Laura's Surprise Strawberry Cupcakes....two months later

One of my favorite friends had a birthday back in January and so we all gathered for a little surprise birthday at Cuba Libra on Henderson in her honor. Side note: If you ever find yourself at Cuba Libra, I recommend the Dugeness Crab BLT Tacos and Mango margarita.

I thought it would be nice to make Laura some cupcakes, so I called her up and told her I would like to bake something for her since I had to work all weekend and was going to miss her birthday. (just fyi: DID NOT ruin the surprise. Even though I am sure some people would peg me as the type to spill the beans). Laura decided she wanted Strawberry cupcakes. Seriously? I haven't had a strawberry cupcake since the 2nd grade, but I would make it work. I scoured the web for some recipes (because I didn't want to use a box).

I found one recipe that used strawberry puree, strawberry gelatin and white cake box mix. I thought I could use it as a guideline to create my own from scratch strawberry cake. But I bought a box of cake mix and some extra frozen strawberries, just in case. In the end, the whole adventure turned out wonderfully.

Strawberry batter

Pretty in Pink

Strawberry Cupcake with Vanilla Buttercream

My friend loved (I'm pretty sure) the cupcakes and I was very satisfied how they turned out. I decided on a vanilla buttercream for the frosting. I think if I do strawberry cupcakes again, I might try a different frosting. The strawberry cake is so sweet I think I need an icing that will downplay the sweetness. Perhaps cream cheese?

Surprise!!

How do I get a birthday tiara?!

Make a wish

Let me admit that it has been too long since I made these cupcakes. Since I altered a recipe and I didn't write it down (iiiii-diot) I am going off my memory. I am pretty sure this will work out well...if it doesn't, ooops?

Here's the recipe:

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 cups sifted flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 3-ounce box strawberry gelatin
1 10-ounce package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons milk*

Procedure:
Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl
Cream butter and sugar
Mix in vanilla
Add eggs gradually
Add flour and strawberry puree alternately, beginning and ending with flour
Add milk in as needed*

*Since there was the strawberry puree, I used this as the liquid ingredient. The batter was a little thick, so I added milk a tablespoon at a time. I also needed to be careful not to overmix. So I would just be careful if you do end up making this recipe.

Dessert Party Recipes: Nut Cookies and Jam Tarts

Miracle of all miracles! A new post! I apologize for not posting at all recently, but I have been tres, tres busy. School started a couple weeks ago and between school and work I have had very little free time. And since school is back in session I really need to get this blog updated so I can share all my fun from the bakeshop. But for right now I am going to share some more Dessert Party recipes. The dessert party that was over a month ago. I feel like such a slacker.

Nut Cookie

Jam Tarts

I made both nut cookies and jam tarts during fundamentals last semester and they were both recipes I really wanted to try again at home. And I think they are perfect holiday cookies. I also got some graduated fluted round cookie cutters from Santa Claus that I was dying to use. Since both of these recipes are from school the ingredients are weighed, not measured.

NUT COOKIE

7 oz. Butter
2 1/2 oz. Powdered sugar
1 oz. Brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon Sea salt
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
8 oz. Bread flour
6 oz. Ground nuts*

Procedure:

Preheat oven until 350 degrees
Cream butter and sugars
Mix in flour, salt vanilla and ground nuts
Mold cookies into desired shapes
Bake until golden brown
Dust cooled cookies with confectioners' sugar

*You can use whatever kind of nuts you prefer. I used pecans.

-- -- -- -- -- --

The Jam Tarts are a short dough cookie with a jam filled center. We used a Stawberry Sambuca Jam my mom got at a craft fair and Smuckers Red Raspberry Jam.

BASIC SHORT DOUGH

8 oz. Butter
4 oz. Sugar
3/4 teaspoon Sea Salt
1 Egg
3/4 teaspoon Vanilla extract
12 oz. Pastry flour*

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Cream butter and sugar
Add egg
Mix in flour, salt and vanilla
After mixing the dough it's best to refrigerate the dough so the dough is cold when you are ready to roll it out
Roll out dough to 1/8-in. thick and cut out dough with large, round cutters. Using a 1/2-in. cutter, cut out the centers of half the rounds
Bake until cookies are golden brown around the edges. It's best to put the tops and bottoms on separate cookie sheets to ensure even baking
Once baked, cool completely
Sandwich the tops and bottoms together with a small dab of jam, so the jam shows through the hole on top
Dust the tops with confectioners' sugar (don't worry if the sugar covers the jam in the center hole. The water in the jam will absorb the sugar)

*You can substitute all-purpose flour for pastry flour

Dessert Party Recipes: Pumpkin Cheesecake with Bourbon Whipped Cream

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Bourbon Whipped Cream

I believe my oven woes have been well documented, so I was determined to make a cheesecake when I went home over the holidays. When we decided to add a second cheesecake to the menu, I asked for some suggestions and my brother wanted Pumpkin. I made this cheesecake the previous year for Thanksgiving; it's a great Paula Deen recipe. I thought adding a fresh bourbon whipped cream would enhance the flavor. Unfortunately, I failed to try the cheesecake with the whipped cream because I don't really like pumpkin flavor.

PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE

Crust:

1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 stick salted butter, melted

Filling:

3 8 oz. packages cream cheese
1 15 oz. can pumpkin puree
3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sourcream
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

For Crust:
Combine crumbs, sugar and cinnamon
Add melted butter
Press into 9-in. springform pan

For Filling:
Beat cream cheese until smooth
Add pumpkin puree, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar & spices
Add flour and vanilla
Beat together until well combined
Pour mixture into crust

Bake for one hour. Remove for oven and let sit for 15 mins.*

*Once the cheesecake has finished baking I like to turn the oven off and let the cheesecake sit in the oven for an hour with the door ajar to prevent cracking.

BOURBON WHIPPED CREAM

1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon bourbon

Procedure:

Whip cream and sugar until stiff peaks form
Fold in bourbon

Dessert Party Recipes: French Chocolate Bark

French Chocolate Bark

My mom and I were watching and episode of Barefoot Contessa on the Food Network and saw Ina prepare this recipe. Conveniently, we had some whole cashews and craisens already so we decided to add it to the line up. It's super easy to prepare and it turned out quite nicely. Although, the chocolate was a little to dark for me. I'm more of a milk chocolate girl, but whatevs.

FRENCH CHOCOLATE BARK

9 1/2 oz. very good semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
8 oz. very good bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup whole roasted, sald cashews
1 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Procedure:

Melt the two chocolates in a double boiler (or in a glass bowl over simmer water if you don't have a double boiler)
Line a sheet pan with parchment paper; using a ruler and pencil, draw a 9 x 10 rectangle and turnover (so pencil marks are on the bottom)
Pour the melted chocolate onto the parchment paper and spreadto form a rectangle, using the outline
Sprinkle cashews, apricot, and cranberries over chocolate
Set aside for 2 hours to firm
Cut into 1 x 3-inch and serve at room temperature

I think this would be a fun recipe to play with and create different types of bark with various types of chocolate, nuts and fruit.

Dessert Party Recipes: Turtle Bars

Turtle Bars*

Turtle bars are becoming a holiday must in our family [or maybe just with me]. They are so simple to make and so yummy. My mom found this recipe several years back in a magazine, but I am not sure which one [or I would give credit where credit is due].

TURTLE BARS

Crust:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup unsalted butter

Caramel:
3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons whipping cream

1 cup pecan halves, toasted
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together flour, sugar and butter until well blended and crumbly
Press mixture evenly into an ungreased 9 x 13 x 2 metal pan
Bake until golden brown (about 15 mins.)
Maintain oven temperature
Bring remaining sugar, butter and cream to a boil in a small saucepan over high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves
Boil for one minute, stirring occasionally, and remove from heat
Sprinkle toasted pecans over baked crust
Pour caramel over the pecans
Bake until bubbles form and color darken (about 20 mins.)
Remove from oven and sprinkle with chocolate
Let stand until chocolate melts; with an offset spatula spread chocolate evenly over top
Chill bars until chocolate sets; cut into 1-inch squares to serve

The bars can be served at room temperature, but I really like them refrigerated. Seriously people, you must try these!

*Did you notice the cute little turtles on the serving platter??

White Chocolate Mocha Cupcakes: The Recipe

Here is the recipe for the White Chocolate Mocha cupcakes:

Cupcake**:

Butter 9 oz.
Sugar 15 oz.
Sea Salt 1 tsp.
Bittersweet 3 oz.
Chocolate, melted
Semi-Sweet 3 oz.
Chocolate, melted
Eggs 8 oz.
Cake flour 12 oz.
Baking Powder .5 oz.
Milk 7 oz.
Coffee 7 oz.
Vanilla extract .25 oz.

Procedure:

Cream together butter and sugar
Blend in melted chocolate
Add eggs until mixed in, one at a time
Add sifted dry ingredients and liquid ingredients alternately in three parts, beginning and ending with flour (1/3 dry, 1/2 liquid, 1/3 dry, 1/2 liquid, 1/3 dry)

**This recipe calls for ingredients to be weighed, not measured. So, for example, if you measure 1 1/2 cups flour instead of weighing out 12 oz. it may not translate and I can't promise the cupcakes will turn out the way you want**

White Chocolate Buttercream:

1 cup butter
2 cups confectioners sugar
6 oz. white chocolate, melted
3-5 tblspns heavy cream

Procedure:

Sift confectioners sugar and beat with butter
Add chocolate and heavy cream
Beat for 3-4 minutes

Like I mentioned in the previous post, I kind of took some liberties with the type of chocolate and added coffee from the basic chocolate cake formula I found in my textbook. The outcome was good, but I think it is a recipe that can be improved.

