Tres Leches Cake with Chantilly Cream

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Two words describe this cake.

GET OUT....  GET OUT!

Ok, that is four.  But seriously, this cake is shout it from the street good!

Last year, I made tres leches cupcakes that were not only dry, but sticky.   A true disappointment since this cake should be extremely moist.  This year, I went simple and went with a recipe from "The Joy of Cooking".  There weren't a ton of ingredients and this took me about 10 minutes to put together.  In my book...there is nothing more simple!

Not only is this cake moist like a sponge when you bite into it, but it melts in your mouth!  I know this cake traditionally has maraschino cherries on top, but truthfully, I don't like them.  I put cinnamon on the top, instead.  In fact, the first time I had this cake, 2 years ago at Forest Grill in Birmingham (February 20th to be exact) it also had cinnamon on top, and was so amazing, I went into labor.  (I know...it wasn't the cake...just sheer coincidence, but it's something I will always remember as being 'my last meal').

This cake will definitely have to be on a rotation because to bust this cake out for only Cinco de Mayo would be too sinful.

Now, GET OUT of here and make this cake!

Ole'!















Tres Leches Cake
recipe derived from: "The Joy of Cooking"


Sift together in a small bowl:
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

In a separate bowl mix until fluffy and light yellow:
4 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
Then-after beating, add 1/4 cup whole milk.  Beat again until combined.

In a clean separate bowl, beat until stiff peaks:
3 egg whites
pinch cream of tartar

In a separate bowl mix together, and set aside:
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup evaporated milk
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.

Fold the dry ingredients with the egg yolk ingredients just until about combined.  Then fold in the egg white mixture in 2 portions.  Fold gently, just until the whites are mixed in.

Pour batter in a greased 9x9 pan or 11x7 pan.  Bake for about 25-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean and cake springs back.  Mine took about 28 minutes.  Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes in the pan.  Poke holes in the cake about an inch apart with a toothpick.  Pour 3-milk mixture over the top, leaving about 1/8th of a cup leftover (I did because it seemed to be soaked enough) making sure to get all the corners and sides.  Cover pan with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for an hour or overnight.

Slice squares and plate.  Top with Chantilly cream (recipe below) and sprinkle cinnamon on top, serve immediately after topping with cream.


Chantilly Cream
1.5 cups heavy whipping cream
2.5 tablespoons confectioners sugar

Directions:
Whip cream until soft peaks, add confectioners' sugar.  Mix again until combined.

Chocolate Flower Cupcakes with Fondant Lady Bugs and Flowers

I made these cupcakes for my friend's shower this weekend in order to fill in the gaps of additional guests.

At first, I chose cupcakes because, typically, they are relatively quick and easy.  Of course, while researching "You Tube" for some decorating techniques for the cake, I found this cute little technique and decided, I had to try it!

Fast forward to the day before the party, I was in full force cake decorating mode.  I get my bag and tip together (a Wilton 124 tip) and discover I had a major problem.  A left handers problem.  Crap.  Why didn't I think of this while I was at the cake store?  Surely they were now closed.  I was going to have to get handy with my right hand, or convince my husband to do it.  I decided that me using my right hand to pipe the frosting was probably my best bet.  By the second cupcake, I had carpal tunnel. (Seriously, my wrists are hurting from rolling out all the fondant from the cake).  Then, the light bulb went off....I could use my left hand, I just had to work in the opposite direction.  From then on, it was smooth sailing.

What I love about these cupcakes is that they look like a flower!  They are so cute and look great with the lady bugs.  These cupcakes were a true hit with all the guests, especially the kids!  I will surely use this technique again!

I used my go to chocolate cake, and this vanilla buttercream.

Lady Bug Fondant Cake with White Vanilla Cake and Chocolate Cake and Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream Filling

This past week has been 'adventures in cakeland'.  One of my good friends was having a baby shower and I offered to make the cake.  At first, it started out for a group of 50, which quickly turned into 75.  No need to panic....its nothing that a few cupcakes couldn't fix.  In the end...it was one cute dessert display.

Now, most people wouldn't offer to make an extraordinary cake like this on their own free merit.  But if you knew my dear friend....you would definitely understand why.

Besides being one of the nicest people I have ever met, she is so genuine, so kind, and very fun to talk to.  We met while standing up for my cousins wedding and got to know each other on a 3-hour car ride to the bachelorette party, which ended up being a 4-hour car ride after we missed our exit, completely consumed in conversation.   We've been friends ever since.  It's so interesting how people come into your life.

