VANILLA CUPCAKES WITH GLOSSY CHOCOLATE FROSTING

The first batch of cupcakes that I ever tried baking were for my brother when he was as little as 6 or something. Now he is writing his 12th std board exams! Time sure flies!  I got a recipe for Chocolate Cupcakes from 'Hindu'(an Indian Newpaper) and I promptly cut that out and stuck it on my mother's recipe book since I didn't own one then. We didn't have cupcake liners at home then, so I made the whole thing as a cake. There was a recipe for a frosting too which called for 'cooking chocolate'. Even today, it's hard to find 'cooking/baking' chocolate in Kannur, so you could have imagined the situation 12 years ago! So, we went with my favourite chocolate, Cadbury's Dairy Milk  and tried melting it in the microwave. I had no idea that the chocolate will maintain it's shape unless we stir it...sadly it was burnt in the centre.

But, I didn't give up, I scraped out the good parts and made the frosting with it. It came out really good.He loved the cake and from that day on he used to ask me to bake the same cupcakes and I always ...always postponed it. I have made him so many other stuffs, but never got to baking those chocolate cupcakes as 'cupcakes'. I will bake it for him the next time I'm home :) You will see the recipe here, very soon! :)

Those cupcakes look cute, don't they? I made these cupcakes for Jobin to take to work last week. They smelt so good while they were baking and was even more tempting after I pulled it out of the oven. I really couldn't resist clicking a picture of these cuppiecakes!

I frosted them with a simple frosting which was so glossy that I could see my reflection on it. I kept everything simple even though I wanted to do those fancy swirls with the 1M tip, but then he would have had a hard time taking it to office . Actually, I would have given him a hard time saying, 'Keep the box straight, okay? No,no! Don't press on that! Argh! You are not going to keep the swirls in place...Just give that box to me...I told you not to do that!' Blah Blah!

So to prevent all that, this the best frosting I could do. You let them set for a while and then it doesn't even stick to your fingers nor leave a mark on it unless you poke your fingers into it like I did later just to see whether the glossy frosting can yield at some point,atleast! :) The recipe for these cupcakes was in my recipe diary from a very long time, even before I started blogging and I have no idea where I got it from. I am sure it's from some aunts of mine :) Whoever it is, Thank you so much! I had used the same recipe for my Craisin-Orange Squarecakes where you also get to  see a step-by-step process of how these babies are made.

VANILLA CUPCAKES with GLOSSY CHOCOLATE FROSTING
Recipe source for frosting- Alice Medrich (She calls it Fast Fudge Frosting)

Ingredients:
Cupcakes:
2 c all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt (omit if you are using salted butter)

1 c sugar
1/2 c unsalted butter ,room temperature
2 eggs
1/2 c milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

Glossy Frosting: (I made only half the amount and I still had some left over)
6 tbsp unsalted butter
1 c granulated sugar
1 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1 c heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
Salt (omit if using salted butter)

Method:
Cupcakes:
Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F and position the rack in the centre.
Prepare a 12- cup muffin tin by placing the cupcake liners in it.

Sift the dry ingredients together, if possible, thrice.
Cream the butter and sugar for 3 mins.Add in the eggs one by one and beat it will for 1 minute after each addition.
Next with the motor running,add the flour and milk alternately starting and ending with flour.
By now the batter should be light and fluffy.
Spoon it into the cupcake liners, about 2/3 rd's full, which will be about 2 1/2 tbsp.
Bake for 20-25 mins or till the top is lightly golden brown in colour and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Remove from the tin immediately and let it cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:
In a saucepan,melt butter. Stir in the sugar and cocoa. Gradually stir in the cream.
Heat over medium heat, stirring till everything is mixed well and is smooth and hot but not boiling.
Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and a pinch or two of salt, to taste.
Set aside to cool. Dip the cupcake upside down in to the frosting and let the excess drip off.
Turn the cupcake and place it on a plate/rack and let the frosting set.

Verdict: Very soft buttery cupcakes! The frosting is such a charm to work with...gives you perfect shiny results every time you dip the cupcake into it! :)

CHOCOLATE ALMOND BROWNIES

Thank you all so much for your precious comments on my Interview in Women's Era Jan 2011. You guys rock!! Now let me get my feet firm back on the ground! :-) It still feel so surreal! Anyhow, I baked a batch of brownies  before 'the' news broke but I wanted to share that  with you more than the baked goodie, so the brownie post had to wait.
There's something with me and brownies. I just cannot let go off a single recipe! I read through it and try to compare to what I have made before. And I bake a batch of 'em. This happens all the time including this time :-) Jobin doesn't seem to get fed up with it, so it's kind of OK with me baking brownies every now and then. This one is again from Alice's new book and is definately a delicious one.I just realised that I should tell you about my 'certain' food problems.

