Iron Cupcake Earth: June 2009 Summer Berries Entry 1

In your post, please be sure mention that you are competing to win the following prizes, be sure to include reference and an active link to our prize providers and sponsors:
Our June ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:
A sweet cupcake ID bracelet by INSANEJELLYFISH, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5021935
A groovy linocut piece from BLOCKHEAD PRESS http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6108705
a sweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Cupcakery, http://www.acupcakery.com/
PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice - sweet!Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS, http://www.fiestaproducts.com, HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com, JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com; TASTE OF HOME books, http://www.tasteofhome.com; a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM http://www.upwithcupcakes.com/. Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers, http://www.1800flowers.com .

Cali Trip, Red Devil's Graduation Cake and Gum Paste

Just got back from the big family trip (nine adults, one toddler) to Cali. We had a great time - I flew a cake with me for my sister, ate self-serve, soft-serve yogurt at least four times and watched turtle racing (just like on "Rob & Big").

In short (or long kinda) I:

• watched my little sister graduate with her MFA from the TFT department (theater, film & television...I didn't know either) at UCLA where Oliver Stone gave the commencement address - he decided to talk about politics, war and the sad economy instead of give an uplifting congratulatory speech
• ate Giant Cheetos for the first time (amazing)
• saw a taping of "Chelsea Lately" and got called out by the warm up guy (who is also the tour guide in the police station in "The Hangover") - we had to move seats so he saw me and Brad stand up and he yelled, "hey, where'd you two meet...computer class!??" just because we were both wearing thick-rimmed glasses....seriously. it was funny tho - and we are pretty big nerds
• spotted CJ from "Top Chef" taking a smoke break outside his restaurant; saw Tim Meadows at brunch
• drank GIANT margs at least twice; saw my brother get a "talking to" from the rent-a-cop for wearing his sweatshirt hood up in the bar (WTF?) - this was a crappy bar too, not a Brent Bolthouse club or anything
• got to spend quality time with my whole fam!
  

I also decided that I wanted to make my sister a custom, costume designer-themed graduation cake. I wanted her to have an awesome cake and I also wanted to experiment with gum paste so I would know what I'm doing with it when I start making the birthday cakes in a week or so. Gum paste is pretty much like edible sugar play dough - fun times, like a kid again!

In my head it seemed so easy and made complete sense to bake a cake in Chicago and fly with it to LA. And, also take the somewhat delicate gum paste decoration items with me as well. I have to say, everything really worked out the way I wanted and there were absolutely no complications with security or the taking of the cake on board. I googled and you can take cakes and pies on the plane - I printed the TSA Web page that had this info and took it with me to the airport just in case. I was NOT going to dump this amazing red cake in the trash!

Everything arrived in great shape and nothing was broken or smashed - yes, success! I did not make and take frosting though, just ended up buying some at the store. It still tasted good, like that hydrogenated oil taste you just can't get from homemade. ;)

If you are interested in successfully taking a cake (undecorated) with you somewhere on a plane, here's what I did:

• baked cakes two days before departure; let cool completely; wrapped layers in plastic wrap and foil; kept in freezer until morning of departure
• pulled out random, perfectly-sized insulated bag that we happened to have and lined with towels
• removed cake layers morning of departure; separated layers with cake boards to keep them straight; put in insulated bag; put bag with cake into large carry-on (not the rolly kind)
• tucked two large zip top bags in bag
• after going through security, made Brad get zip top bags filled with ice from Starbucks
• put ice bags around cakes and zipped insulated bag
• kept insulated bag in carry-on until on the plane; removed it from carry-on and placed under seat in front of me; put cakes in fridge upon arrival at beach house
• voila!

It was a pretty secure fit under the seat, but I also had my feet there to keep it from jostling around.

If you are interested in more about the actual cake, see below:

I used our family's traditional red devil's cake recipe, upon the graduate's request. Our version of this cake is a little different than ones you've probably had from a bakery - I can't really describe the taste - it just tastes like RED cake! It has buttermilk, coffee, cocoa powder and LOTS of red food coloring. A lot of other recipes don't use coffee and call for vinegar. I think the addition of coffee really enhances the cocoa and buttermilk for a completely unique-tasting cake. It was still moist and delicious even after all the traveling.


Working with gum paste was definitely interesting and I have to say I'm pretty impressed with the end result - since I had never used it before. Stay tuned for more gum paste in birthday cake posts.

