CH: Chocolate Chipotle Cupcakes with Cherry Cocoa Buttercream

At first this cupcake was going to be a chocolate cupcake with a chipotle cherry ganache center, and while that sounded good... it also seemed fussy to me. I wanted something simple, but still fun and different.

Then, I couldn't decide on whether I wanted a buttercream frosting or a ganache frosting. The only thing I did know exactly was how I was going to incorporate the jalapeno into my cupcakes.

First off, as I am sure most of you know, a smoked jalapeno pepper is called a chipotle pepper. That is what I immediately knew I was going to use here. A while back I made some really terrific chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter truffles in them. For the cake in that recipe it called for hot coffee, since coffee boosts the flavor of chocolate. Well, I don't drink coffee, and had used just hot water (which was fine), but I had long been thinking about what else (besides coffee) I could use to boost the chocolate flavor.

That is where the chipotle came in. I saw absolutely no reason not to puree some chipotles into the water, strain it so that none of the texture got in there and all of the sweet, smokey heat and flavor did.

So, that brings us to these Chocolate Chipotle Cupcakes. I used only one chipotle pepper because I wanted both the flavor and heat to just be subtle and complimentary, but if you wanted to go big you could add more. For the frosting, to help balance out any heat, I decided that a nice light and simple buttercream was the way to go. So, I used my favorite simple buttercream recipe and modified it to give that two toned swirly effect I love so much.

The final creation is my entry for this month's one and only original single ingredient focused cupcake event in the food blogosphere - CUPCAKE HERO HeroHeroHero this month hosted by Rachel of Tangerine Tart and Teri of the 90/10 rule. This month's secret ingredient, in any form, was the jalapeno, so in my case, yup, you got it, the chipotle. Big thanks to Laurie for creating this event and to Rachel and Teri for a fun ingredient!

So, for the brave, here is my recipe for Chocolate Chipotle Cupcakes with Cherry Cocoa Buttercream! Incidentally, these pretties actually ended up at a friend's wedding shower and everyone loved them - we just didn't mention the secret ingredient! ;)

Chocolate Chipotle Cupcakes
(Adapted from 1942 Devil's Food Cake, Perfect Cakes, by Nick Malgieri)

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces
3/4 cup boiling water
1 whole chipotle pepper (from can with adobo sauce)
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 tablespoons buttermilk
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt the chocolate in a large heatproof bowl set over hot, but not simmering, water. Let cool.

Stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl, mixing well.

Puree together the boiling water and chipotle pepper until liquid, strain into a clean bowl and set aside. (Try not to breath in the fumes because it has quite a kick).

Add the butter to the chocolate, then pour in the boiling water/chipotle mixture and stir well to mix. Whisk in the sugar and buttermilk. Stir in the flour mixture. Whisk in the eggs.

Pour the batter into the cupcake liners about half full (it is a relatively thin batter).

Bake for about 25 minutes, or until well risen and firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.

(Makes about 24 cupcakes, depending on how full you fill them - I ended up with 22)

Cherry Cocoa Buttercream
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream

1/2 cup cherry preserves, pureed til smooth
1/4 cup good quality unsweetened cocoa powder

In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

Add vanilla and 1 Tablespoon of the cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more. Add the cherry preserves and whip 1 minute more. Add more powdered sugar or cream to get desired consistency (should be fairly thick).

Place 2/3 of the mixed frosting into a pastry back fitted with the desired tip, keeping the frosting to one side of the bag and leaving a gap down to the tip for the cocoa frosting. To the remaining 1/3 of frosting add the cocoa powder and enough cream to again get the desired consistency. Add to the other side of the bag and pipe as much as desired onto the tops of each cupcake.

Cherry Almond Coconut Bars

The recipe, mentioned in my Operation Baking GALS post - as promised!

Cherry Almond Coconut Bars

For the bottom crust (adapted from this recipe):

12 Tbs. (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup ground toasted almonds
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter a 9-by-13-by-2-inch cake pan (or line with foil and butter the foil). To make the shortbread, in the bowl of a food processor, combine the butter, flour, almonds, granulated sugar and salt and process until small lumps form. Sprinkle the mixture into the prepared pan and press evenly into the bottom. Bake until the shortbread is golden, about 20 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack. Increase the oven temperature to 375°F.

