire racks to cool thoroughly before filling and frosting.

Caramel-Latte Filling or Frosting:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 C unsalted butter... soft but still cool and cut in cubes
1/4 t salt
4 oz. cream cheese.... soft but cool and cut in cubes
3 C powdered sugar
3/4 C caramel sauce (use leftover sauce for caramel squiggle decoration)
1 T warm water mixed with 1/2 t instant espresso (such as Medaglio D'Oro or Starbucks VIA)
Optional Topping: crunched-up toffee (Heath Bar has this out in bags in the chocolate chip section of your grocery)

Using a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or a hand-mixer and beat butter and salt until fluffy. Add the cream cheese and beat until fully incorporated and smooth. Reduce the speed and add the powdered sugar a little at a time. Mix until fully incorporated. Add the caramel sauce and then the warm water mixed in a tablespoon with powdered espresso.

Whipped Cream Frosting: Whip 1 pint whipping cream in a chilled (preferably metal or ceramic) bowl with chilled beaters until frothy. Gradually add 1/2 C powdered sugar...then vanilla. Beat until stiff enough to pipe on top of cupcakes (at the last moment stiff peaks form).

Assembly:  Bake the cupcakes. While cakes are baking make the Caramel Espresso Filling... whip the Whipped Cream Frosting and put in the refrigerator until cupcakes are cool. Core cupcakes with a paring knife...carving a cone-shape into the cupcake with the large end at the top --about 1-inch wide. This is so there is enough room for the filling to be piped inside each little cake. Whip the heavy cream and pipe a swirl on top.  Drizzle leftover caramel sauce over the cupcakes by swinging a fork dipped in sauce over the tops of the cakes lined up on a baking tray or clear counter space covered with parchment or paper towels. Alternative: use Heath Bars, crushed and sprinkled on top.

Huckleberry Buckle with Lemon Sauce

Catagory: Desserts
Difficulty: Easy

I remember picking huckleberries in the early morning light near my grandmother's vacation cabin. It was in Northern California redwood country--where the air is as soft as the branch-strewn loam under your feet.  Behind the cabin were bushes plump with huckleberries, growing all silver and blue in the morning sun.  A tiny berry, they are perfect for childish fingers to gather. My sister and I would fill empty coffee cans with them, enjoying the occasional tangy handful until  juice ran in purple streaks down our faces. Then we would run to the cabin (bringing what we hadn't eaten), and beg our mother to make a rare dessert called "Huckleberry Buckle".

A "Buckle" is kind of like a "Crisp" as well as being first cousin to a "Cobbler". They're similar; all being some kind of yummy, sticky cake baked with fruit , spices and sugar. The "buckle" refers to how the top of this struesel-clad cake looks like after it bakes. Bumpy and uneven...  buckled, like an old wood floor.

This is my great-grandmother, Sarah Robinson's, recipe.  Her family came over the Oregon trail in covered wagons. But you don't need a covered wagon to make Huckleberry Buckle. You just need huckleberries or ollaliberries or blackberries or mixed berries. Serve it warm from the oven...with whupped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients:

Buckle:
1/2 C shortening
1/2 C sugar
1 egg
2 t baking powder 
1 C flour
4 1/2 t baking powder
1/3 C milk
1 pint huckleberries (or other slightly sour berries)
1/2 C sugar
1/4 C butter
1/3 C flour
1 t cinnamon

Lemon Sauce:
1/2 C sugar
1 C hot water
1 T cornstarch
pinch salt
1 egg yolk (separated from white)
3 T lemon juice
2 T butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8"X 8" pan. Cream shortening, and sugar then add 1 egg and combine. Sift 1 C flour and 2 t baking powder together and add to the creamed sugar mixture with 1/3 C milk. Put in pan. Sprinkle 1 pt. (2 cups) berries over the top. Crumble together and put over this: 1/2 C sugar, 1/4 C butter, 1/3 C flour, 1 t. cinnamon. Bake 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

For Sauce: In a saucepan combine 1/2 C sugar, 1 C hot water, 1 T constarch and a pinch of salt. Bring to boil, for 15 minutes. Put over boiling water in the top of a double boiler. Add 1 egg yolk, 3 T lemon juice and 2 T butter. Stir well till thick and serve over the top of large helpings of warm Buckle. Total comfort food heaven!

