The Butcher & Baker Blog

Hiatuses are for people who can't spell 'hiatuses.'

2009-12-20T20:20:00.000-08:00

Duddddddes. We're coming back. It's been a while--Amy is living in Iowa City, and Caleb is living in Boston--but we're coming back. And packing heat. Prepare yourselves accordingly.

Fresh Baked Boules

2009-05-23T08:04:00.000-07:00

Of all the man made creations, there are few that rival bread. This category encompasses everything from the baguette to wonder bread. A miracle of nature, wild yeast propagated mixtures of flour and water for thousands of years, leaving superstitious bakers to wonder which God let their bread rise. Although I will be doing a post on using wild yeasts to leaven your bread soon, let's start with perhaps the simplest loaf you can make: a rustic boule with no kneading involved. Think about it: commercial mixers have been around for scant a century, and people have been making bread for several millenniums. Sure, people needed bread, but often they just allowed the bread to sit and naturally develop gluten through long slow rises, producing a chewy and slightly sour flavor that is perfect on its own.

In a bowl mix:

-2 cups whole wheat flour and 1 cup AP flour (I suppose bread flour would be better but I don't have any)
-1/4 tsp instant AKA rapid rise yeast
-1 1/2 tsp salt

In a small bowl or large liquid measuring cup mix:

-1 1/4 cup warm water OR 3/4 cup warm water and 1/2 cup mild crappy lager beer (This is the Cooks Illustrated method, which is good, but I rarely have a beer like this open, and usually don't want to open one just to make bread. I have made it with the beer and didn't feel like it made that big a difference in the flavor but YMMV)
-a good squeeze of honey
-2-3 tablespoons white vinegar

Mix the wet into the dry until a shaggy ball appears and cover with plastic wrap and let sit 8-18 hours.

2. Lay 12- by 18-inch sheet of parchment paper inside 10-inch skillet and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and knead 10 to 15 times. Shape dough into ball by pulling edges into middle. Transfer dough, seam-side down, to parchment-lined skillet and spray surface of dough with nonstick cooking spray. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until dough has doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with finger, about 2 hours.

3. About 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position, place 6- to 8-quart heavy-bottomed Dutch oven (with lid) on rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees. Lightly flour top of dough and, using razor blade or sharp knife, make one 6-inch-long, 1/2-inch-deep slit along top of dough. Carefully remove pot from oven and remove lid. Pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower into pot (let any excess parchment hang over pot edge). Cover pot and place in oven. Reduce oven temperature to 425 degrees and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 210 degrees, 20 to 30 minutes longer. Carefully remove bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.

Good luck, once you get the hang of it, it's really easy! Also if you're intereted in slashing, the secret is right before you put it in the dutch oven, rub flour all over the top of the loaf THEN slash and that's how you'll get a great looking top.

Heart-Healthy Apple Crisp

2009-02-08T17:49:00.000-08:00

This is a basic, no-brainer, but it’s still worth writing about. Apple crisp! I love it—who doesn’t? It includes all my favorite ingredients: fresh fruit (I love me some tart Granny Smiths!), cinnamon and sugar. Plus, the whole wheat flour is good for your heart (yes, even when covered in sugar—yes it is!, trust me on this). I normally make this in the fall, when there’s an excess of Biglerville apples, but what’s wrong with a taste of fall in February? Nothing! In fact, it’s downright delicious!

Apple Crisp:

2 Granny Smith apples

3 Tbs. brown sugar

1 Tbs. white sugar

4 Tbs. whole-wheat flour

½ c. old-fashioned oats

2 Tbs. cinnamon (I really like cinnamon; if you don’t, it’s not a bad idea to curtail this otherwise unnecessary and maybe even unhealthy amount)

½ stick of butter

Peel and cut apples into chunks. Place in a greased 8x8 pan. Mix oats, flour and sugars in bowl. Cut butter into half-inch chunks. Place in mixture and combine. Spoon over apples. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until apples are soft. Serve over vanilla ice-cream.

Chinese-Style Teriyaki Tofu and Broccoli Stir-Fry

2009-02-08T17:42:00.000-08:00

After nearly four years of strict vegetarianism, I cracked last fall while studying abroad in Aix-en-Provence, France. The poulet roti, the moules frites, the escargot: it was all too much for me. But after a year of binging on chicken wings, greasy turkey burgers and fried chicken (oh, why in the world are the meats I love so terrible for me?), I’m back on the wagon. Or, kind of. I have one foot hanging off the wagon? In any case, I’m trying to eliminate meat from my diet, and the easiest way to do this, in my opinion, is to open yourself to meals without meat. For me, this just means bringing back all the meals I used to make religiously. I loved them then, but when you replace tofu with chicken in stir -fries, or black beans with chicken in fajitas, it gets difficult to go back. But I’m doing it!