For the jam and coconut layers:
1 cup good cherry preserves or jam, pureed to be smooth (use more for a more moist bar)

1 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups sweeted shredded coconut

To make the coconut layer, combine the cream and coconut in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a gentle boil and reduce heat slightly. Allow the mixture to boil until thick and soft, approximately 5-6 minutes.

Once the bottom crust layer has cooled slightly spread an even layer of the coconut cream mixture over the entire crust. Top this with an evenly spread layer of the pureed preserves. Top this with the crumb mixture below.

For the crumb topping (adapted from this recipe):

1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cold butter (1 stick or 4 ounces)
1 egg yolk, slightly beaten
1 to 2 Tablespoons heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

In a medium bowl, stir together sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter, egg yolk, almond extract and enough of the cream at a time to bring the dough together but remain crumbly - sprinkle the layer over the jam and coconut layers. Return the pan to the oven and bake 20-25 minutes or until top is golden. Remove pan from oven and allow to cool on a rack. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Baking Bars with the GALS for a Great Cause

I'm sure most of you have already seen this lady around in the past few days. She has been making the food blogging rounds at a whirlwind pace as the spokeswoman (ok, the spokes-badge) for Operation Baking GALS (Give A Little Support).

When I received the call to arms - or in this case whisks and spoons - via this email on Sunday from Sus over at She's Becoming DoughMESStic I immediately jumped onboard.

My brother, Jason - fondly known as "Hank the Tank" (outlined in the picture below) by his buddies - is in the Army and has been to Iraq once already. He actually renewed his contract with the Army recently and will most likely be going back to Iraq just in time for Christmas this year (if not much sooner - I can't be sure). I have told him before how proud I am of him, not only for joining in wartime, but for seeing it through. It has not been an easy road for him and he has had to make a lot of personal sacrifices - as do all of our fighting men and women.

So, for obvious reasons, I am a bit chagrined that the thought of doing something like this never occurred to me before. I guess in part it is because when he was in Iraq before I wasn't blogging yet, and for the time being he is in Washington with his family. No excuse for not really finding a good way to do something positive to help before that I could do from home, but there you go.

That is why I am so grateful (actually just one of many reasons) to be a part of this food blogging community. Without it, I don't know when I would have found a way to do something positive and to say "thank you" to all of our soldiers in all the branches of our military. I also owe a big "thank you" to Sus for coming up with this idea in the first place. I look forward to throwing my brother's name in the hat as a recipient for some love when he goes back to Iraq for his second tour.

So, why did it take me so long to get this done since Sunday? Good reasons actually. you see, when my brother was in Iraq before my Mom was the unofficial 'Queen of Care Packages'. I, proud to be like my mother, felt that I needed to do my due diligence in research, on the best way and what to send (hopefully). What you see before you is the last five days worth of questions, research and planning. Whether or not this is the best way, I really don't know, but I really wanted to give it my very best shot so that when Jason, Susan's cousin and our first OP: GALS recipient, receives this package I can feel like and hope that I've done the very best I can to hedge all my bets on it getting there safely.

So, I approached all this a bit more methodically than I normally do because - well - this is so much more important than just my everyday baking for fun.

So, of course, for something so important, I needed help and I only wanted the best. For this project here were my recruits: Aidan "the crazy five-year old" (as he now refers to himself) seen climbing his first tree, and Cole, my sweet little peanut - seen here sitting with me in a parking lot checking out the steering wheel and finally sitting up like a champ.

Cole's duties were simple - sit in the booster chair and play while looking cute. Done. Mission accomplished. Aidan's duties were a bit tougher - play with Cole, help dump in ingredients and sample the baked goods to make sure they pass inspection - it is a tough job, but someone had to do it.

My duties - well, they were all a bit more complicated, but, we'll cover most of that with the recipes. Other than the actual baking though I wanted to share with you my thought process below that took all the planning - using information gleaned from my Mom, as well as the various sources Sus provided on the OP: GALS headquarters and my own (possibly over-analyzed) criteria.

Basically, for just under $10 ($9.80 to be exact) you can ship in a flat rate box a decent amount of baked goods (in this 36 big bars). You have to use the special box from the USPS (I think - at least to get this rate) and you have to complete a customs form. You also have to make sure that the box is packed tight with really no wiggle room.