When I asked her what kind of cake she would like for the party, she said, "Don't worry about being gender specific, I just want a happy spring-y cake."  As for flavor-she wanted my vanilla bean white cake (one of my personal favorites).  I decided since there were so many people, we would add a small chocolate layer and chocolate cupcakes, also.  Last minute, I added raspberry puree to the swiss meringue buttercream filling.  Just a nice added touch, and something I knew my friend would never ask for, herself.

When doing some 'google' image searching, looking for inspiration, the first image that popped up was this cake.  You know that feeling?  The feeling you get when the hair stands up on the back of your neck?  I got it.

My friends father passed away before I knew her.  I knew they were very close and she once told me how lady bugs reminded her of her dad.  She said that whenever she had a bad day, she would see a lady bug (even in the dead of winter when lady bugs shouldn't even be around) and she just knew it was her dad saying "It's going to be okay."  I had forgotten about it, until I saw this cake.  I knew....I had to make it.  It didn't matter if it took me 2 weeks.  I was making it.

I started the Wednesday before the party--just to be certain there weren't any mishaps.  I made all of my lady bugs, leaves, and flowers first.  Then I worked on the homemade fondant, cake layers, swiss meringue buttercream, and raspberry puree.  Then I frosted and assembled each layer the day before the party, and assembled the entire cake and decorated it the morning of the party.

Of course, I pulled up to the restaurant, at the same time 'the mom to be' did.  I had to tell her to take a hike, because I didn't want her looking at the cake just yet!

By the time I got the cake in, and set up, she was busy mingling.  I was sweating.

I was a bundle of nerves.  First, I was afraid that I was going to drop the cake while walking up the stairs.  Then, I started asking myself crazy questions like:  What if she doesn't like it?  What if she gets to upset over the lady bugs, Is this thing leaning??

Before I could even make myself crazy with anymore of my anal antics,  she turns around to look at the cake and just stands there for a minute.  Then I see tears well up.  She starts fanning her face and hugs me.  And all she can get out is, "The lady bugs, it has lady bugs.  It's just perfect."

Who knew cake would have such an impact....

It really is more than just cake.

Banana Cream Pie

I was never one to order or make a pie.  After joining TWD (Tuesday's with Dorie) a few years ago, I began to break out of my cake/cookie mold and started to try new things, including pies.  While I need serious work on my pie crust skills, I must say I really enjoy homemade pie!

The last time I made this pie, I made a ton of alterations-adding a peanut butter layer and a chocolate ganache layer.  It was SOO good but I wanted to just try making a simple version as I was already tackling a few other desserts for Easter.

I made sure I read my notes from the last time I made this--I had a bit of trouble with the custard layer curdling on me.  This time, I was greatly prepared for this and as soon as this started to remotely bubble, I yanked it off the stove as quick as possible and ran it through a sieve over a clean cool bowl.  The custard was a complete success!  I was very pleased with the taste of the cinnamon!   One shortcut I had to make--the pie crust.  I bought a pie crust at Trader Joe; it is very close to homemade if you are in a pinch.  I will say, this pie was excellent...but would have been perfect had I made my own crust.

Click here for the recipe, I followed it to a T with exception of the pie crust.

For my alternative version with peanut butter and chocolate ganache, click here.

Easter Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Sugar Cookies

Last year, I took Easter off.  The thought of hosting a large group of people at my house while I prepped all week, then cleaned up after all the company, was just not in the cards since my little G was only about 6 weeks old.  This year, I was much more able to handle it all--including making 2 desserts.

From the first Easter I spent with my husbands family, I made carrot cake.  It just seemed like the right thing to do.  The last few years I've strayed from carrot cake and made a Key Lime Tart, which is equally as delicious, however my husband just isn't a huge fan of citrus desserts.  I decided to bring the carrot cake back into the Easter routine (as well as banana cream pie--you will see that on a future post this week).

I've always made the Better Homes and Gardens carrot cake, ever since I FIRST started baking.   In fact, it was one of the first cakes I made for my husband when we first started dating, 7 years ago.  I just wanted to try something new this time to see what was out there.  I've been pulling out my Joy of Cooking book a lot lately and decided I would give their version a try.  I had to change a few things, but overall--the cake got rave reviews.

