TWD: 2nd Anniversary - Cocoa Buttermilk Cupcakes & Happy 2nd Blogiversary to Me!

Today marks the Second Anniversary post of Tuesdays with Dorie! I can't believe how far we've come! Thank you to Laurie for creating the group and to Dorie for her support and expertise - I know I'm not alone when I say that this group has been life changing and so much fun!

I also find it hard to believe that Monday (January 4th) marked my 2nd Blogiversary here at PheMOMenon! It has been a fun and wild ride, that is for sure! With this current pregnancy and trying to play catch up from the holidays, I have to admit I am still a bit behind, but I do have some fun ideas and things in mind for the coming year. I can't say it enough, so thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you to all my friends and readers for coming here in the first place and giving me a 'home' to express myself and enjoy all your amazing like-minded company - you all ROCK my world!

I've said it many, many times over the course of my TWD membership (almost the full two-years, but not quite) and I really do believe that Baking From My Home To Yours is hands down THE BEST baking book out there. If you like to bake even a little, you absolutely shouldn't be without this book! (And I really can't wait until this coming Fall when Dorie's new book Around the French Table comes out!!!!)

For the anniversary recipe, Laurie has kindly hosted and you can find the original recipes there. The group voted on a few choices, but the winners of the vote were for the Cocoa Buttermilk Birthday Cake and the Tarte Tatin. I chose to make a half batch of the Cocoa Buttermilk cake and turn them into cupcakes, which gave me a bakers' dozen.

Rather than make the malted chocolate frosting though, I opted to just do a thick whipped cream flavored liberally with cocoa powder, a little vanilla and plenty of confectioners' sugar - a concoction which happens to be one of my favorite simple frostings and fillings for chocolate cake. Incidentally, I found that I needed to bake my cupcakes almost as long as I would have needed to bake the cake layers. The cake itself had a nice chocolatey flavor. While not my favorite chocolate cake recipe, it was still delicious and easy.

Happy Anniversary fellow TWD Bakers!

Cocoa Whipped Frosting

Recipe by PheMom (adapted from a family friend)

1 1/2 cups cold heavy whipping cream

4 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and beat thoroughly until smooth and very thick and spreadable - texture will start to become almost buttery. Spread onto cupcakes or use as layer cake filling. Yields about 3 cups frosting. Keep chilled until serving.

Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

I don't know about you, but I can't stop thinking about all the lovely Fall treats and options that I feel so much more inclined to make these days. With how hot it was here in Utah all Summer, I find myself, probably for the first time in my life, really looking forward to the cooler weather of Fall.

I'm not going to go so far as to say I'm looking forward to Winter, because frankly, dealing with doctor appointments, school trips to and from Aidan's school every day, and just the day to day doings of life, I'm not looking forward to being in my third trimester (in other words, even clumsier than I already am!) in the snow and ice. I'm sure it will just be awesome. Yeah, that's what it will be.

Ahem. Anywho.

Now that cooler weather is here, I'm actually able to think of making warm drinks for me and the kids. Aidan is a big hot chocolate (warm really) fan and he must get this from me because I could really drink it every day - when I'm not excessively hot from weather/pregnancy/etc.

What I don't always have on hand is good chocolate to chop up and melt in some hot milk - which is frankly my favorite way to have hot chocolate. That said though, sometimes what I really want is some really good hot cocoa. I can't stand any of the hot cocoa mixes they sell in stores though, so that leaves me with measuring and mixing together cocoa from scratch myself.

That can become rather tedious when I just wish I had the convenience of the mixed packets, so I've come up with a perfect solution in this homemade hot cocoa mix. It is rich, creamy, decadent and infinitely drinkable. It is really nice to make the mix yourself from scratch because you can make it in bulk and customize it to your heart's desire. The mix I make below uses powdered milk so that I can just take it anywhere if we want and mix it with very hot water.

HOMEMADE HOT COCOA MIX

12 oz non-fat dry milk (powdered milk) - great resource for more info here - any brand
3/4 Cup unsweetened cocoa powder - I used dutch processed
1 1/4 Cup packed light brown sugar
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

Combine all ingredients together well. It will be a little grainy and lumpy from the dry milk and the brown sugar, but should mix fine. I like to dump everything into a big bowl and whisk well to combine. Store in an airtight container.