This led to my mission to figure out, basically, how to get the most bang for the buck, so to speak - thus my criteria - in no particular order:

-- Nothing too soft or squishy - Hopefully something that will stay together
-- Portions that could be individually wrapped for ease of distribution (and hopefully this helps
keep things together) - I went with plastic wrapped, then foil packed groups
-- The most efficient use of space in the box to fill it as completely as possible - this is why I
went with three types of bar cookies (12 generous size servings of each kind)
-- The best ingredients I could get my hands on and generous portions as mentioned above-
because, what if that is the only treat that soldier gets - I want it to satisfy, not tease
-- Some kind of variety of the things I felt would be the most widely popular

UPDATE: I used a local newspaper and the most recent copy of TIME magazine to help fill the little space that was left in the box, as well as a letter from us that included our email address and blog address as suggested on the OP: GALS blog. In the future I want to include a return postcard where the troops can rate the goodies and let me know whether or not the recipe was a winner by the time it gets there

I think that covered all my criteria, which is why it took so long to get all this together. So, you will have to be patient with me because I will be posting these recipes seperately so this excessively long post doesn't become thelongestpostinthehistoryofmankindthankyouverymuch!

UPDATE: The recipes are now posted and you can link to them from their titles below!

So, without further ado, I give you....... [[drumroll please]].........

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE BARS

CHOCOLATE FUDGE BROWNIES

CHERRY ALMOND COCONUT BARS

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN HELP!

TWD: Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler

Here we are once again with more cobbler. We had a fabulous chocolately week last week and we are back with more fruit. Yes, we recently made cobbler. My point? This is like no other cobbler I've made or had before. The topping is different, the fruit combination is unique, the spices are slightly more exotic than your average cobbler - so really, other than some of the method and name - there really isn't anything of repetitiveness (is that even really a word) in this week's pick from Amanda from Like Sprinkles on a Cupcake.

For the sake of full disclosure, I didn't really try the fruit (again, I really don't like cooked fruit - it's a texture thing more than a flavor thing for me). I still like working with them as an ingredient because they are just so darn pretty (beautiful, beautiful cherries!). I did try some of the topping with the sauce made from the fruit and it was really good. I added some raw sugar to the top of the biscuits for extra sweetness and crunch.

The topping has a more "toothsome" texture to it and nutty flavor due to the use of whole wheat flour (Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour is what I used). The crust was really pretty incredible and different than a regular cobbler crust. It was almost like getting a "crisp" topping flavor in cobbler form. In fact, next time I use this recipe I may try mixing in some oat flour as well.

The main spice flavor used was the ground ginger. The ginger scent and flavor was pretty prominent, but not overwhelmingly so. I actually followed the recipe exactly for once (ok, almost exactly) and didn't switch out any components or flavors - other than using some Rainier Cherries - basically just for more color and a little twist - because we all know I can't ever leave well enough alone! The only other thing I did differently was to just use a small cookie dough scoop to make the balls of dough (so that I wouldn't overwork it at all).

Those that tried the whole thing really liked this - in fact, the hubby at first just said it was fine - then (as he continued to devour it) said it was "really pretty good" - which is actually pretty high praise from him.

I know I'll make it again, probably with peaches or something I like better. I was able to find some rhubarb and got a good deal (great deal really) on the cherries - almost 3 lbs at the Farmer's Market for $4.

Don't forget to check out all the other delicious cobblers this week by going to the Tuesdays with Dorie site and clicking away (you can even subscribe through bloglines and get updates all week long from this fantastic crowd of baking obsessed bloggers!).

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Ricotta Pancakes with Brown Sugar Cherry Sauce

I just have to share this recipe with you so that if you want to make a special breakfast for any Dad in your life on Sunday, you give this one a shot. The recipe is from the latest issue of Bon Appetit (June 2008). For me anyway, the name pretty much sells itself, but in case you aren't convinced - take a look.

These pancakes aren't heavy, but they are slightly more substantial than a plain ole pancake. They use egg white to help keep them light and fluffy. They are richer and have a bit of a 'creamy' texture to them from the ricotta. With the addition of the cherry sauce (and did I mention it has brown sugar in it... seriously, can you ever go wrong with brown sugar?) these are flat out awesome. I added a bit of almond flavored lightly whipped cream on top which pretty much melted for the most part as you can see because the cherry sauce was still nice and warm.

One tip I can share with you is that this "lightly whipped cream" of mine, is actually my lazy version of whipping cream. You see, I hate dirtying up an extra bowl, just to whip some cream just for me - especially when *sigh* I still don't have a hand mixer (just whisk and stand mixer - weird, I know). I also don't have one of those cool whipping gadgets (and as much of a gadget junkie as I am, just can't justify it...anyway, I digress - I was just so distracted by the pretty red color of the gadget - which actually brings us back to the pretty red cherries!).