Whenever something (obviously food!) catches my fancy,I have to make it at home,whatever it may take and however long I have to wait! Initially it was the Joconde Imprime on the Chocolate Mousse Cake I found in Bangalore then it was Brownies and now I have many many more to add to my list and all of them are WIP (Work In Progress). I hunted for the perfect homemade brownie and made an American Brownie using my friend's mom's recipe.But now, my taste has definately refined over the years and I am looking for much more intense flavoured, chocolate-y stuff. Of course, I have my go-to recipe for a good brownie...but I still love that anxiety,that excitement, that wonder, the pressure of getting the crackly crust and the perfect texture inside it. That makes me go on and on baking brownies one after another!

Now, I have laid my eyes on a few things which I really want to try at home and someday I will. Till then, let me leave you with yet another intensely chocolate-y brownie recipe :)

CHOCOLATE ALMOND BROWNIES
Recipe:Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy by Alice Medrich. Pg 225


Ingredients:
4 tbsp unsalted butter
11 oz (approx.300g) chocolate chips
2/3 c sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
2 large eggs,cold
1/3 c plus 1 tbsp  unbleached all purpose flour
1 c almonds

Method:
Line an 8-inch square tin, the bottom and all 4 sides with foil.
Pre-heat oven to 180C/350F and position the rack in the middle.

Melt the chocolate and butter together, till smooth.
Stir in the sugar, salt and vanilla, if using.
Add 1 egg, stirring until it is incorporated. Repeat with the second egg.
Stir in the flour and beat with a wooden spoon or spatula until the batter is smooth and glossy and comes away from the sides of the bowl; it is critical that the batter pulls away, so do not stop mixing until it does.
Pour into the baking tin,spread it evenly but with lots of raised swirls and ridges and top with almonds.
Bake for 30-35 mins, until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out with a few moist crumbs, not totally gooey.
Cool on rack, lift the foil ends to transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Cut into 16 squares.

Verdict: Just like any other Alice's recipe, this one is equally good. It has a deep chocolate-y taste and the crunch provided by the almonds add to the delicious-ness! Gosh, I really hope somebody comes up with a rule of no more new brownie recipe ever again! ;-) This is a temptation which I find hard to resist. I mean, look at those soft-bellied chocolate squares...how can you just take your eyes off them ??

COCOA BROWNIES WITH CRUNCHY MACAROON TOPPING

One of the best things living in Minneapolis so far is that I got to meet and greet some of my favourite people. When I say my favourite people (in this context), they are not my family, but friends through blogging. Earlier last year, I met Zoe & Jeff of ABin5 fame. I went for their bread baking class on Healthy Bread In 5 Minutes a Day and it was fun!!A few weeks ago, I met Alice Medrich.She was on a tour for her new book Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-your-mouth Cookies and Minneapolis was her first stop.When I got to know about it, I booked my seat right away because I couldn't wait to hear that they are sold out.This happened in July. The class was in November :-D I just couldn't risk not being there when she was in town!!

 So, that Nov.15 evening, Jobin said he would get back home as soon as possible from work,so that he could drop me at the cooking school. Everything went smooth. I checked my bag for my camera and pen. Everything was in place. All we need to do was to leave. And we left for the school.It is just a 15 minute drive and it's a road that we are very used to. We even got onto the HOV (special lane for cars with 2 or more people in it) to avoid the after-office- hour traffic. Everything went smooth till we took the wrong exit! My hands went cold. I just didn't want to be late, atleast that day. I kept calm because I could see the worry on his face. Poor thing, he knew how much I had longed to be a part of Alice's class and I had been waiting for months now! I said, 'It's Ok,as long as we get there before the class gets over'.

Finally we reached there, maybe 10 mins late.He left me on the sidewalk and I ran. Yes,I ran on the slippery pavement (it snowed the night before). I felt I was running,but later he said, 'I thought you'd run to the class, but you just walked!'. So, maybe I was running inside :-)
Here's some cookies that she made for us ME! :)

Meeting Alice was definately a blessing, because I am a true fan of hers. I simply love all her books and the way she takes us through each of the steps.She is such a lovely lady to meet and greet.I shouldn't forget to mention...her recipes are fool proof! Here are some of her pictures, in action!