Tonight I made one of my old favorites: Chinese-style Teriyaki fried tofu with broccoli over brown rice. It’s healthy, it’s easy and it’s delicious. And, I have to admit, it made me remember how tasty vegetarianism really can be, even if it doesn’t involve buffalo sauce or char-grilled taste.

Chinese-Style Teriyaki Tofu and Brocolli:

1 pkg. extra-firm tofu

1 head of broccoli

½ c. brown rice

1 c. water

4 Tbs. flour

3 tsp. paprika

1 c. cooking oil (I use vegetable)

Teriyaki sauce (I’m a big fan of Soy Vay’s “Very Teriyaki,” seen here).

In a small pot, add water and bring to a boil. Add rice and cover, simmer for 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut broccoli into florets and open and drain tofu. Cover in paper towels and apply pressure. Discard wet paper towels and repeat. Cut tofu into thin chunks.

Heat oil in a separate pot on high. When hot, put tofu in flour and paprika mixture. Coat and place tofu in oil, one-by-one. Let each piece cook 30-45 seconds, remove and place on a paper-towel lined plate.

When all tofu is finished, put broccoli in a stir-fry pan and heat on high. Cook broccoli and add tofu. Add teriyaki sauce. Serve over rice.

Yum! Who knew vegetarianism could be so yummy? (Well, I did…four years ago…)

Valentine's Cake, Vegetarian Stirfry and Apple Crisp

2009-02-08T17:10:00.000-08:00

Well, I was hopeful after my last post, in which I “caught up” on recent cooking adventures, that I’d post regularly, but again the life of a student, intern and devoted long-distance girlfriend have caught up with me! Nonetheless, I’m back and best of all, I spent the whole weekend in the kitchen. An early Valentine’s Day cake for my roommates on Friday, Chinese-style tofu and broccoli Teriyaki over brown rice on Saturday and a homemade apple crisp tonight! The jury is still out on the crisp, which will be broken into at my friend Lindsay’s during the 9pm showing of Bret Michaels Rock of Love show (what goes with white trash television better than apple crisp? You’ve got me…), but everything else has received raved reviews! And best of all, with Valentine’s Day, spring and Easter just around the corner, there’s lots more cute baking to come. But first, the Valentine’s Day cake!

Valentine’s Day Sweethearts Cake:

1 cup milk, room temperature

6 egg whites

1 tsp almond extract

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups cake flour

1 3/4 cups sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup butter (6 oz), softened

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease two 9-inch cake pans. In a small bowl, combine milk, eggs whites and extracts with a fork. Set aside.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in an electric mixer and mix at slow speed with a paddle attachment. Add butter. Continue beating at slow speed until mixture looks like wet sand (if you're doing this by hand, sift the dry ingredients together and rub in butter). Add all but 1/2 cup of milk mixture and beat at medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes. Add remaining milk mixture and beat for an additional 30 seconds, scraping the sides of the bowl if necessary. Do not over-mix.

Divide batter evenly between prepared pans and gently shake to smooth batter. Bake 30-35 minutes, until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cakes cool in the pans for 15 minutes then invert onto racks to cool completely before frosting.

(I frosted the cake with a simple buttercream, adding red food dye rather than milk.) The recipe is as follows:

Simple Buttercream Frosting:

6 cups confectioners’ sugar

16 Tbs. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

4 1/2 Tbs. milk, plus more, if needed

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. salt

Food coloring

In a bowl with an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, combine the confectioners’ sugar, butter, the 4 1/2 Tbs. milk, the vanilla and salt and beat on low speed until combined, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase the speed to medium and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. If the frosting is dry, add more milk, 1 tsp. at a time, until it is creamy but still holds peaks. Tint with food coloring as desired. Makes about 4 cups.

Enjoy!

Fall 2008 Catch-Up!

2009-01-04T18:09:00.001-08:00

Well, four months later and we're finally back. This past semester has been grueling for both Caleb and I---on top of our regular classes, we've been applying to graduate schools and maintaining our semester jobs. We were busy, but although our food blog that suffered, our stomachs didn't!. We may not have had time to blog about our cooking adventures, but we certainly made enough time for our tongues to get a taste of each endeavor!

In late October, we cheered on an eventual Obama victory with Obama-themed cookies (some with the Obama symbol and others with confetti, since we were confident about the outcome!). They were cute, but were eagerly feasted upon at our shared friend's Obama party on election night. Yes we can!

Shortly thereafter, we attended the Biglerville Applefest, an annual tradition out here in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In addition to enjoying delicious homemade cider and pumpkin funnel cake (both of which were delicious!), we made our own caramel apples, dripping with hot caramel and roasted peanuts. Delicious!