Iron Cupcake and Denim Diapers

So, I joined a virtual Internet cupcake challenge called Iron Cupcake Earth. Basically, I'll be baking cupcakes each month based on a "secret" ingredient, a la Iron Chef. Except, I won't be on TV, there's no one-hour time limit, no badly dubbed English voice overs and I won't be competing against Morimoto.

The ingredient for June is Summer Berries - Strawberries, Blackberries, Raspberries, Blueberries. I've already been busy "creating" and will post info and pics soon.

Now I've got to pawn these babies off on people. I already sent a batch with Brad for his team - sans some of my Tupperware - I have bad luck with Tupperware getting stolen from offices. I know, it can't get much worse...well, maybe...if I'm ever caught wearing denim diapers, that's definitely worse.

You've heard of jorts (jean shorts) and short jorts, but I overheard someone talking about denim diapers at a bar and I immediately fell in love with the term. You know you've seen these at the store - or if you're me - on someone in public with cheek showing. How is this OK??? I'll be sure to post pics of any DD sightings while we are in LA.

Anyway, stay tuned for some amazing cupcakes and photos - I only have like a thou shots to choose from since I'm now an amateur photographer. Hah. Oh, and Iron Cupcake winners are based on votes, so I'll be pimping you vote for me starting June 28!

Baked Corn Dogs

I've been wanting to make corn dogs for Brad for a long time - he loves them. But, I'm not really one for a) hot dogs (at least not "real" ones) and b) making fried food. I thought for sure that there would be a way to make baked corn dogs - and there is!



To be honest, these taste more like hot dogs wrapped in corn bread (because they don't get as crispy from frying) but in my opinion, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. A quick broil towards the end of the bake time could be a solution...hmm...will try that next time.

The recipe is fairly easy and can be adjusted according to your tastes, e.g., I used 98 percent fat free turkey hot dogs and fat free corn bread mix - yes, it still tasted awesome. I haven't had a real hot dog in a long time, but to me these turkey ones taste really real. Brad likes them too, so that's a good sign.

I also made these little foil hot dog boats/troughs because I thought the coating might fall off and spread over the pan - but now I'm not entirely sure if they are necessary. The coating is pretty thick.

Side dish...

• It was still fun to play with foil.
• Brad now wants a birthday cake shaped like a corn dog - instead of a zombie brain. I like this better.
• I realized that I have a lot of shoes, probably too many flip flops, but still always want more. Brad only has like four pairs.
• There is a ridiculous amount of candy in our cabinet.
• We have WAY too many glasses. I started counting and we're well over 100 glass glasses - and that's not counting glasses still in boxes. There is only two of us.
• I tweeted my second tweet to a celeb yesterday. Mandy Moore said she was watching RHNJ and I of course had to say something. She didn't tweet back though...:(
• We ate our corn dogs with fresh green beans and oven-roasted red potatoes.

OK, here's the corn dog recipe.

Ingredients: for 4 baked corn dogs

• 4, 98 percent fat free turkey hot dogs (like Oscar Mayer, or your fave hot dog)
• 1 1/2 cups fat free corn bread mix (like Krusteaz - I know, weird name)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/8 cup fat free cottage cheese
• a dash (or about 1/8 tsp) each of the following: salt, black pepper, smoky paprika, chili powder blend (I like Chili 9000 from Penzey's), cayenne pepper
• 4 long bamboo skewers
• 4 foil hot dog boats, if you want to try

*You can make the corn bread batter without all the spices, but we like spicy. It will turn a little orange from the paprika and chili powder.

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F
• In a shallow baking dish, combine corn bread mix, spices, cottage cheese and water (it will be very thick - add a little more water if necessary to make it spreadable)
• Insert skewers into hot dogs
• Coat hot dogs in batter (don't make it too thick, about a 1/2 inch of batter should work)
• Spray inside of foil hot dog boats with cooking spray and place on a sheet pan
• Put coated hot dogs in foil boats (or skip the foil and place hot dogs right on a nonstick sheet pan)
• Bake for 12-15 minutes until brown

*You will have some corn bread batter leftover. You could just throw it out, but I took mine and made two muffins. Just lower the oven to 400 degrees and bake for 18 minutes.