It's funny.  When you pull out desserts, people get excited.  I think everyone gets excited for food in general, but there is just something about dessert.  When I set the cake on the table, it got a lot of 'oooh's and ahhh's' but when I said, "It's carrot cake", every man at that table said, "OH!  I want a piece of that!" What is it with men and carrot cake?

Overall, I would make this cake again.  It was extremely moist.  When I say, extremely, it was to the point the night before, when I pulled it out of the plastic wrap I stored it in,  that I pushed on the cake and  it seemed somewhat of a wet sponge.  I panicked.  I thought, did I bake it long enough?  I knew that I surely did.  While assembling the cake, I had to level it off a bit and while tasting the pieces of the crumbs I determined that it was just moist.  Really moist.  I omitted the walnuts (I am not a huge fan of nuts in my cake and I have several allergic family and friends with nut/walnut allergies which meant less sharing opportunity), I also omitted the raisins and pineapple.   I think, had I added them, the cake may not have been so overly moist and the layers may have been a lot higher.

This recipe makes 2, 8-inch round cake layers, each about 1-inch in height.  If I made this cake again, I would double the recipe to be able to slice each layer in half to make this a 4 layer cake.

I paired this with Georgetown cupcakes, "Vanilla Buttercream" recipe, which is really cream cheese frosting.

Carrot Cake
Adapted from "Joy of Cooking"


Sift and whisk together in a large bowl:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt

Whisk together in another large bowl:
2/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Stir in:
2 cups carrots
(you could also add 1 cup walnuts, 1 cup raisins, and 1/2 cup canned crushed pineapple drained if you wish, just reduce carrots to 1.5 cups)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line two 8-inch round pans with parchment paper.  Spray with cooking spray, then coat each pan with flour and tap out the excess.  Set cake pans on a large baking sheet.

Whisk flour mixture, then add it to the oil/egg mixture slowly.  Fold in carrots (this is where you would add any nuts/raisins etc) and mix until just combined.  Divide equally into the pans.  Bake 25-30 minutes.  I pulled mine out at 25 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting, (double this recipe), click here.

For my Cream Cheese Frosting Variation:


Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from Georgetown Cupcake
Yield: Enough to generously frost 1, 8-inch layer cake


3/4 cup butter, room temp
12 oz cream cheese, must be room temp (or else you risk curdling your frosting)
2 lb (8 cups) confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract

Directions:
Mix all together until fully combined and fluffy.

For the sugar cookie recipe, click here!
TO ASSEMBLE:
Level cake layers.  Wrap cooled layers in plastic wrap.  Put in freezer for 30 minutes or up to a day (you could do it longer but you compromise the fresh flavor).  Flip 1-layer and place bottom side up.  Frost the top with desired amount of frosting.  Place other layer on top.  Bottom side up.  Frost remainder of cake.  You can pop this in the freezer for 10-minutes in between frosting the layers to firm up the middle.  To place the cookies against the cake, pipe a tablespoon of frosting on the back of the cookie to make it stick.

Easter Lemon-y Sugar Cookies

My baby cousin, Billy (I can call him my baby cousin because my mom watched him when he was just a baby --sorry Bill!  ;)  ), is serving in the Air Force and will be away from the family for Easter this year.  My aunt wanted to make sure he had a nice care package before the holiday so she called to see if I could help out by making 5 dozen cookies.  Of course, sugar cookies had to be on the list and I decided that I would try my hand at decorating with royal icing instead of my traditional vanilla buttercream to keep them from getting smashed in the mail.  I think I need a bit more practice (who better to practice on than family) but I think a few of these turned out really cute!  It took a lot of will power to not eat all of these.  I know he and his fellow airman/and ladies will enjoy these.

This is my 'go to' sugar cookie these days.  I really like it.  It's sugary, and lemon-y and the perfect combination of crunch and chew.  I've tried several over the years, but I always come back to this one.

Send some cookies to someone you love!

Love ya, Billy!  Thank you for serving our country!  xo

Lemon-y Sugar Cutout Cookies

Recipe derived from: "Fabulous Cookies" by Hilaire Walden

¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temp

1 ¼ cups sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Zest of one lemon

Pinch of salt

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

Directions:

1.        In a mixing bowl, cream the butter. Then add the sugar and cream until pale and fluffy.

2.       Add the egg and yolk, one at a time. Then add the vanilla and zest.

3.       Sift the flour and salt mixture and add slowly with the mixer running. Be careful not to over mix. Only mix until the flour is just incorporated.
4.  Decorate as desired!  