So, what's a girl to do? Here you go, it's not terribly earth shattering, but you never know right?

Cream Topping - Shaken, Not Whipped
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 Tablespoon confectioners' sugar (or a bit less, depending on how sweet you like the cream to be)
1/4 teaspoon extract (I used almond here, but I usually use vanilla)

Combine all three ingredients in an empty, clean jelly jar or Mason jar. Put on the lid and shake vigorously until thick. (It only takes about a minute - incidentally, if you keep shaking, eventually you'll have butter - as a random aside, this is how Pioneers made their butter when they were walking across the Country to Utah. It is a fun thing to do with kids some time and the butter is great and creamy. Just omit the sugar and flavoring and shake the cream. You could add a small pinch of salt if you wish.)

Ricotta Pancakes with Brown Sugar Cherry Sauce
(Source: Bon Appetit June 2008 via Epicurious)

Sauce:
1/2 cup (or more) water, divided
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 cups halved pitted fresh Bing cherries or other dark sweet cherries (about 14 ounces unpitted cherries)
2 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Pancakes:
3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups whole-milk ricotta cheese
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup whole milk
3 large egg whites

Vegetable oil (for brushing)

For sauce:
Whisk 1/4 cup water and cornstarch in small bowl. Melt butter in medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add cherries, 1/4 cup water, and brown sugar; stir until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium-high; add cornstarch mixture and stir until mixture boils and thickens, adding water by tablespoonfuls if sauce is very thick, about 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in lemon juice.

For pancakes:
Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in small bowl. Using electric mixer, beat ricotta cheese and egg yolks in large bowl at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Reduce mixer speed to low; add flour mixture alternately with milk in 2 additions each, beating just until blended and scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

Using electric mixer fitted with clean beaters, beat egg whites in medium bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold 1/4 of whites into ricotta mixture to lighten, then fold in remaining whites in 3 more additions.

Heat griddle or large nonstick skillet over medium heat; brush griddle lightly with oil. Drop batter by generous 1/4 cupfuls onto griddle; spread each pancake with offset spatula to form 3 1/2-inch round. Cook until bubbles form on tops of pancakes and bottoms are golden, about 3 minutes. Turn pancakes over and cook until golden brown on bottoms, about 2 minutes.

Transfer pancakes to plates. Top with cherry sauce and cream, if desired, and serve.

TWD: French Chocolate Brownies

The French Chocolate Brownies were this week's Tuesdays with Dorie pick from Di of Di's Kitchen Notebook.

Lovely as they sound - and taste - these brownies are also now known as "the brownies that hate me" and I'm forced to write the following:

Dear French Chocolate Brownies,

What did I do to you? Was it the fact that from the onset I adamantly refused to give rum raisins a chance? I know that you are quite likely more than happy not being fiddled with, and that my constant adjustments are probably quite annoying, but, my apologies to the Raisin Council, I don't like raisins. Ever. At all.

Yes, yes, I understand I could have substituted something else. I don't enjoy dried fruit in my baked goods and if I am going to make a recipe and commit ingredients, I want to want to eat them.

I know that you were probably quite disappointed with the loss of the opportunity to get all rummy and fired up. I'm sad to miss that opportunity as well, but it just couldn't be helped.

Though your end results were very delicious, the stigma of trying to make you and running into
personal failures two times in a row is for me a bit too difficult at this time to continue our relationship. I am sad to say, that until I get up the courage, I will not be coming back to you.

It's not you. It's me.

Sincerely,
Holly

You see, the first time I made these brownies, I wanted to make them in individual muffin cups and save them for picnics and lunches and such. Great idea, right? Well, not with this recipe. As reported by many others, this recipe puffed. A lot. That was fine, but the center ended up being a good inch or two lower than the sides. They were still delicious though, but the texture just wasn't my favorite for a brownie. They were good in their own right, just not what I hoped for.

The second time around I decided to try again to see if I got a different result by making the batch in one square pan, as originally written, minus the raisins. Again, the batter was nice and thick and tasted wonderful. Again, they puffed up nicely, but then they got really high on the sides and really sunk in the middle.