Guest Post: Flan, and more

Note from Megan: My brother and I grew up in a family that loves to cook and try out new recipes. Tommy cooks more often than I, and has been quite the entertainer and experimenter lately so I have invited him to be a guest poster and add some additional content and commentary whenever he pleases. This is his first post, but we at la belle patisserie hope he shares his kitchen triumphs with us again!

In my last year of law school I've had several people over for dinner, with the idea that now is the time to live it up, and maybe that these dinners will some day encourage future visits to Dallas by my friends once we all leave C-ville. With these dinners I'm much more of a tinkerer with various protein entrees--fish, poultry, etc.--but in order to provide a complete experience and encourage my friends to help my roommate and I finish off the wine & beer we collect, I have been working with desserts now, too.

Aside from bananas foster (which involves a cheap, low key caramel), this was my first attempt at caramelizing sugar. There were a few technical missteps at the
beginning due to my unfamiliarity with my stove, but the result was just darker caramel, which I think results in a more bitter flavor. Ultimately, the key points I deduced from caramelizing are: (1) only stir the sugar/water suspension until it becomes a solution. Be as precise as possible. (2) Once you get close to the color you want for your caramel, watch very carefully. The solution heats unevenly, and gold turns to brown very quickly. Of course, if you hit brown, this is no problem for flan, as the recipe suggests a slightly bitter caramel is offset by the sweetness of the creme, so all is good.

Everything else about flan is rather simple. Some recipes call for a water bath. I found a recipe that instead just required a longer baking time (2 hours at 225F), which saved me the slight hassle of having to make a water bath with my limited baking supplies. Additionally, the recipe I used called for using a vanilla bean, letting it steep in the milk. I don't cook enough (ever) with vanilla bean, so I wasn't about to shell out 12 bucks for a couple bean pods.¹ Instead, I subbed 1tsp vanilla extract for 1 bean. Various internet sources suggested using somewhere between 1tsp and 2tsp, but I decided to go low. Also, low on kosher salt, I subbed in sea salt. Surely this is a no-no for baking purists, but like I said, I'm more about the entrees.

You can find the recipe here.

All in all, it turned out to be pretty good. We all enjoyed the food and had some great conversation.

Flan before it was set to cool.

Flan after I'd already taken a couple bites.

The Meal

As for the rest of the meal, we had some bacon wrapped sea scallops, served with rice and toasted almonds and sauteed asparagus. Throughout the meal we enjoyed three varieties of white wine: Gallo Pinot Gris, Nobilo Savignon Blanc, and Martin Codar Albarino (all 2007). All were spectacular. A tip for bacon wrapped scallops - two toothpicks per scallop is better than one--the second pick will help tremendously in both preparation and while cooking. Just don't forget to remove them before you serve them.

Scallops. And glorious bacon.

FN1: While I didn't buy the vanilla beans, I almost did because of the time of year. I recently saw a food network recipe that involved using vanilla beans for mulled wine. After warming sugar and water, they added wine, a few sliced vanilla beans, plus a bouquet garni of cardamom pods (~5), cloves(~5), and two sticks of cinnamon. Mulled wine - why not?

The Cheesecake Conclusion

I know everyone has been holding their breath with anticipation waiting to hear how the cheesecake finally turned out after approximately two and one half hours of baking. You will notice this post lacks any photo evidence of baking. The final presentation was not very pretty, but the taste was wonderful. I actually tried something a little different this time for my cheesecake. Instead of 32 oz. of cream cheese I substituted mascarpone cheese for 8 oz. of the cream cheese. The recipe I used has been adapted from Joy of Cooking, a must have for any cook or baker.

Graham Cracker Crumb Crust:

4 tblspn unsalted butter
1 c graham cracker crumbs

Cheesecake Filling:

24 oz cream cheese
8 oz mascarpone cheese
1 1/3 c sugar
4 large eggs
1/4 c heavy cream
1/4 c sour cream
2 tspn vanilla

In a medium bowl, combine butter and graham cracker crumbs. Coat bottom of springform pan evenly.

In a large bowl mix cream cheese and mascarpone. Gradually add sugar. Add eggs, one at a time. Mix in remaining ingredients until incorporated.

Bake @ 325 degrees for 50-60 minutes (or in my case 120-180 minutes...) Cheesecake should be set, but jiggle slightly in center. Turn oven off and let cool in oven for an hour. Let cool completely before removing from pan. Refrigerate overnight.

I prefer to bake my cheesecakes in a water bath. Once the cheesecake filling has been poured into the springform, place the pan onto a sheet of heavy aluminum foil and fold up the sides of the pan. Place in a large roasting pan. Fill roasting pan with boiling water so it reaches halfway up the sides of the springform.

I would love to try this again, but in a more reliable oven. Maybe for a Christmas dessert?