Makes enough hot cocoa mix for 10 - 12 6 oz servings, depending on how rich you like your cocoa.

To mix a serving, heat 6 oz of water to very hot. Pour into a heat proof cup with 3-4 Tablespoons of mix in the bottom (it mixes a lot easier and smoother this way and is easier to heat the water in bulk if you are making more than one serving at a time). Stir well and enjoy!

Options:

- 1 T vanilla powder - boosts the flavor, you could also add just a small splash of vanilla extract to your cocoa after you've heated it and stirred it in

- 1 T ground cinnamon - gives a slight spiced flavor for a Mexican cocoa effect

Substitute Non-Dairy Powdered Creamer for part or all of the dry milk powder above for a richer, creamier texture and taste

- 4 T mix to 6 oz very hot water

- You can make the mix without the powdered milk and use regular milk instead. If you do this, you will have a much smaller amount of mix and will only need to use 2-3 Tablespoons of mix per 6 oz cup of hot milk.

Cake Slice Bakers: Mile-High Devil's Food with Brown Sugar Buttercream

I am back with The Cake Slice Bakers this month, after missing last month's challenge much to my dismay.  I wasn't missing this month since this recipe is one of the main reasons I bought Alisa Huntsman's (which, by the way, if you click on Alisa's name, you will go to her blog!) book, Sky High:  Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes.

Devil's Food cake may very well be my favorite - no surprise there since it is chocolate after all. What I truly love about this recipe though (and for that matter most of the recipes in the book) is that it is so unique to any other Devil's Food I've seen or made.

Most of the Devil's Food recipes I've seen use a combination of unsweetened cocoa and melted chocolate, which is truly rich and delicious, but always a bit overwhelming on my ingredients supplies and budgets.  It is awesome to have a beautiful cake, but when it wants to use my cocoa supply, and a good amount of my chocolate supply, it is a bit of a struggle to justify making it.

Happy Day After Devil's Food Cake Day!  Yes, it's true, May 19 was National Devil's Food Cake Day here in the U.S.!

So, in my opinion, the unique thing about this recipe is that it uses only unsweetened cocoa powder - a full cup of it.  Another thing that was different than a lot of recipes I've seen is that there was no buttermilk, or any milk for that matter.  Also, no granulated sugar.  The other really unique thing I found with this recipe is that it uses no white sugar, but it did put a large dent in my brown sugar supply!  In fact, the cake uses 3 cups of packed brown sugar!  Since I seriously loooooove brown sugar, this was fine by me!

The other portion of the dent in my brown sugar supply came from the buttercream, which got its slightly tawny, creamy white color from making a sugar syrup using 1 1/4 cups of light brown sugar and only a 1/4 cup of water.  It was a really lovely syrup too!  

To further gild the lily, I used some unsalted imported Irish butter in the buttercream that I had on hand for another project that I was planning (I can get more when I actually get around to it I guess) since all my other unsalted butter was still languishing in the freezer - poor planning on my part!

So, overall, the cake itself, funny enough, was rich, moist, chocolatey and absolutely delicious - when I ate a piece out the refrigerator it actually tasted just like a chocolate ice cream sandwich to me!  I know I will make this recipe many more times.

For my layer cake I used a 14-inch square pan and filled it with about just under 3/4 of the batter.  The remainder of the batter made 12 cupcakes for me, which are now in the freezer for some rainy day when I need a chocolate fix!  I cut the cooled large square into four smaller squares that I then stacked to make my layers.  It made one very tall and irresistible layer cake!

Make sure to check out all the other Devil's Food Cakes at The Cake Slice Bakers Blogroll!