Addictive Carrot-Feta Salad

This is so good it should be registered as an addictive substance. My daughter brought something similar to this to our last Mother's Day Barbeque. It's her new "go-to" pot-luck salad. It can be yours, too, if you have a good food processor with a grating attachment! The taste is very unusual because of the cumin and the Harissa. Harissa is sort of a chili paste mixed with garlic, coriander, salt and cumin. It's extremely inexpensive--but make your own by finding a recipe online if you don't have a specialty store nearby. Very Middle Eastern, very pretty, very YUM!  Adapted from "Smitten Kitchen.com" which acknowledges Cuisine Magazine.

Ingredients:

1-pound carrots, peeled, trimmed and coarsely grated ( I used a pack of peeled baby carrots)
1/2 C sliced black olives (drained)
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 crushed clove of garlic
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon Harissa (very hot--don't use heaping spoonfuls!)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3 T lemon juice
1/4 C flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
1/4 C fresh mint, finely chopped
1/2 C fresh coriander, finely chopped
2/3 C crumbled feta

Directions:

Sauté garlic, cumin, paprika, harissa and sugar in the oil until fragrant, about one to two minutes in a small pan. Remove from heat. Throw in lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Add to carrots and sliced olives. Add the herbs and toss with a fork.  Put in refrigerator for at least an hour to meld the flavors and add the feta just before eating. Please serve the same day as you make it. It's fabulous but does not age well!

Butter Cake with Perfect Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting...For My Lauren

Category: Desserts
Difficulty: 

I created this cake for my very grown-up daughter Lauren. She is a fabulous cook!  But when she has her birthday, she always wants the same cake: Butter Cake (the Duncan Hines mix) with canned Fudge Frosting. This is because that's what I made her every year when she was a little girl. This year, I am going to try to lure her away from prepared mixes and plastic tubs with a from-scratch version. I recently found the most delicious butter cake recipe EVER in Saveur magazine. It's so moist and buttery... I paired it with a Perfect Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting. All for you Lauren! Love you! Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients:

Butter Cake:
16 T unsalted butter
3 C cake flour
2 1/2 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 C milk
2 t vanilla
1 1/2 C sugar
4 eggs (at room temperature--or warmed while still in shells in a bowl of hot tap water for 5 minutes)

Perfect Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting:
12 oz. cream cheese
1 C sifted good cocoa (I like Droste)
1 stick salted butter (softened)
1 1/2 t vanilla
6 C sifted powdered sugar
Add one or two t milk if needed

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour three 9-inch cake pans and set aside. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together milk and vanilla in a bowl and set aside. In the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. On low speed, alternately add dry ingredients in 2 batches. Increase speed to high and beat until batter is smooth, about 5 seconds. Divide batter in prepared pans and smooth top with a spatula or knife. Bake cakes until a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Let cakes cool for 20 minutes in pans, then remove.

For Frosting: Mix first three ingredients in a medium-sized bowl on medium speed until creamy. Add vanilla. Gradually add 6 C sifted powdered sugar 2 C at a time--beating on high speed the last few minutes. Be sure and let the frosting "rest" for a couple of hours either in the refrigerator or on the cake or cupcakes before you serve them. For some reason this makes any bitter aftertaste of the cocoa go away. I don't know why. Ask Alton Brown when you see him.

Seattle Grilled Salmon

If you ever go to Seattle, visit Pike's Place Fish Market. It's FUN! The guys there yell a lot of crazy things and throw huge fish around like they're baseballs. There's something they have called " Salmon Candy" which sounds awful but is really a sweet smoked salmon. Since Seattle is so far away--I found an alternative that's really good and reminds me of Pike's Place. It's not as sweet at "Salmon Candy" but it has a wonderful combination of smoked paprika and honey that make for a similar taste. My hubby gave it a big thumbs up!

Ingredients:

1 T thyme (fresh)
1 clove garlic (crushed)
1 T dk. brown sugar or Palm sugar
1 T honey
5 t smoked paprika
sea salt to taste
pepper to taste

3 salmon fillets

Combine all these together in a small bowl with a fork. Really mash it. Then, slather it on top of your salmon fillets after they have been patted dry.  Grill on the side without glaze. Put a piece of foil on the grill and flip salmon over on the glazed side to finish cooking. Take the skin off the salmon when it is light and flakey, yet still moist. Transfer it to a plate with lots of oven-roasted potatoes and enjoy!

