Martha Stewart Cupcakes: Red Velvet and Chocolate Salted Caramel

This past weekend, I hosted a baby shower for my sister Meg. I am one of four girls and it was great to spend the weekend with my mom and four sisters. As a bonus, my super-cute baby nephew Oliver came up. I can't decide whether I am more obsessed with his blue eyes or his chunky baby thighs. I guess I will have to squeeze him again and Christmas and mull it over more. I used the Martha Stewart Cupcake book that I got a few months ago at a local book signing and I made two different kinds of cupcakes for the celebration- red velvet with cream cheese frosting and chocolate salted caramel. The red velvet cupcakes were easy to put together and the cream cheese frosting didn't overpower the flavor. The chocolate salted caramel recipe has homemade caramel inside. The recipe makes 56 mini-cupcakes but I altered it and made 18 regular sized cupcakes by baking it at the same temperature for 20 minutes. (Warning: The recipe makes way more caramel than you need for the cupcakes so you will be tempted to eat it all late at night while standing in front of an open fridge.) Here is a link to Martha's website for the red velvet cupcakes and cream cheese frosting recipe. Here is a link to the 52 Cupcakes blog where you can get the recipe for the chocolate salted caramel cupcakes. In addition to the cupcake photos, I threw in an extra shot of the sisters before the shower began. I am the silly one in the grey dress who is about to eat three cupcakes :).

TWD:Holiday Bundt Cake/Loaf and a TWD clothing model

Is it already the end of November? Where has the time gone? I am not ready for turkeys, mistletoe and New Year's toasts...I am still in more of a "put a little more suntan lotion on my shoulders and hand me the tropical drink hot pool attendant" mode. Alas, if you are feeling out of season like me, the Holiday Bundt Cake (chosen by Britin of The Nitty Britty) is the perfect way to get in the fall spirit. Take the traditional bundt cake and add chopped apples, nuts and dried fruit. I also used fresh Cape Cod cranberries that my mom bought me from her neck of the woods and it was amazing. I had my sweet youngest sister down for the weekend and she informed me that she HATES ginger. Fine, how about no fresh ginger but dried ginger? NO. OK dear, how about just a little ginger? NO. How about half the amount of ginger? NO. How about I make the bundt cake in two loaf pans and just put ginger in mine? OK, fine, I guess. (Those youngest siblings drive a hard bargain.)

Check out Britin's blog for the entire recipe and amazing food photography. I bet she doesn't use a crappy point and shoot camera and take pictures after the item is half eaten while two small children scream in the background and tug at her pant legs...just guessing. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving TWDers and I will see you back next week for more treats. As an extra treat, I have thrown in a photo of me wearing my brand-spanking-new Tuesdays with Dorie tank top (perfect for baking, watching E!, or sleeping) while holding a bunch of cupcakes I made for a baby shower this past weekend. I think I might have to make the TWD apparel like Flat Stanley and take it all over the world photographing it in odd locations.

TWD: Cran- Apple Crisps..better late than never

I guess this is technically Wednesday evening with Dorie, but who is quibbling when dessert is involved? This month, Tuesdays with Dorie is all over the map, allowing members to make anything on the list as long as they post all of them. Tonight, I made the mini cran-apple crisps chosen by Em at The Repressed Pastry Chef. If the traditional apple crisp isn't cool enough, you can add fresh and dried cranberries and throw some coconut in the crumb topping. I like the mixture of the tart with the sweet and the coconut in the crisp added a little mysterious Dorie-style coolness to the dish. I will definitely make this one again and look forward to trying coconut in a peach/blueberry or pear crisp next. I think this will be great cold with breakfast too.

Our hostess' blog is fabulous because the pictures are so appealing that they make you want to eat whatever she is cooking...right...now..this second :). Visit her blog for the entire recipe. Bake on and see you next week TWDers when I tackle the holiday bundt cake.

National Bundt Cake Day!

My blogger friend Mary has celebrated the past 30 days leading up to today (National Bundt Cake Day, November 15th) by baking a different bundt cake every day. I have celebrated along with her twice by baking a chocolate zucchini bundt cake and a lemon baby bundt cake. Today, I decided to cap off the holiday by making one last bundt.....a Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake. I am officially obsessed with the cookbook, Baked, and this recipe was calling my name. The recipe officially makes two loafs of bread, but that translated into one bundt cake cooked at 350 degrees for 75 minutes. It was delicious and really easy to put together. After all the complicated TWD recipes, it is nice to make something that doesn't require the mixer/food processor/room temperature ingredients. I will definitely make this one again.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake
adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking
3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp clove
1/2 tsp ginger
2 tsp salt
1 cup vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups pumpkin puree (15oz can)
3 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup water, room temperature
1 cup (12 oz) chocolate chips or chopped semisweet chocolate

Preheat the oven to 350F and position a rack in the middle. Grease and flour two 9x5 inch loaf pans or one standard bundt pan and line the loaf pans with foil or parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt. Set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk together the oil and pumpkin puree. Add the granulated sugar and whisk to combine. Add the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract and water. Mix in the chocolate with a rubber spatula.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Do not overmix (and don't worry if you see a few small streaks of flour). Divide into the two pans and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes, then unmold leave to cool completely.