Fun Lost Cupcakes

Normally, I like to watch Lost at home alone or just with Brad - so I can turn the TV up to level 30 so I don't miss anything (I still ask Brad, "what did they say?"). Maybe I'm going deaf...but, we live in a loft and the el is close, so I blame that. Oh, and we have an abusive couple (so far I think only verbally) living above us that like to fight at all hours of the day and night.

But, I was invited to a Lost season finale party. I didn't accept right away - then Brad was going to the Cubs game, I was itching to make some fun cupcakes and, oh yeah, I wanted to hang out with my friends - so I decided to go.

1) I think the cupcakes were pretty fun to look at 2) I had fun making them 3) I think people at the party thought they were too fun to eat...until I just made them dig in and told them not to eat the plastic rock/island parts. A choking might have put a damper on the party mood.

Anyway, I've established that they were "fun" and I tried to put my own twist on the decoration. I mean, I'm not the first person to make Lost-themed cupcakes. I googled...there's some tough competition.

I hadn't seen the hieroglyphics on any of the cupcakes I found, so I definitely wanted to do those.

I wanted to make the desert islands with pretzel rod palm trees because they had pretzel rod palm trees!


(Side pretzel note, when I was little and we'd go to the pool in the summer my mom would only let us have pretzel rods and licorice from the snack bar. Why? Because they weren't messy like melted candy bars? Or, because we already looked chunky in our little bathing suits and didn't need the chocolate that we really wanted? Hmm...I'll ask her.

Speaking of moms and licorice, Brad's mom would only let him have exactly three pieces of licorice at a time. She told him that any more than that would cause XXX [insert something gross that requires the use of Pepto]. What?! I'm pretty sure I lived off licorice and cereal in college and never once bought a bottle of Pepto for, ahem...too much licorice. Hilarious.)

Sorry, back to Lost cupcakes. I searched a couple of stores for small plastic planes so I could make it look like they were crashing into the cupcakes, but I didn't find any. So, I got crafty and molded my own little plane out of some stiff icing. Take that Ace of Cakes! Haha.

The actual cupcake was Ginger-Lime with Vanilla Buttercream. Yum. And, something "different" with a tropical island nod? Yes.

Here's the recipe, adapted from FoodNetwork.com.

Ingredients: my adapted recipe made 14 regular-sized cupcakes and 9 mini-sized. The original recipe said 12-14 regular.

Cupcakes

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 heaping teaspoon grated lime zest
• 1/4 teaspoon grated ginger root (next time I would probably increase this to 1/2 or 1 tsp to taste the ginger a little more)
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup light sour cream

Frosting (from Billy's Vanilla Buttercream on MarthaStewart.com.)

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 6 to 8 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (or clear vanilla flavor for a whiter base that's easier for making other colors)
• Assorted food coloring, icing gels/pastes

*This is supposed to make enough for 30 cupcakes; I made the whole recipe so I would have enough for all the colors and piping I wanted to do. I have leftovers.

Instructions for Cupcakes:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes
• With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition
• Add the vanilla extract, lime zest, lime juice and ginger and mix well
• In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt with a fork or whisk; then sift the entire dry mixture together
• In 5 parts total, alternately add the dry ingredients and the sour cream to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry; mix until just combined
• Line a muffin pan with liners and fill each liner almost to the top with batter (a 1/4 cup measuring cup or ice cream scoop works well and ensures they're all the same size)
• Bake for 25 minutes or until the tops begin to brown and a toothpick comes out clean
• Remove cupcakes from oven and allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then transfer to a baking rack to cool completely before frosting

Instructions for Frosting:

• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes
• With mixer on low speed, alternately add 6 cups sugar, milk and vanilla; mix until light and fluffy
• If necessary, gradually add remaining 2 cups sugar to reach desired consistency (i.e., if the frosting still looks "grainy" add more sugar)
• Divide into bowls and make crazy frosting colors, or just leave it plain if you're boring and not fun! ;)

*Note, when adding food coloring to frosting it will make it look "wetter" and "grainier." Just add more powdered sugar until you get a smoother consistency.

One more photo, I couldn't resist. Also, I'll stop taking picture on my cooling racks...how lame.