So, why don't you see any pictures of attempt number two. Well, I intended to take a picture, but everyone ate (and loved) them while I was off feeding the baby. I will say that the fact that these were still devoured quite quickly is definitely a testament to the deliciousness of the recipe itself. Especially since the brownies had been wrapped in a towel for transport and subsequently stepped on by Aidan. He may only be four years old, but he has big feet - so, he pretty much flattened and destroyed the entire pan - which again, since they were covered, everyone still ate even though I told them what happened.

Great brownies then? Yes. Do I have some severe malfunction or curse when trying to make this recipe? Apparently so. I am not leaving this recipe due to its lack of goodness - just because I'm afraid if I make it again I will burn down the kitchen or something. Maybe, one day, when I'm not so nervous about it, I'll give it another go. I realize that there is really nothing to be afraid of in this recipe but, for some reason, I just can't seem to get it right. Make sure to check out how all the other TWDer's faired with this recipe!

So, I drowned my sorrows in this Cherry Gelato recipe from the new issue of Gourmet instead. I needed a confidence boost after my brownie fiascos. This was supposed to be all cute and pretty with brownies cut from the second pan, but, well, you already know what happened to those. This gelato was easy to make and tasted extremely awesome. Use really good almond extract because the flavor really does shine through under the cherry flavor. Enjoy!

French Chocolate Brownies
- makes 16 brownies -
Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours

Ingredients
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/3 cup raisins, dark or golden
1 1/2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 tablespoons dark rum
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons; 6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into 12 pieces
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sugar

Getting ready:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, butter the foil, place the pan on a baking sheet, and set aside.

Whisk together the flour, salt and cinnamon, if you're using it.Put the raisins in a small saucepan with the water, bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until the water almost evaporates. Add the rum, let it warm for about 30 seconds, turn off the heat, stand back and ignite the rum. Allow the flames to die down, and set the raisins aside until needed.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Slowly and gently melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and add the butter, stirring so that it melts. It's important that the chocolate and butter not get very hot. However, if the butter is not melting, you can put the bowl back over the still-hot water for a minute. If you've got a couple of little bits of unmelted butter, leave them—it's better to have a few bits than to overheat the whole. Set the chocolate aside for the moment.

Working with a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until they are thick and pale, about 2 minutes. Lower the mixer speed and pour in the chocolate-butter, mixing only until it is incorporated—you'll have a thick, creamy batter. Add the dry ingredients and mix at low speed for about 30 seconds—the dry ingredients won't be completely incorporated and that's fine. Finish folding in the dry ingredients by hand with a rubber spatula, then fold in the raisins along with any liquid remaining in the pan.

Scrape the batter into the pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top is dry and crackled and a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and allow the brownies to cool to warm or room temperature.

Carefully lift the brownies out of the pan, using the foil edges as handles, and transfer to a cutting board. With a long-bladed knife, cut the brownies into 16 squares, each roughly 2 inches on a side, taking care not to cut through the foil.

Serving:
The brownies are good just warm or at room temperature; they're even fine cold. I like these with a little something on top or alongside—good go-alongs are whipped crème fraiche or whipped cream, ice cream or chocolate sauce or even all three!

Storing:
Wrapped well, these can be kept at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.

Cherry Gelato
(Adapted from Gourmet Magazine, June 2008)
For gelato:
1/2 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise
3 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup turbinado sugar such as Sugar in the Raw
2 Tbsp cornstarch

For cherries:
1/2 lb bing cherries (1 1/2 cups; do not substitute frozen), pitted
2 Tbsp turbinado sugar
1 tsp pure almond extract
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Equipment:
an ice cream maker

Preparation
Make gelato:
Scrape seeds from vanilla bean with tip of a paring knife into a small heavy saucepan. Add milk and a pinch of salt and bring just to a boil, then remove from heat.

Meanwhile, whisk together sugar and cornstarch, then add 1/2 cup hot milk, whisking until smooth. Whisk into milk in saucepan. Bring to a simmer, whisking, then simmer, whisking, 3 minutes (mixture will be thick). Immediately pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a metal bowl set in an ice bath. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.

Remove from ice bath and chill, covered, 1 hour.

Prepare cherries:
Pulse cherries, sugar, and extracts in a food processor until finely chopped, then chill, covered, 1 hour.

Make ice cream:
Stir cherries with their juices into gelato mixture and freeze in ice cream maker. Transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden, at least 2 hours.