Dark Chocolate Cake with Dark Chocolate Mousse Filling and Chocolate Italian Meringue Buttercream Chocolate Shavings and Chocolate Covered Strawberries

The winter months are busy with birthdays in my family.  Last year, I had just given birth to my sweet baby G, so my husband had to deal with a bakery bought cake.   After pulling off an extraordinary 1st birthday party for my daughter, I knew my 'husbands cake' would be a simple task to pull off.

This time, I made a slight improvement:  I added homemade chocolate covered strawberries!  I also tried a new chocolate mousse recipe for the filling.  I used this filling because it didn't have raw egg in it, and a few readers have asked me for one.  This is definitely good, and a perfect alternative if you are serving this cake to small children, pregnant women, or anyone that may have a compromised immune system ;).  I have never had an issue with using raw eggs, but sometimes, you have to be extra careful.  I will say, while this is the perfect alternative, the other mousse recipe seems to be a bit more rich, chocolaty, and fluffier.

I used my go to chocolate cake recipe, in 2, 8-inch round pans.  Each layer was sliced in half to make 4 layers.  Each layer was filled with chocolate mousse.  The cake was frosted with Italian Meringue Buttercream, and topped with chocolate shavings and chocolate covered strawberries drizzled with white chocolate.  The end result?  Divine.  Just DIVINE!

Chocolate cake recipe, click here.

Chocolate Italian Meringue Buttercream recipe, click here.


Dark Chocolate Mousse
recipe from Better Homes and Gardens

Ingredients:
8 ounces bittersweet or dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 egg yolks, beaten lightly
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Directions:
In a small heavy bottomed saucepan, add chocolate, eggs, sugar, water, and 1/2 cup heavy cream.  Stir over medium heat until mixture starts to bubble a little along the edges.  Remove from heat and add put in a bowl.  Put bowl over an ice bath.  Cool for about 15-20 minutes.  Stir about every 5 minutes.

Beat remaining 1 cup of heavy cream until soft peaks.  Fold into the cooled chocolate mixture in 3 additions with a rubber spatula.  DO NOT BEAT, this will cause the cream to break down and cause this to become soupy.  Cover with plastic wrap, touching the mousse.  Cool for about 2 hours or up to one day.

*you can use this as a simple dessert and serve with whipped cream and berries or you can fill a cake with it.  It will fill one 8-inch round cake.  It will fill approximately 3 layers.

Apple Blossom Fondant Yellow Cake with Chocolate Buttercream

Last night was my last Class #2 of Wilton.  (I've taken them somewhat out of order...and re-took #2 for a refresher).  I was put under a bit of pressure from my fellow classmate, Dolce by Dana, to step outside the box once again and NOT choose something from the Wilton suggestion book.  Originally I figured I might just take it easy this time but as the weeks drew closer I knew I would have to think of something.   Last time, I made flowers out of gumpaste and it was almost as the sky was the limit (there are just SO many beautiful choices with gumpaste).  But, this time, I felt as though I should probably stick with the flowers shown in class as I REALLY need more practice working with buttercream and royal icing flowers.

So off I went one saturday afternoon, working for several hours on 133 apple blossoms.  One discovery I made while in my Wilton classes 2 years ago was mixing a white icing inside the pink icing bag I was too lazy to clean out--it mixes almost a marshmallow-y swirl hue!  So this time I decided that I would mix the royal icing half way through which made the flowers half white/half mauve.  I really liked the way they turned out!


I realize, this cake actually resembles what really SHOULD be a cherry blossom.  I know.  But after googling "Apple Blossom" the pictures that popped up were cakes that resembled this.  And I only realized this AFTER making 133 apple blossoms.  133.  So I knew that, either way, even though it wouldn't be aesthetically accurate, I was going to go through with my original plan to get the practice drawing trees.

I tried some new recipes this time for experimental sake.  The cake is made of the Yellow Downy Cake from "The Cake Bible", and filled with a Chocolate Buttercream made with egg yolks from the same book and frosted with Italian Meringue Buttercream (well, what I had little of anyway).  Then covered in marshmallow fondant that was colored blue (and then somehow changed itself to purple).  I used 2, 9-inch pans, although next time I would definitely use 8-inch pans as these layers turned out way smaller than expected.