Mile-High Devil’s Food Cake

From: Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes

By Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne

Makes an 8-inch triple layer cake:

• 1 cup of unsweetened cocoa NOT DUTCHED PROCESSED

• 1 and ¼ cups of hot water

• 3 cups of light brown sugar; packed

• 2 and 2/3 cups cake flour*

• 1 and ½ teaspoons baking soda

• ¾ teaspoon of salt

• 9 ounces of unsalted butter at room temperature [2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons]

• 3 large eggs

• 1 and ½ teaspoons of vanilla extract

• ¾ cup of cold water

{*1 cup of cake flour is equal to ¾ cup of flour plus 2 tablespoons of cornstarch}

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch round cake pans. Line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper and grease the paper as well.

Place the cocoa in a medium bowl and add the hot water. Whisk until smooth and let it cool to room temperature.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low blend to combine. Add the butter and the dissolved cocoa. Then raise the mixer to medium speed and beat for 2 minutes until light and fluffy.

In a medium bowl whisk together the eggs, vanilla, and cold water until combined. Add this liquid to the batter in three additions scraping down the sides of the bowl between additions. Divide the batter among the three pans.

Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a cakes tester inserted into the almost comes out clean. There should be a few crumbs attached still. Cool the cakes in the pans for 15 minutes. Then invert and remove parchment paper and cool completely on a wire rack.

Bakers’ choice of: Brown Sugar 7-Minute Frosting or Brown Sugar Buttercream

Brown Sugar 7-Minute Frosting

• 6 egg whites

• 1 and ½ cups of brown sugar

• ¼ cup light corn syrup*

• 2 tablespoons of water

• ½ teaspoon of cream of tartar

{*corn syrup can be substituted with equal parts of treacle OR liquid glucose OR light colored honey}

Do not try to make this frosting on a rainy day or if you live in an extremely humid area. The humidity will make it impossible to work with the egg whites.

Place all the egg whites in a bowl and set them aside while you make the syrup.

In a small heavy saucepan, combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, and water. Bring to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Continue to boil washing down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush. Boil until the syrup reaches 238 degrees F (softball stage) on a candy thermometer. Immediately remove from heat.

Add the cream of tartar to the egg whites in the bowl and beat just to combine. With the mixer on medium speed gradually add the syrup in a thin stream taking care not to hit the beaters. Beat until fairly stiff peaks form but the frosting is still spreadable. If the frosting is too stiff it will be hard to work with. Use immediately.

Brown Sugar Buttercream

• 5 egg whites

• 1 and ¼ cups of packed brown sugar

• ¼ cup of water

• 1 pound of unsalted butter (16 ounces) at room temperature

Place all the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer; set aside.

In a heavy medium saucepan combine the sugar and water. Cook over medium heat stirring to dissolve the sugar. Then bring to a boil without stirring and cook until the syrup reaches 238 degrees F on a candy thermometer.

Begin beating the egg whites on medium low speed. Slowly pour in the syrup making sure not to hit the beater. Increase the mixer speed to medium high and beat until the meringue has cooled to body temperature.

With the mixer on med-low add 1-2 tablespoons of butter at a time. When all the butter has been added increase the mixer’s speed to medium and beat until the mixture looks curdled or separated. Continue to beat until the icing comes together again looking like soft smooth whipped butter.

Assembling the cake:

Place one layer flat side down and cover it with 2/3 cup of the frosting. Top with second layer and repeat process. Top with third layer and frost the sides of the cake.

Bakers Notes:

A cake topped with the meringue frosting is the best eaten the day it’s made. It does not do well in the fridge.

If you choose the buttercream frosting you can keep it in the fridge for 3 days. Make sure to allow the cake to come to room temperature for 1 to 1 ½ hours before slicing. Otherwise the frosting will be hard and heavy.

The Cake Slice Bakers: Hot Cocoa Chiffon Layer Cake

I seem to have an incurable compulsion for joining baking groups. I just can't seem to help myself! I guess the fact that it is so fun and that I don't want to stop probably has something to do with it!

So, here I am, with another group - and this one is all about cakes (for now anyway). We are baking one designated cake from Sky High: Irresistible Cakes for the next 12 months.