Other Tuesdays with Dorie:
Pecan Honey Sticky Buns
Madeleines
Florida Pie
Peanut Butter Torte (& Bars) (Winner - Our Secret Ingredient)
Fluted Polenta & Ricotta Cake
Bill's Big Carrot Cake
Marshmallows - Dark & White Chocolate (Winner - Our Secret Ingredient)
Chocolate Gooey Cakes
Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits

TWD: Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake

It is that time of the week again when we all look forward to the latest loveliness from the Crew over at Tuesdays with Dorie. This week's recipe from Baking: From My Home to Yours was the Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake, as chosen by Caitlin of Engineer Baker.

I have seriously loved being a part of this fun and dynamic group every week. It is so much fun and such a great honor to be a part of it. On top of that, I was chosen as one a TWD "Secret Ingredients" for this second round. Our Secret Ingredients is a new TWD feature where everyone in the group can nominate their favorite blogs for the week. Then three of the TWDer's favorites are chosen that inspired the group in some way and then a small write up about those blogs is written. I am SO completely flattered to have been chosen and that everyone loved the marshmallows I made. I don't know what to say other than thank you, thank you, thank you! TWD ROCKS!! It has been a major highlight of my week.

Well... my cake turned into cupcakes, and since I couldn't find any figs at the store (seriously, I looked everywhere) it ended up with dried cherries instead. On top of that, I decided to make cupcakes because I just couldn't figure out for sure with no visual aid in the book what exactly was meant by a 10" fluted tart pan. I think I know, but I just really wasn't sure. Since I didn't have a pan in those dimensions anyway, I just went the cupcake route.

It figures that the one time I remember to not overfill the muffin cups it is for a recipe that doesn't rise very much anyway. The cupcakes were really good, but I didn't really care for the dried fruit in it. The tartness of the cherries was nice against the sweetness of the cake, but I'm just not much of a fan of dried fruits in cakes in general. So, what can you do?

I added a little sprinkle of powdered sugar to mine just to make it look pretty. Will I try this recipe again? Hmmm, honestly, probably not. Unless I can find some figs, in which case, yes I will try again (I read that figs are good for high blood pressure, and since I'm still trying to manage mine... well, maybe it would be a good idea). In the meantime, on to next week!
Here is the recipe, with my notes in italics as usual (with color added this time - red for the cherries!).

One last note - If you haven't had the chance yet, don't forget to check out the Little Wonders round-up and email me your vote for your favorite entries.

Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake (Cupcakes)

About 16 moist, plump dried Mission or Kadota figs, stemmed 6 oz dried tart cherries
1 cup medium-grain polenta or yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup ricotta
1/3 cup tepid water
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup honey (if you're a real honey lover, use a full-flavored honey such as chestnut, pine or buckwheat)
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus 1 tablespoon, cut into bits and chilled
2 large eggs

Getting Ready:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 1- 1/2 inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom and put it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat (or line 24 muffin cups with paper liners).

Check that the figs are, indeed, moist and plump. If they are the least bit hard, toss them into a small pan of boiling water and steep for a minute, then drain and pat dry. If the figs are large (bigger than a bite), snip them in half. (Likewise, if you are using cherries, steep them for a minute if they are too dry or hard too).

Whisk the polenta, flour, baking powder and salt together.

Working with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the ricotta and water together on low speed until very smooth. With the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the ricotta and water together on low speed until very smooth. With the mixer at medium speed, add the sugar, honey and lemon zest and beat until light. (Okay, so this never happened for me. It was never light, just runny and grainy). Beat in the melted butter, then add the eggs one at a time, beating until the mixture is smooth. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are fully incorporated. You'll have a sleek, smooth, pourable batter. (This is NOT how I would have described my batter - but, it still seems to have worked. At this point is where I stirred in the cherries, gently).

Pour about one third of the batter into the pan and scatter over the figs. Pour in the rest of the batter, smooth the top with a rubber spatula, if necessary, and dot the batter evenly with the chilled bits of butter. (I skipped this step, because, honestly, I was just distracted and forgot ;).
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. (I baked the cupcakes for about 20 minutes until done and lightly golden). The cake should be honey brown and pulling away just a little from the sides of the pan, and the butter will have left light-colored circles in the top. Transfer the cake to a rack and remove the sides of the pan after about 5 minutes. Cool to warm, or cool completely. (I dusted mine with a little powdered sugar. I also noticed that all the cherries sunk to the bottom - I really don't know if this is the way it was supposed to be with the figs too or not).

My other Tuesdays with Dorie posts:
Dark and White Chocolate Marshmallows
Bill's Big Carrot (Cup)Cakes