Coconut Vanilla Bean Cupcakes - Ironman Style

Are you still out there? I know I’ve been absent and I’m sorry. My world’s been upside down. I was sooo sick, and then went on a New Years ski trip, and then I started a new job. All of this is happening amidst Birthday Season, as my friends and I call it – so alas, I need to pull it together and keep on baking! One of my closest friends just had a fundraising birthday party to raise money for leukemia and lymphoma and her upcoming Ironman triathlon. I made these Ironman themed cupcakes to let her know how proud I am of her, and I think she was a little smitten. The event went really well – all the dollars that go into cancer research make such a huge difference in fighting a disease that’s affected all of us in some way. Sometimes we just need to make sacrifices (like eating luscious coconut vanilla bean cupcakes) for a good cause (fundraising to cure cancer). Um, stretching?

This amazing and beautiful friend of mine was a Hawaiian island girl in another life, so the coconut was a natural choice. The coconut buttercream was, of course, a Swiss meringue variation. I decorated with some toasted coconut and a red almond bark “M-dot” on top and voila! This whole recipe is actually a pain to make as it takes a bit of planning and a coconut milk reduction – but for a special occasion as this, it was completely worth it.

Coconut Vanilla Bean Cupcake

Makes 36

4 cups all purpose flour

4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

2 2/3 cups sugar

7 large eggs

Seeds scraped from 1 split vanilla bean

1½  teaspoons vanilla extract

2½ cups reduced coconut milk*, room temperature

*Reduced coconut milk:

4 14-ounce cans unsweetened coconut milk (Mae Ploy brand)

Bring coconut milk to a boil in a large, tall pot over medium-high heat (coconut milk will boil up high and splatter. A lot. Everywhere.). Reduce heat to medium-low; boil until reduced to 3 1/2 cups, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely. Store chilled. I recommend making this a couple days ahead of time. Some of this will be used for the frosting.

Cupcakes:
Preheat to 350°F and line cupcake pan with paper liners. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together and set aside. Using an electric mixer, cream butter until fluffy. Add sugar; beat on medium-high speed until well blended (no longer grainy). Add 5 eggs, 1 egg at a time, and incorporate well, occasionally scraping the bowl. Beat in seeds from vanilla bean, vanilla extract and remaining egg. Add the coconut reduction and mix until blended. Stir in the flour mixture just until blended. Divide batter evenly into the cupcake pan and bake about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan about 5-10 minutes and then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Cupcake recipe adapted from Epicurious

Coconut Swiss Meringue Buttercream

This is made almost identically the same way the Baileys SMBC was made. Just use reduced coconut milk instead of Baileys! Double the amount to make enough for 36 cupcakes.

M-Dot Ironman Decorations and Toasted Coconut

I don’t have pictures for these but I’ll tell you how I did these. Not too hard. Google the Ironman icon and bring up an image. Put a sheet of paper directly over your computer screen (or smartphone for lazier folks like me) and trace using pencil. Now, pay attention here, you are going to pipe red candy melts (or tinted almond bark) onto transparency film (parchment or wax paper would work also) that’s placed over your traced M-Dot. Shimmy it a little while it’s still wet to smooth it out. Allow to dry and peel off. Repeat 35 more times!

For the coconut, you could buy shredded and sweetened coconut and toast it in the oven. This is what I recommend for sane people. I, however, am not so sane. I do it the way my mom taught me – which she learned from the jungles of Southeast Asia. Or at least, that’s how I like to imagine it. Get a fresh coconut and crack it open all insane-like with a giant cleever. Don’t be afraid – just use one big motion, starting with the cleaver over your head and make sure you yell “Hai-Ya!” for full effect. Then use a shredder tool to scrape out the meat in long, elegant strands. Here's what the thing looks like:

Shred until your hand is about to fall off. If you enjoy pain, go ahead and do a bunch and freeze the fresh coconut meat for future use. Toast the shredded coconut on a foil lined pan for about 10 minutes at 350°F while your cupcakes are baking. Watch carefully so that it doesn’t burn.

Happy Birthday KJ!! XOXO

MORE Christmas Sugar Cookies!

I've been having such a good time decorating sugar cookies. Practice really does make a difference and each time I make a new batch, I think my skills improve a little. So with this is yet another Christmas batch, but this time there are new adorable characters in my X-mas crew. Once again, I refuse to buy specialized cookie cutters to be used once a year, and then, frankly, put away for safe keeping and never to be found again. I began by sketching out my ideas and figuring out how many steps of icing and drying needed to be done.

I began by piping outlines to my little polar bears and penguins with black. In the second step, I flooded with white once the black icing was dry. As I was doing this, I decided there should be a frosty backdrop of snow and snow falling. While the icing is still wet, you can drop a second color in for a smooth effect.

The owls and birds were done the same way: start with brown, allow to dry, and move on to the next color. It really helped to sketch these out first, especially with the sparrows, because the shapes are a bit odd without conceptualizing the finished image.

Details like leaves, beaks, eyes and feet were added at the end.

Yes, Christmas polar creatures accessorize.

And after a troop of holiday animals made, I just started doodling messages like "Happy New Year" and random filigree work. Sometimes you need to doodle.



Feelgood Vegan Brownies

After last weeks' over the top, more-is-more cake, I needed to come back to something simple, classic, and just down right feelgood - as in the adjective, like in "wow, that cashmere sweater's so feelgood".  No? Whatevs.