CEIMB: Carrot, Green Apple, and Mint Salad

This week's Craving Ellie in my Belly recipe was chosen by Jessica of A Singleton in the Kitchen. She chose the carrot, green apple and mint salad featured on page 131 of The Food You Crave. OK, I am totally behind the 8-ball on this one, but I just noticed that Ellie Krieger's new book, So Easy, is winning awards and calling my name. I need to get that one asap!

This recipe combines chopped green apples with crispy carrot slices and fresh mint, all tossed together with a light mayo/greek yogurt based dressing. It is like the love child of waldorf salad and coleslaw. I made the apple and carrot slices on the bigger side so it looks less like a crappy deli-salad like and more Whole Foods salad bar like :). This recipe would be great as a side dish with a turkey burger or a grilled chicken best and reminds me of summer time and picnics. This is a good way to serve something healthy on the side without letting your guests know that they are eating healthfully. Thanks Jessica for a great pick. Visit her blog for the entire recipe!

TWD: Chocolate Chestnut/Walnut Cake

Wow. There are no words. Seriously, you food bloggers out there, I wonder what you are going to write about this one. This cake is ridiculous. It takes a regular cake recipe filled with butter, cream and chocolate and adds vanilla chestnut cream and whipped egg whites for height. There are three tiny layers within the cake separated by a homemade caramel chocolate ganache and nuts and then the whole thing is covered in chocolate. I substituted chopped walnuts for the chestnuts because I accidentally bought chestnuts in water and they were sort of gross in an animal-testicle-science class dissection sort of way. (I never thought the words testicle and dissection would appear in my food blog...apparently I have hit a new low.) It is complicated and expensive and elegant and totally worth it, all wrapped into one neat package. It took two days to make and assemble because the caramel ganache must sit in the fridge for a whole day so the flavors can have a chance to blend and mellow out. (Torture is walking by the fridge filled with ganache and not picking up a teaspoon to taste it.) I brought this to a dinner party where we had eaten amazing food for hours and hours and almost all of the guests had not one, but TWO pieces of this thing. It was that good.

Thank you Katya for picking a recipe that I never ever would have tried on my own yet now can't live without. Visit Katya's blog Second Dinner for the entire recipe.

Bundt Cakes Rock: The Lemon Baby-Bundt Edition

My blogger friend Mary is celebrating the whole month leading up to National Bundt Cake Day on November 15th by making a different bundt cake every day for 30 days. I made a Chocolate Zucchini bundt a few weeks ago as her bundt-a-riffic journey began. These bundts are calling my name and I had to make another one so I didn't have to get in the car and drive all the way to LA for a slice. This morning I had a few friends here and made the Lemon Lemon Loaf from Baked. I have made a few different things from Baked and blogged about them before (the Sweet and Salty Cake, the Red Velvet Cake, Rootbeer Bundt Cake, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Chocolate Cinnamon Swirl, Baked bars) but I have a lot of recipes left on my to-do list. The recipe makes two loafs, so I made one loaf and a bunch of tiny baby bundt cakes using this pan from the Martha Stewart Macy's collection. (I am blaming Mary for forcing me to buy this new pan...I couldn't possibly participate in National Bundt Cake Month using my old dinged up bundt pan, could I??!) The bundt cake uses lemon juice and lemon zest (along with gulp, four sticks of butter and full-fat sour cream) and then a lemon syrup and lemon icing. It is wonderful and would probably store well if you had self-control and could avoid eating the whole thing in one morning. I covered the loaf with the lemon syrup and lemon icing and covered the baby bundts with just a dusting of powdered sugar. I learned a very important baking lesson this morning....do not fill your baby-bundt pan up to the top or else it will muffin-top over and ruin the cute shapes. Oh well, better luck next time!
Check out Mary's Food Librarian blog and the I Love Big Bundts celebration.
Here is a link to the Lemon Lemon Loaf recipe and a whole article about Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, the authors of Baked: New Frontiers in Baking.