If you have this book and you are searching for this particular recipe, you maynot find it because I combined 2 recipes together to give some crunch to the otherwise plain brownie (which is by the way ,absolutely delicious!).

COCOA BROWNIES WITH CRUNCHY MACAROON TOPPING
Recipe: Chery Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-your-mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich



Macaroon Topping:
Page no:176
Ingredients:
1 large egg white
Scant 1 1/4 cups dessicated coconut (The original called for unsweetened dried flaked, since I didn't have any, I went ahead with this)
1/4 c sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
Large pinch of salt

Cocoa Brownies:

Page222

Ingredients:

11 tbsp unsalted butter

1 1/4 c sugar

1 scant cup cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1/3 c plus 1 tbsp all purpose flour,preferably unbleached.

Method:
For the topping:
Combine all the ingredients together in a stainless steel bowl and double boil it by setting it over a large pan filled with barley simmering water.
Stir the mixture, scraping the bottom to prevent burning until the mixture is very hot to touch and the egg whites have thickened slightly and turned from translucent to opaque,3-5 minutes. (For me, none of these worked!So I went ahead stirring it for almost 10 minutes.)
Set the batter aside for 30 mins to let the coconut absorb the moisture while you make the brownie batter.

For the brownie:
Pre-heat the oven to 325F.Position the rack in the lower third of the oven.
Line your tin with aluminium foil.

Melt butter in a bowl set directly in a pan of simmering water. Add the sugar, cocoa and salt.Stir until the ingredients are blended and the mixture is hot.
Remove the bowl and let the mixture cool till it is warm to touch.Mix in the vanilla.
Add the eggs, one at a atime, mixing vigorously with a spatula after each addition.
When the mixture looks thick,shiny and well blended, add all of the flour at once and stir until you cannot see it any longer.
Then mix vigorously for 40 strokes with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula .
Spread evenly in a pan.
Top with the coconut topping and bake for 20-25 mins (mine took 32 mins) or till a toothpick inserted into the center comes out dirty looking.
Let it cool.Peel away the foil and cut them into squares. Enjoy!

Verdict:
Jobin is a big fan of macaroons. So he had a double treat! Trust me, you will never miss the chocolate here. It is so fudgy and nice that it is hard to believe that we can get the same texture as that of chocolate browines with the cocoa powder.

So now don't give me an excuse saying,'I didn't have chocolate, so I couldn't make brownies!' :-) Go ahead and try them just as is or with the topping.You are going to love it!

Guess who I met today?

Yes, it's true! I met her! More on this in the next post :-)

CHOCOLATE FUDGE CUPCAKES

Talk about cravings! I get very specific cravings all the time! A few days ago I was craving for a homemade chocolate cake and this is what satisfied me! It really did satisfy the chocolate hungry girl in me!

I have read in many places that a girl should have a good chocolate cake recipe with her, just like a LBD. I would say, in my case, this chocolate cake would be my Lil' Black Dress! :-) The simplicity of this recipe and the amazing result it gives you, you can never go wrong. There was a frosting recipe for the cake and I didn't do it because I am trying to divide my butter intake in 2 cakes rather than in 1 :-)

I couldn't wait for the cupcakes to cool down, got Jobin also along with me. So, as soon as the tray popped out of the oven, we both gobbled up  one each. B.L.I.S.S.
Some of our friends ( I would say LUCKY!) dropped by that evening, so we shared some with them as well.I think my life has a new motto now...bake & share! :-)

CHOCOLATE FUDGE CUPCAKES
Recipe source : Alice Medrich



Ingredients:


Flour-1 c
Unsweetened cocoa powder-1/4 c + 2 tbsp
Baking soda-1/2 tsp
Salt-1/4 tsp (omit salt if you are using salted butter)
Unsalted butter- 1 stick/ 113 g
Brown sugar-1 1/4 c, packed
Eggs-2
Vanilla extract-1 tsp
Hot water- 1/2 c

Method:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180C /350F. Prepare your baking tin.
• In a heat proof bowl, melt butter and allow it to cool slightly.
• Add the sugar to it and mix it up using a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon.
• Add in both the eggs & vanilla together and mix till combined.
• Dump in all the dry ingredients (no sifting needed unless cocoa is lumpy) and mix till flour is just incorporated.
• Add in the hot water and mix till everything blends in well.
• Pour into the baking tin and bake for 35-45 mins.
• Cool the cake in the tin for 10 mins and then demould it and let it cool completely.
• I baked them in my silicone cupcake moulds and this batter yielded 12 cupcakes.