Choffee Cherry Oatmeal Cookies

Yes, you are reading the title correctly "choffee" - it's a combo of chocolate and coffee if you hadn't guessed. I felt like chocolate coffee cherry oatmeal cookies was a mouthful - but, you'll want a mouthful of cookie after reading this recipe! Seriously, I think I'm funny, even if no one else does...:)

This cookie is more an everyday representation of a dessert that I'd usually make because it's actually, hmmm...lite? better for you? lower fat? What do you call it when you want people to try them?

But for real, I don't make giant layer cakes and full fat sweets and sit around eating them (well, maybe sometimes) all the time. I usually save those for holidays, special occasions, celebrations, etc. However, this cookie tastes like its worthy of a celebration. The recipe uses regular butter and cocoa, just less of it; and the oatmeal adds healthy grains and fiber.

The result is a thin lace-like oatmeal cookie that's crispy on the outside and chewier in the middle. Dried cherries give a sweet/sour bite and the coffee enhances the cocoa - and really the entire cookie. The coffee was my glorious addition.

I didn't encounter any troubles with the dough, it's just a little sticky.

Otherwise, I'd recommend using heaping teaspoons when scooping the dough out and make sure to actually space them out the full 1 1/2 inches apart, they will spread. Maybe I didn't do this on one of the pans....

Here's the recipe, adapted from WeightWatchers.com.

Ingredients: for 36 cookies

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp table salt
• 3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 1/2 cups uncooked oatmeal (not instant)
• 1/2 cup dried cherries
• 2 tbsp instant coffee granules
  

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350ºF
• Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together in a small bowl; set aside
• Place room temperature butter into bowl of a mixer and mix with a paddle attachment until smooth, or beat with an electric mixer
• Slowly pour granulated sugar in an even stream into butter and mix on high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes
• Pour in brown sugar, mix until incorporated and then scrape mixture down from sides of bowl
• Slowly beat in each egg one at a time until incorporated
• Slowly beat in flour mixture until incorporated
• Scrape mixture down from sides of bowl and stir in oatmeal, coffee granules and dried cherries (Note: Freeze dough at this point or continue for baking)
• Scoop rounded (HEAPING) teaspoonfuls of dough onto a nonstick sheet pan, a pan lined with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat about 1 1/2 inches apart
• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until edges are set
• Let rest on pan on cooling rack until cool and then transfer to rack to cool completely
• Serve cookies or stack between sheets of waxed paper in an air-tight container and freeze for up to two weeks before serving
• Yields 1 cookie per serving

*These are rich and taste really good broken up over lite vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt; or if you're Brad, take two and make an ice cream sandwich.

Margs de Mayo

Ok, so I know that I eluded to oatmeal cookies in my last post....which I'm sure all three of my readers were DYING to know about. Don't worry (I know you were) - I made the cookies. Love them; will post them and the recipe.

But...I just made amazing margaritas for Cinco de Mayo - because, why not? Megan from http://www.meganleedesigns.blogspot.com/ sucked a few back with me while our friend Brian tried to work some video/computer magic (for about five hours). Yeah....he had borrowed our camcorder - which we hadn't used in years - to tape a video for his awesome new iPhone app, GeoTap (get it at iTunes).

The current tape on the camcorder held remnants of an amazing drunken dance party from about three apartments ago and two poolside minutes from our honeymoon (hey, nothing dirty people). Needless to say, we hadn't used it in awhile. Needless to say, I had no idea how to make it work with our computer for uploading and editing, etc.

Anyway, back to the margs. I bought a ton of fresh limes and didn't want to make anything with sweet/sour mix, etc. I'd made margaritas before, but decided to search for something new. These were refreshing, tart and light - maybe it had something to do with the Patron? Ye-ah!

Here's the recipe, adapted from "Wes' Favorite Margarita Recipe" in the Austin Chronicle.

Ingredients: for 1 serving

• 1 shot tequila (I used Patrón Silver)
• 1/2 shot Triple Sec
• 1/2 shot fresh squeezed lime juice (about a half dozen limes made about a half-cup of juice)
• splash of mango nectar
• splash of Rose's Sweetened Lime Juice

*I added the mango and Rose's; and used Triple Sec instead of Cointreau

Directions:

• Put all ingredients in a shaker filled with ice
• Shake hard for 30 seconds
• Strain into glass filled with ice and serve with a bendy straw and lime wedge
• Of course, you can rim the glass with salt if you want - that's how I want....

*I added the bendy straw

'Kay, need to watch the RHNYC finale now!!