Lemon Curd Layer Cake

My neighbor Emilie called me and asked me to come up to her house to have a slice of this. We are walking buddies. I thought I was in shape, but it's a long, VERY steep driveway and I arrived panting at her doorstep. She was there, at the door, with a couple of slices of this cake. "It's the last of it," she said " and I wanted to make sure you tasted it". She handed the plate to me as if it were pure gold. It was! It is now one of my very favorite cakes and I am going to make it for my next birthday. The recipe originally came from the March 1999 issue of Bon Appetite magazine. Yield: Serves at least 8

Ingredients:

For Lemon Curd:
2 1/3 C sugar
2 t cornstarch
1 C fresh lemon juice
4 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
3/4 C (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 -inch pieces

For Whipped Cream Frosting:
3/4 C powdered sugar
2 C chilled whipping cream

For Cake:
1 1/2 C cake flour
1 1/2 C sugar
2 1/2 t baking powder
3/4 t salt
4 large egg yolks
1/4 C vegetable oil
1/4 C orange juice1 1/2 t grated lemon peel
8 large egg whites
1/4 t cream of tartar

Thin lemon slices, halved and patted dry

Directions:

Lemon Curd:
Combine 2 1/3 C sugar and 2 t cornstarch in heavy medium saucepan. Gradually whisk in fresh lemon juice. Whisk in eggs and yolks; add butter. Whisk over medium heat until curd thickens and boils, about 12 minutes. Pour into a medium bowl. Refrigerate until cold, at least 5 hours. Note: Can be prepared 1 week ahead. Cover and keep refrigerated.

Whipped Cream Frosting:
Sifted powdered sugar into a large bowl. Add 1 1/4 C lemon curd until just blended. In medium bowl, beat cream until firm peaks form. Fold cream into curd mixture in 3 parts. Chill until firm--at least 4 hours.

Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and put parchment on the bottoms of 3 9-inch pans. Whisk 1 1/2 C cake flour, 1/2 C sugar, 2 1/2 t baking powder, and 3/4 t salt in large bowl. Add 4 yolks, 1/4 C vegetable oil, orange juice, lemon peel and 3/4 C Lemon Curd to bowl (do not stir).  Combine whites, and 1/4 t cream of tartar in another large bowl. Using electric mixer, beat whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 1 C sugar, beating until stiff but not dry. Using same beaters, beat yolk mixture until smooth. Fold whites into yolk mixture in 3 additions.

Divide batter among the 3 pans. Bake until testers inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Place cakes in pans on racks until completely cool.

Assembly:

Spoon 1 C frosting into pastry bag fitted with plain round tip; refrigerate bag. Place 1 cake layer on cake platter. Spread top of cake layer with 1/3 C curd then 1 C whipped cream frosting. Top with second cake layer, spread with 1/3 C curd and I C frosting. Top with third cake layer. Frost the top and sides of cake--reserving 1 C of whipped cream frosting. Spread a "puddle" of lemon curd in the middle of the top of the cake--leaving at least a 3/4-inch border around the top of the cake. Pipe reserved frosting around the top edge of the cake. Place lemon slices at intervals in the piped edge. 


 

Chocolate Mousse Cupcakes with Raspberry Chambord Filling

 When I started making these cupcakes--a rich combination of a fluffy chocolate cake, glorious French chocolate mousse and spiked raspberry preserves; I knew they would be a challenge. The cakes themselves came out fine. Unfortunately, while I was filling the pastry bag, I forgot to put my finger over the tip and therefore managed to decorate my lap with a large quantity of raspberry/Chambord. HA! Zen baking: Be the Cupcake!

Cupcakes:
1 3/4 C flour
3/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder
2 C sugar
2 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
2/4 t salt
1 C buttermilk
1/2 C vegetable oil
2 t vanilla extract
2 large eggs--at room temperature*
1 C strong, piping hot coffee

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place paper cupcake liners in a muffin pan and set aside. In a large bowl...sift together dry ingredients. Then mix together with a fork or a large whisk. In a medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk, vegetable oil, vanilla and eggs. While mixing on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix to combine...but do not over mix! Slowly add hot coffee, mixing until just combined.  The batter should be thin--break up any lumps with a fork.  Pour the batter into each cupcake liner from a measuring cup. Wipe off cup after each pour.  Bake for 14-15 minutes, without opening the oven. After 14 minutes, lightly touch the top of a cupcake's center. If it makes an impression, leave them in there for a couple of minutes (every oven heats differently). Once done, cool for 10 minutes in pan then transfer to a cooling rack to continue cooling. While they cool, make the Chocolate Mousse.

Ingredients:

6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, in chips or chopped (a good chocolate is best-- I like Dagoba or Guittard. But if saving money, use Nestle's or Baker's chocolate, not Hershey's)
3 T unsalted butter
3 egg whites
3 egg yolks
1/2 t cream of tartar
1/4 C
1/2 C heavy cream (very cold)
1/2 t vanilla
2 additional T sugar

Warm 3 eggs (in shells) in a hot tap water in a bowl if they are not room temperature. Keep them in there at least 5 minutes. Place the chocolate and butter in the top of a double-boiler or a heat-proof bowl on top of a pot of barely simmering water. Stir with a wooden spoon till smooth. Remove from stove and cool slightly--chocolate should still be liquid. Separate eggs, reserving whites in a medium bowl and whisk the yolks into the chocolate mixture one at a time. 