I'm not posting the recipe this time because I wasn't really a fan of the cake itself-I felt it was a bit on the dry side.  Overall...the practice was definitely worth the effort!  I will have to try this cake on a larger stacked scale...sometime soon!

Samoa Cupcakes

I hosted a CAbi party at my house last weekend and I knew one good way to get people over to my house was to bribe entice them with cupcakes.  It's sneaky.  Rather sneaky.

I knew that since the party was to be 'fashioned based' my cupcakes better come dressed for the party.  And did they ever!

I saw these sinful silhouettes over at Fields of Cake a few weeks ago and I nearly fell over.  THANKFULLY, I had made the deadline for hunting down a few boxes of Girl Scout cookies last minute.  And when I say, last minute, I mean checking the girl scout website for locations the night before they were set to close up shop, calling said locations, and then peeling into the parking lot at said location 30 minutes before girl scout table shut down, and knocking a few people over with my grocery cart on the way in.  It had to be done.  I meant serious business.

Meanwhile, I get home and realize I made a stupid mistake.  Stupid.  I only bought 2 boxes of Samoas.  Meaning....I only bought enough to make these once.  ONCE.  What was I thinking?  I could have thrown a few boxes of these things in my freezer.  Ugh.  Kicking my own leg....

Anyway, I will mention as a side note, since I was terribly rude to post these when you probably cannot get Samoas anywhere, that these cupcakes actually TASTE like a Samoa so there is no need to put the cookie on top.  It's for looks...and to tell the looker, "Hey, I am a Samoa cupcake, see?"  There are a few things you can do to the top that would probably really make it look like a Samoa, such as: drizzling more ganache on top with the caramel as well as drizzling a bit of coconut on top.  That should do it.

Besides the look of these cakes, I was really interested in the way she made her frosting.  It was something I have never seen anywhere and I read a lot of cake books, and A LOT of food blogs.  She used pudding mix.  I think this replaces a lot of the sugar because, well, pudding mix is basically sugar.  I must say, it creates a very dense flavor without that 'sugar in your face' flavor.  I might have to experiment with this stuff a bit more.  Plus, its super easy to make.

I changed a few of the recipes and ways this was made....so here we go.  

First, what's in this thing anyway?

Lets start with the bottom and work our way to the top:

Cookie Crust bottom

Chocolate cupcake

Chocolate coconut caramel filling

Chocolate ganache

Coconut Rum buttercream

Vanilla caramel

Samoa Cookie

Now before you freak out- yes.  This has a lot of components.  This is true.  BUT all components come together pretty quickly and you can break it down and do each over the course of a day or so.

Cookie Crust

Ingredients:

9 oz. cookies (I used TJ's mini choc chip cookies but you can use shortbread cookies and add a few tablespoons of mini chocolate chips)

2 tablespoons toasted coconut

4 Tbsp. unsalted butter melted

Directions:
Put ingredients (except for the butter) in a ziploc and roll a rolling pin over it to break it down into small pieces. Add the butter and mix around until all combined. Spoon about a tablespoon into each cupcake liner and tap it down with the back of the spoon. Bake at 350 for 8 minutes. Let cool and make your cupcakes.

Chocolate Cupcake for pictures, click here.

Beaty’s Chocolate CupcakesFrom: Ina Garten

Ingredients:
1 ¾ Cups all-purpose flour
2 Cups granulated sugar
¾ Cup good cocoa powder (I used Callebaut)
2 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 t. kosher salt
1 Cup buttermilk
½ Cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 t. pure vanilla extract
1 Cup freshly brewed hot coffee (I used a French roast)

Directions:
1. In a large mixing bowl: Sift flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt together.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla.
3. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry with the mixer on LOW.
4. With the mixer still running on low, add the coffee and mix just until combined.
5. Warning: Batter will be VERY thin (so thin you may think you are missing something)

6. Pour batter into cupcake liners or use an ice cream scoop. Fill 3/4 full.
7. Bake cupcakes for 17-22 minutes at 350 or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Coconut Chocolate Chip Caramel Filling

Recipe derived from Fields of Cake

Ingredients:

1/3 cup toasted coconut chopped (mush them up a bit with your fingers)

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

1 Cup sugar

1/2 Cup corn syrup

pinch sea salt (fine)

1/2 Cup water

6 Tbsp. unsalted butter cut into 6 chunks

1/2 Cup heavy cream (room temp)

2 teaspoons coconut extract

1 teaspoon rum extract

Directions:

Make sure all of your ingredients are measured out and sitting by the stove.  Caramel moves fast and everything need s to be ready.