For our very first cake our group's fabulous creators Gigi and Katie chose to celebrate the beginning changing of the season and chose the Cappuccino Cake. Well, since I don't drink coffee, I chose to replace all the espresso in the cake with a rich hot cocoa blend. The cake was really a breeze to make and tasted wonderful - it had a very light cocoa flavor that was complemented by the light and airy texture of the cake. I will definitely make this cake again since it was easy to do with such spectacular looking (and tasting) results. I am sure the cappuccino version is fantastic as well. I've adjusted the original recipe below to show my changes.

Other than the slice we tried at home, this cake actually went to Aidan's kindergarten class as an example of baking and how fun it is to bake with kids and to bake your own goodies at home. The kids loved the show and the teachers got to eat the cake. It was really funny, because she made a point to tell me that she was so sad she had only taken a small piece - because when she went back after class for another piece it was completely gone! I would have to say that is a positive reaction. I loved this first recipe so much that I went ahead and got the book Sky High: Irresistible Cakes that the Cake Slice Bakers are baking from for 12 months (11 more to go!). I went ahead and made the Vanilla Buttermilk Cake with Instant Fudge Frosting for Cole's birthday last week and it was insanely good and really easy to make. This is a really great book if you like cake at all. The recipes are really well written and easy to follow with lots of good information.

Stay tuned on the 20th of each month for another fantastic cake from The Cake Slice Bakers - and if you love cake and are brave, join in the fun!

HOT COCOA CHIFFON CAKE
(Adapted from Sky High: Irresistible Cakes)
Makes an 8-inch triple layer cake (I used three 9-inch pans for slightly thinner layers)

1/4 cup of neutral oil (ie. vegetable, canola, or soybean)
6 eggs separated
6 tablespoons of freshly brewed espresso cooled to room temperature (6 T strong hot cocoa from the following mixture: 2 T cocoa + 2 T sugar + 10 oz hot water - use the remainder for the syrup below)
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 and 1/3 cups of cake flour*
1 and 1/2 cups of sugar
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar
Cocoa powder or cinnamon for dusting
(*The recipe calls for cake flour and if you only have all-purpose flour on hand, you can substitute 3/4 cup (105 grams) all purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons (30 grams) cornstarch.)

Espresso Syrup

1/3 cup hot freshly brewed espresso
1/3 cup of sugar
1/3 cup dark rum, such as Meyers* (*if you want to leave out the rum you can use molasses thinned with pineapple juice and flavored with almond extract to equal 1/3 cup. Or use 1 to 2 teaspoons of rum extract flavoring but you'll have less syrup - I left out the rum and the extract)

Vanilla Whipped Cream

3 cups of heavy cream
1/3 cup of sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla

1. Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Line the bottom s of three 8-inch round cake pans with parchment paper but do not grease.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the oil, egg yolks, espresso, and vanilla; whisk lightly to blend. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, 1 cup of sugar, the baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

3. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar on medium-low speed until frothy. Raise the mixer to medium high and gradually add the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar. Continue to beat until soft peaks form. Do not whip to stiff peaks or the cake will shrink upon cooling.

4. Add the espresso-egg mixture to the dry ingredients and fold together just until combined. Add one fourth of the egg whites and fold them gently into the batter. Fold in the remaining egg whites just until no streaks remain. Divide the batter among the pans.

5. Bake the cakes for 18 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool completely in the pans. Once cooled run a knife around the edge of the pans to release the cakes. Invert onto a wire rack and remove the parchment papers.

6. To assemble the cake, place one cake layer flat side up on a cake stand or platter. Soak the cake with 1/3 cup of the espresso syrup. Spread 1 and 1/3 cups of whipped cream evenly over the top of the cake. Repeat with the next layer the same steps. Finally top with the third layer. Soak with syrup and frost the top and sides of the cake with the whipped cream.

7. To decorate the cake smooth out the whipped cream as much as possible on top. Lay a paper doily on top and sift cocoa powder or cinnamon over the doily to reveal a lacy detail.

Espresso Syrup
makes 1 cup

In a bowl, stir together the espresso and sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the rum and let cool to room temperature.

Vanilla Whipped Cream
makes 6 cups

Place the cream, sugar, and vanilla in large chilled mixing bowl with chilled beaters. With the whip attachment, beat the cream until stiff peaks form.

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.