Beat egg whites in medium bowl until foamy. Add cream of tartar and continue to beat. Gradually whisk in 1/4 C sugar and continue beating until stiff peak form. Beat the cream in a chilled bowl until it begins to thicken and foam. Add remaining 2 T sugar and the vanilla. Continue to whip cream until it holds soft peaks.
Gradually fold in the egg whites into the chocolate mixture with a rubber spatula. When the egg whites have almost disappeared, delicately fold in the whipped cream until the mixture, stopping the minute it is no longer two-tone. Don't rush this--slow and steady wins the race! Refrigerate until ready to frost cupcakes.

Raspberry Filling:
Use 1 C (or more) raspberry preserves for this. If you want to make it really fancy mix together 1 C raspberry preserves with 6 t Kirsch or Chambord liqueur. Take an apple corer or a sharp paring knife and gently cut a hole in the center of each cupcake. Using a small knife and a teaspoon or a piping bag with a large tip...push a small amount of the preserves into the cupcake. Be careful to put the piping tip deep inside of the cupcake BEFORE you put the raspberry mixture into the piping bag. Do it one teaspoon at a time--otherwise it will get all over your counter and you!

Assembly:
After filling cupcakes, frost with a pastry bag and a large pastry bag tip. Or just use a dinner knife. I use a swirl pattern--you can do what you want. Place a fresh raspberry in the middle of the top for fun---and if you have extra chocolate--grate some on top. I would refrigerate these a few hours or overnight before serving! I was amazed at the difference this made.


 

Fresh Fruit Tart...

In the summer of 1993, someone brought a fresh fruit tart with a cookie crust and a cream cheese filling to a party.  A near riot of joy broke out. The tart came from "The Farm" bakery/cafe in Aptos, California. Still wildly popular...it kind of reminds me of a fruit pizza!

Yield: a 12" tart -- Serves 8-10

Note: If you make the crust and the filling one day and fill it with fruit the next, the crust will stay crisp, and the flavors will meld. If you make it and eat it all the same day --that works too. It's showy and as easy, as well... pie!

Ingredients:

Crust: 
1/4 C sugar
1 1/3 C flour
10 T already melted butter

1/2 t almond extract (or vanilla)

If you don't want to make crust you can always use Pillsbury Sugar Cookie refrigerated dough-- this homemade version, however, is more like shortbread and is less sweet.

Filling:
1 (8-oz) pkg. cream cheese--softened
1/3 cup powdered sugar (if you like things super-sweet use 1/2 C)
1 t vanilla extract

Fresh Fruit Topping:  
Use 3 C or more of any combination of those listed below:

Strawberries (cut in half or quarters--looks pretty as a "star" in the center of the tart)

Peaches or nectarines (sliced thinly)
Blueberries
Blackberries
Olallieberries  
Raspberries
Seedless grapes (slice in half and lay sliced part down for easy eating)
Red pears (sliced thinly)
Kiwi (sliced thinly--you can overlap these when you lay them on the crust--artsy)
Star Fruit (sliced thinly--best used on top of another fruit like blueberries or in the middle of the tart)
Exception to fresh: canned mandarin oranges--super easy--no slicing!

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together the dry ingredients. Add melted butter and almond extract and stir until dough forms. Press dough into a 12-inch tart pan with a removeable bottom, pressing dough up the sides and until the dough is smooth and flat in the middle. Prick the dough on the flat part of the pan with a fork 3 or 4 times. Bake until golden 20-25 minutes. Remove and cool.

Mix filling ingredients together in a small bowl with a mixer and spread thickly on cooled crust. Place washed fruit on a paper towel and pat dry with a second towel. Next, arrange fruit on cream cheese filling in concentric circles starting with the middle and working outward. Make fruit glaze...

Fruit Glaze:
1/2 C fruit juice (apple, peach, pineapple)
1/4 C sugar
1 T cornstarch (mix with a T of water before adding)
OR or melt some apricot preserves in a small sauce pan to use for glaze

Directions:

Combine fruit glaze ingredients in a saucepan and heat to a simmer. Simmer until thick and remove from heat. Cool slightly before brushing on to fruit. You can also melt (gold-colored) apple jelly if you'd rather not go to the trouble of making your own glaze.