In a heavy bottomed sauce pot, combine:  sugar, corn syrup, salt and water.  Whisk until mixture comes to a bowl and sugar dissolves. Cover pot for about 2 minutes and allow the steam to clean the sides of the pot.   Uncover and turn burner to high. Boil mixture without stirring until it reaches 315 degrees, this will take awhile.  (It took mine over 5 minutes but keep an eye on it and don't leave that stove!) Remove from the heat and swirl the pot.  (Mixture should be a light amber color).  Gently drop in the butter pieces and whisk.  Pour in the cream, and whisk again.  Stir in the extract.  Set aside about a cup of caramel (for the finishing drizzle).  Then add coconut, and chocolate chips to the caramel in the saucepan.  Don't worry, the chocolate chips are supposed to melt.  

Coconut Rum Buttercream

Recipe derived from Fields of Cake

Ingredients:

1 lb. unsalted butter, room temperature

1,  3-ounce package white chocolate pudding mix

1 1/4 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon rum extract

2 teaspoons coconut extract

1 cup powdered sugar 

Directions:

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat butter and pudding mix on high for about 5 minutes until fluffy.  Scrape down sides and add cream and extract.  Beat on high for another 5 minutes.  Turn mixer to stir and add powdered sugar.  Beat on medium high until combined.  Taste and adjust sugar and flavorings.

Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients:

6 oz dark chocolate, chopped 

3/4 cup heavy cream

Directions:

Put chocolate in a large bowl.  Put heavy cream in a microwavable measuring cup and microwave for about 1-2 minutes (until hot).  Pour cream over the chocolate and stir until confirmed.

To assemble:

(after cupcakes have cooled completely) cone out a nickel size hole with a pairing knife.  Pull out cupcake piece and reserve.  Fill with about a teaspoon of the chocolate coconut caramel mixture.  Put cupcake 'cork' back in.  Top with chocolate ganache. (I tipped the cupcakes over into the ganache and swirled them to stand them up).  I then put them in the refrigerator to set the ganache.  Pipe butter cream on.  Drizzle caramel on top of buttercream (the plain stuff without the chocolate/coconut).  Tip: don't put warm caramel on top it will melt the buttercream.  Top with a cookie.  EAT!

Vanilla Bean Angel Food Cupcakes with Chantilly Cream

My daughter had, yet another, birthday party this weekend.  This time, it was a joint party at a 'kid gym' for her and all her little friends that were born within the same month.  It was fun watching all the little ones play around on the mats and slides.  It's hard to believe I was a brand new mom this time last year.  I remembered sitting back at some point and thinking....how on earth did I get here???  I vividly remember playing outside at recess myself, and now, I am someone's mother?  This is crazy.

Anyway, to keep things simple, and somewhat less messy, and less sugary, I decided to make the kids vanilla bean angel food cupcakes with Chantilly cream.  The original recipe contained a yummy raspberry filling but since we would be at a place without high chairs or anything to contain our 'on the go' little ones, I omitted that.  These were light, spongy little cakes with just the right amount of sweetness from the cream.  I know my little G loved them as did many of the parents.  

Now I just need to figure out what to do with the leftover 10 egg yolks!

Vanilla Bean Angel Food Cupcakes

Recipe derived from Food and Wine

Cupcakes
Makes between 24-30 (depending on how you fill them)

1 cup cake flour
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
10 large egg whites (1 1/4 cups), at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 plump vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 cup granulated sugar

Chantilly Cream Frosting

2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325°. Fill cupcake pans with paper liners.  In a small bowl, sift the cake flour with the confectioners' sugar. In a large bowl attached to stand mixer, combine the egg whites with the salt, vanilla seeds and cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Add Vanilla, beat again.  Gradually beat in the granulated sugar, until the whites are firm and glossy. Fold in the flour mixture in two parts with a large rubber spatula just until combined.  You don't want to over beat or mix this with the mixer because you will deflate the egg whites.
2. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups all the way to the top. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, shifting the pan from front to back, until the cupcakes are springy and golden. Transfer the cupcakes to a rack to cool.
3. In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat cream on medium low until the cream starts to thicken.  Turn mixer up with high until soft peaks form.  Turn mixer down to stir and add powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Mix on high until you get between soft and firm peaks.  Put cream into a piping back with piping tip of your choice.  Pipe into cupcakes and top with a raspberry.