Verdict: How can a chocolate cake get more simpler? It's a one bowl, mixer-free,easy clean up cake recipe! An absolute winner! Try it for yourself and see!

This is going to be my most fave chocolate cake until I find the next one! Usually my search for the perfect chocolate cake never ends, but after trying this one, I think I can rest my search! Phew!

MOCHA MARBLE CHEESECAKELETS.

We both are CRAZY about desserts and we love baking them and sharing it too! Is there something called as the baking soul-sisters? If so, maybe we are one of that :-)

So,When I recieved an email from Nachiketa asking if I could do a guest post for her as a part of her 200th post celebrations, I willingly accepted. I had to make something which we both haven't made before, and of course, it had to be a dessert!That evening I went to our library and went through the whole section of dessert books and finally picked up one. Then it was a task to choose from it. I know Nachiketa & myself has a soft spot for cheesecakes & coffee,especially Tiramisu Cheesecake, so cheesecake it was!

MOCHA MARBLE CHEESECAKELETS
Recipe adapted from A Year in Chocolate by Alice Medrich


Ingredients:
Crust:
Chocolate wafer crumbs/Oreo cookie crumbs-1 1/2 c ( I used Parle-G + 2 tbsp of cocoa powder)
Butter-6 tbsp, melted
Sugar-1/4 c
Coffee powder-1 1/2 tsp

Filling:
Milk chocolate-40 g
Coffee powder-3/4 tsp
Boiling water-1 1/2 tbsp
Cream cheese-650 g
Sugar-1/2 c
Vanilla extract-1 1/2 tsp
Eggs-2, at room temperature

To see rest of the post, hop over to her beautiful blog!

This is a guest post for Nachiketa of The Variable, Crazy Over Desserts - Nachiketa. You can also Catch her on facebook @ Crazy Over Desserts Join her page and leave a comment to become eligible for her special Giveaway prize.

Nachiketa, I wish you all the best  and may you have many many more! To another 200!

CREAM SCONES WITH CHOCOLATE CHUNKS...re-living childhood!

You all must have read about my love for Enid Blyton's stories and how I still drool over the food mentioned in her books. Scones were the highlight for me, then. I had no idea how it looked or felt like until I got a cookbook from my grandmother when I was about 10 or 12 years old. It was a cookbook she bought when she lived in Malaysia.I do not have the cookbook with me right now or else I could have shared it's name with you all.

That book had a lot of recipes for scones. It even had something called griddle scones and that fascinated me more than Enid Blyton's and hence I gave it a try. Sadly, it was really bad! I have no idea whether it was my fault or it was the book, but I think it was the former considering my age, then ;-) And there ended my dreams about eating or even thinking about scones!

But the scones I saw on Alice's book changed my mind. It had some of the world's best ingredients so it had to be good! And boy! I was bowled over by it's taste and texture! It is just amazing! I think every scone -lovers should try this recipe, it's simply delicious!

CREAM SCONES WITH CHOCOLATE CHUNKS
Recipe source : Bittersweet by Alice Medrich

Ingredients:
Flour-2 c
Sugar-1/4 cup plus some for sprinkling
Baking powder-2 tsp
Salt-1/2 tsp
Semi-sweet chocolate-3 or 4 oz, roughly chopped
Cream-1 1/4 c + 1 tbsp for brushing the tops

Method :

• Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
• Make a well in the centre and pour in the cream. Using a rubber spatula, mix the cream with the flour from the centre towards the edges of the bowl, in a cut & turn method.
• Once it forms a rough shaggy mass, form it into a dough using hands. DO NOT knead. Just gather all the lumps together and bring it together using the help of the sides of the bowl. DO NOT make it a smooth dough.
• Pat the dough into an 8" round with 3/4" thickness on  a lightly floured surface.
• Cut it into 8. Brush the tops with cream and sprinkle some sugar.
• Place the triangles on a baking sheet lined with double layer of parchment paper. There should be a min. of 1" gap between the triangles.
• Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 F for 20 mins of till the tops are golden brown.
• Cool on wire rack and serve warm or at room temperature.

Verdict: This was my very first real scone experience and I simply loved it!They were soft and tender and very light.The chocolate in it does not mingle with the other ingredients, instead, it melts and waits for you to take a bite!All in all, it was one helluva scone! ;-)
Jobin always liked scones, so this one was a definite hit with him! We shared it with some of our friends over the weekend and they adored it!