This recipe is rich and fudgie but not too dense. You don't think it can be both fudgie and light? That's ok, you don't need to believe me. Just make it. This brownie is so good, I had two while sitting here. And you know what? I might have some more. I'm not even going to feel bad about it. In fact, I didn't even want to prejudice you by spelling out that these treats are vegan and also kind of guilt free (unless you care about carbs, in which case you do not belong here. Off with your head!). If I haven't sold you into making these yet: it's a one bowl mix!

Feelgood Brownies

2 cups all purpose flour
1 3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp espresso powder dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup soy milk (if you don't have this on hand, just double the water)
2/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350F

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa & chocolate, baking powder and salt. Add in milk and espresso and stir until well combined. Do not worry about over mixing, you want to develop the glutens. Set aside.

Prepare your baking pan, either a 9x13 or 11x11 will do. I lined the pan with parchment paper to simplify serving and clean-up but greasing and flouring the pan will work just as well.

Now mix in oil and apple sauce and stir until well combined. Mix in walnuts and spread evenly into pan.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.



Chocolate peanut butter banana time cake

What? Less isn't more. More is more. Especially when there's a birthday involved. Especially when it's my birthday. Yes, that's right, I made myself a birthday cake. Of course I'm allowed. I only turn 21 again once a year! I absolutely insisted on making this cake and in no way does it reflect on the attention and love given to me by my most wonderful friends in the whole world (Ahem, you can relax now. You know who you are). So grab a glass of milk, and try this cake: Chocolate cake, cream cheese peanut butter frosting, banana filling. Oh yes, and chocolate peanut butter ganache glaze. 

Many years ago I fell in love with a cake from a bakery called Plusko's. This bakery just kills me. It's too out of the way for me to frequent very often, and when I do, they're always sold out of this cake. Call ahead, you say? That would just be way too easy and I like to be challenged. There's this little old lady (she weighs 90 lbs soaking wet),  who sits behind a gigantic wooden desk, the size of a sports car, doing the books. Literally. She's writing with a number 2 pencil in immaculate cursive onto ledger books. Just the old-school factor alone makes this place pretty cool. The cake, however, the cake makes it awesome. It was a moist and airy chocolate cake with whipped cream frosting and fresh banana filling that I can just taste when I think of it.

This cake I made is a little reminiscent of that. The original recipe called for a softer chocolate cake with a cream cheese peanut butter frosting. Chocolate? Good. Cream cheese? Good. Peanut butter? Goood. Have you tried all three together?  Well let me learn you: it is VERY good.

I switched up the chocolate cake in the recipe for a stout chocolate cake recipe I've been obsessing over. The flavor definitely complemented the combination but the texture was slightly heavier than I would have liked.  If I were to make this cake again, I would stick to the original recipe (included below).

 

Of course, I made a few mini-cupcakes as testers. As a dutiful baker, you must always taste-test your cakes. And then try it with some frosting. And then with some bananas. And without bananas. And with bananas again.

I finally decided to throw in some bananas and I'm so glad I did. I only wish I had added more. It's a very prominent flavor, and even if you're not that into bananas, it really lightens up the cake and makes it so refreshing.

The cream cheese peanut butter frosting was insane. Just sweet, salty, tangy insanity. The consistency isn't very firm, however, so it's better to work with it chilled so you don't end up with a lop-sided, three-layer hot mess. Pour on some ganache just to really make sure your guests comprehend how serious this cake is.  I threw in a few chocolate leaf decorations on top because, well, the giant looming chocolate blob just wasn't enough for me.

 

Sour Cream-Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting and Chocolate-Peanut Butter Glaze
Source: Smitten Kitchen

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, Dutch process
2 tspbaking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup neutral vegetable oil, such as canola, soybean or vegetable blend
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups water
2 tbsp distilled white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease three 9" round cake pans. Line the bottoms of pans with a round of parchment or waxed paper and grease that too.
2. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk in the oil and sour cream until blended. Gradually beat in the water. Blend in the vinegar and vanilla. Whisk in the eggs and beat until well blended, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Divide among the 3 prepared cake pans.
3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Let cool in the pans for about 20 minutes. Invert onto wire racks, carefully peel off the paper liners, and let cool completely. Allowing the cakes to firm up in the freezer for about 30 minutes will make them easier to work with.
4. To frost the cake, place one layer, flat side up, on your serving plate. Spread 2/3 cup cup of the Peanut Butter Frosting evenly over the top. Repeat with the next layer. Place the last layer on top and frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting. Chill the cake 2 hours to overnight to firm up the frosting.
5. To decorate with the Chocolate–Peanut Butter Glaze pour the glaze over the top of the cake, using an offset spatula to spread evenly to the edge so that the glaze runs down the sides. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to allow the glaze and frosting to set completely.

Peanut Butter Frosting
Makes about 5 cups
10 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
5 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2/3 cup smooth peanut butter

1. In a large bowl cream butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer. Gradually mix in confectioners’ sugar 1 cup at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Continue to beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes.
2. Add the peanut butter and beat until thoroughly blended.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Glaze
Makes about 1 1/2 cups
8 ounces seims-weet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 tbsp smooth peanut butter
2 tbsp light corn syrup
1/2 cup half-and-half

1. In a double boiler, combine the chocolate, peanut butter, and corn syrup. Cook, whisking often, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.
2. Remove from the heat and whisk in the half-and-half, beating until smooth. Use while still warm.