Flourless Chocolate Torte with Raspberries and Cream

My husband isn't much for celebrating Valentine's Day.  I'm sure he probably thinks it's a stupid excuse for Hallmark to make a few extra bucks.  Truthfully, I love to celebrate EVERYTHING.


I celebrate life everyday, but a holiday that is based around love?  Count me in!  I wouldn't say I go overboard with crazy gifts and expectations, but it certainly gives me a chance to remind my husband how much I care about him and of course, make a special themed dinner.

I had all these great plans to do this elaborate dinner, invite friends over and eat chocolate all day long.  But--as nature would have it, my daughter came down with croup the week before.  I came down with bronchitis.  By the time Valentine's Day rolled around, I was dog tired from not sleeping and the last thing I wanted to do was cook an elaborate meal, and secondly, entertain anyone.  I talked myself into making this cake on Valentine's Day in the late afternoon.  My daughter was napping and I was starting to feel a bit better after my z-pack, so I figured, what the heck.

I have been eying this cake recipe from Williams Sonoma in my recipe binder for nearly 2 years (I know that is exceptionally long but I have A LOT of recipes on my wish list).  This was super easy to make!  It's very very chocolaty and it is very dense (due to the lack of flour).  You need quite a bit of chocolate for this recipe.  I used one of those really large chocolate bars from Trader Joe.

The verdict:  I really enjoyed this cake.  It was perfect for Valentine's Day!  I will say I cooked it for 10 extra minutes than the recipe said to, even though it said 'Don't over cook'.  Truth is, my oven typically cooks fast; but for whatever reason the center of this was pretty runny even when I finally pulled it out.  The cake is almost pudding/mousse like but more dense.  It was the perfect accompaniment to an indulgent night (watching The Bachelor while drinking a glass of wine).

Please excuse the 'nighttime' pictures as this wasn't ready to be sliced until late evening.  Man...I can't wait until summer!

For the recipe, click here.

Alterations:  I used instant espresso dissolved in water instead of the liquor.

Raspberry Swirl Mini Cheesecakes

I know. I told you we gave up sweets. While we still are trying to stay on track for the most part, we had plans to have our parenting group over and I certainly wouldn't impose goofy diet restrictions on anyone. Besides, I wanted to make these and it was the perfect way to be able to try one...and pawn off the rest.

But as nature would have it, I came down with a cold the morning we were supposed to host and we had to cancel. So I am left with 32 of these things. Not such a bad thing....if it weren't for that diet!

You know what I say? Diet schmiet.

I substituted the graham crust for a chocolate wafer crust. For the raspberry swirl I didn't follow the recipe because I had left over raspberry sauce from a Coeur a la Creme.

The result: creamy cheesecake filling, with sweet raspberry finish. The chocolate crunch crust compliments the raspberry flavor. I would definitely make these again. Surprisingly these were easy to make (for a cheesecake) and great because they are portable!

How to swirl the raspberry sauce in the cheesecake

For the Cheesecake recipe, check out Martha Stewart's page. This is for a full cheesecake but all you have to do is put these in cupcake tins with paper liners. Make sure you put them in a water bath. Bake for 22 minutes, and rotate halfway through.

Coeur a la Creme with Raspberry Sauce

I've been holding onto this recipe forever. I saw this Barefoot Contessa episode when my baby was very little. I didn't have the proper dish to make it so I put it on the back burner until I got around to ordering one. Truth is, I probably didn't need the pan--you can use a seive. BUT the pan is heart shaped and uber cute. Plus, it only set me back $8 on Amazon anyway. I'm a sucker for baking pans...just ask my husband.

Anyway, this is probably one of the EASIEST desserts out there despite the fancy name. I can't believe its taken me this long to experience this little piece of heaven.

Cooks tip: It's very rich and doesn't keep well in the refrigerator after you take the cheesecloth off and put the sauce on. My advice, either make this in small containers, cut the recipe in half or pour the sauce over the single servings OR just make sure you have a crowd to feed! I will mention also that the raspberry sauce made a TON. Way more than you probably need. I ended up having about 2 cups left over, both of which I froze into containers (1 cup each). They defrosted beautifully and I used one for flavor in an Italian Meringue Buttercream and for a cheesecake recipe (stay tuned for the post on the cheesecakes).

Raspberry and Grand Marnier Italian Meringue Buttercream

For the recipe, click here.

Triple Chocolate Cake and a Happy New Year from Cafe Coco!

Happy New Year everyone!! Do I even have any readers left??!!

The new year is a great time to renew yourself...and those long lost resolutions.

I was never big on making New Years resolutions. Maybe because I never felt I had reason to. But since becoming a mom, I've become so much busier in life that I forget about a lot of things. A lot of things I had TIME to remember! So my New Year's resolution is to make more time for myself, more time to 'love' cooking, and to make more time for my poor neglected blog!

A little update on me: Motherhood has grown on me. In the beginning, I wasn't really sure it would. It's a lot of work and leaves little time for things I once took for granted. Like making last minute runs to the grocery store when I forget something! I've grown so much as a person, and a wife in the last 10 months. I've learned to not sweat the small stuff (ok I still do, but certainly not as much). I also value the 'small stuff' my little girl does....because everything is so new and only lasts months, if not weeks. As I watch my little one grow, it's apparent that she enjoys being with me, especially when I am in the kitchen. She follows me everywhere I go. I look forward to her 'helping' me more in the near future. For now, as I make anything, I feel her pull up on my pant leg and tug at it until I pick her up. She watches my every move. I love that. She loves licking the bowl of chocolate cake batter just as much as I do. And the look on her face when I let her try frosting off the whisk was completely priceless. I don't know that she will love cooking as much as I do. But I have a good feeling she will enjoy eating as much as I do!

As for New Years Eve this year, you can imagine, it was quite laid back. Finding a sitter for the evening can be quite daunting! Besides that, I've always enjoyed spending the night at home entertaining other people. The last few years we've hosted NYE, and I've always tried a new dessert recipe. This year, as I flipped through pages of a few neglected magazines, I noticed a triple decker cake I've had my eyes on since I gave birth. I figured, what the heck. I have nothing to lose.

I'll warn you. This cake is not for the faint of heart. It's truly a chocolate lovers' dessert. It's rich, it's creamy, it's chocolaty. It's truly quite amazing. The bottom layer is a flour-less chocolate torte, the middle layer is deep dark chocolate mousse, and the top is a fluffy white chocolate mouse--which balances the chocolate quite nicely. I've never been one for white chocolate, but in this instance, it really works in this dessert's favor.

While the recipe is rather easy, it's a bit time consuming. If that bothers you, you could always break it up and make the cake portion the night before and make the mousse the following day (which actually does not take much time at all).

Overall, the effort is well worth it. As one of my guests said "Why is it that paparazzi always show up when you bring out food. That never happens at my house." Perhaps they should make this cake! It's certainly photo worthy! (Forgive my photos as I did not cut the cake until my guests came and it was dark!)

For the recipe, click here. (you will have to register on the site to see it, but it's free)

Happy New Year!

Cafe Coco

POM Italian Meringue Buttercream Chocolate Cupcakes

It's been months since I've made cupcakes.

Part because I have little time, and part because I am still working off baby weight. I have zero self control when it comes to cupcakes.

Fortunately though, the folks at POM sent me some POM juice to try in some recipes and I felt I probably shouldn't let them down. Not sure if cupcakes are what they had in mind but I guess we all need something good once in awhile.

These cupcakes are nothing short of amazing. The chocolate cake is rich, decadent, moist. The frosting is rich, creamy, and finishes with a bit of tang from the POM.

I took a few of these to my parenting group--they were definitely a hit. I mean...who doesn't like a cupcake?

Pomegranate is a super fruit--so is it's juice! It has more anti-oxidants than even Acai juice (I say that because that seams to be all the rage these days). Hey I feel better about eating these cupcakes already!! It's really easy to use in recipes, too. I found the best way to use it is to reduce it on the stove. I reduce about 1 cup in a saucepan for about 10-20 min until it reduces down to about 1/2 cup. I then add it to dressings, desserts etc.

For the recipe, click here. Just add 1/4 cup of the reduced POM juice at the end mixing the buttercream. I also added 2 tablespoons of vanilla extract.

For POM ice cream, click here!