During a dinner party in November, we also discovered the simple pizazz of Banana's Foster, a new favorite dish. What says "wow" like flames and liquor?

Finally, to cheer in Christmas and the month-long winter break we students wait so long for, Caleb and I baked Christmas cupcakes, each one individually and uniquely decorated:

Now that the busiest semester is over and winter break is drawing to a close, our New Years resolutions include just one thing: cook, cook, cook! And this semester, that'll mean blog, blog, blog.

See you soon!

End of Summer Meal

2008-08-25T19:19:00.000-07:00

Had a few friends over an end of summer meal:

Hors D'Oeuvres: Brie and Fig Jam Crostini with Lavender, St. Marcellain Crostini

Amuse Bouche: Brunoised smoked salmon and shallots with creme fraiche, and lemon basil

Soup: Chilled watermelon soup with New Hampshire wild blueberries and chopped mint

Salad: Baby Arugula with Cherry tomatoes and italian aged cow's milk cheese with lemon vinaigrette

Main: Butterflied lemon rosemary chicken with roasted baby yukon gold potatoes

Desert: Blueberry crisp with vanilla ice cream

Cupcakes That POP!

2008-08-09T18:33:00.000-07:00

Alright folks, I hope you enjoy this post and take in every last moment, cause I can tell you, I am never making these suckers again! (That’s a lie. I very well may convince myself to make them again when someone else gets married, or has a baby, or another one of those life changing moments. But for now I am folding my arms across my chest and saying no way!)

I first saw these Cupcake Pops on the blog Bakerella, the author of which recently appeared on Martha Stewart making these (pretty cool!). I couldn’t get over how cute they were, and she made them for every occasion—she had Father’s Day cupcake pops, for-charity cupcake pops, and so on, so I thought, How hard could they be? Well, hard.

If you’re going to make these, I do suggest you have—in addition to the recipe’s ingredients—a whole lot of time and patience. These were two ingredients I usually have on hand, but this batch pushed my limits. First of all, the cake kept crumbling when I’d try to cover it in chocolate—whole bits of cake would fall off into the chocolate! In the end, I just held the cupcake and spooned the chocolate on and rubbed it around gently, but maybe you’ll have more luck.

Anyway, I made them for my brother’s fiancé’s bridal shower—I’m a bridesmaid and wanted to really contribute in the way that I best know how (baking!)—and was so glad I made them the night before; I would have gone nuts if I had tried to bake them on the same day, while helping my mom set up the house and getting myself ready. I suggest you do the same; give yourself plenty of time. On the flip side, they were a huge hit (I knew they would be). Everyone thought they were adorable, and although I didn’t think that mine turned out looking like mini cupcakes (like they’re supposed to), everyone else did. Best of all, they’re incredibly (and surprisingly) moist inside. You expect a hunk of chocolate or a dried cake, but it’s really gooey and soft inside. Yum! But as I told everyone, amidst their “mmm”s, enjoy them now, because I won’t be making them again! If you think you’re up to the challenge, here’s how you make ‘em:

Cupcake Pops and Cupcake Bites

1 13x9 baked cake

1 can cream cheese frosting (or about 2 cups equivalent from scratch)

1 flower shaped cookie cutter (1.25" wide X .75" tall)

1 package chocolate bark

1 package pink candy melts or white chocolate bark

Wax paper

Aluminum foil

Sprinkles, M&Ms

Lollipop sticks, plastic treat bags and ribbons

Serves: 50

Duration: 2 days

Bake a cake from a mix or from scratch in a 9x13 plan and cool completely. Crumble cake into a fine consistency into a large bowl. If the texture is too coarse, you can run it through a food processor. Add can of cream cheese frosting or homemade frosting and blend together using the back of a large spoon. Blend thoroughly. Roll mixture into 1.25" - 1.5" size balls and lay on wax paper covered cookie sheet. You may want to periodically rinse and dry your hands off in between. Cover with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for several hours. You can speed this up by placing in the freezer for about 15 minutes.

Remove. Begin to shape into cupcakes using a small flower-shaped cookie cutter. To do this, take the chilled ball and roll it into more of an oval and then slide into cookie cutter. Push it into cutter until about half fills the cutter and the rest sticks out of the top in the shape of a mound. Then push the shaped cupcake carefully out of the cookie cutter from the bottom. Set right side up on a wax paper covered cookie sheet. Continue with remaining balls. Once shaped, cover and return to freezer. (5-10 minutes). You can also leave them covered in the refrigerator overnight if you want to do the dipping on the following day.

While cupcake shapes are chilling, begin to heat up your chocolate bark. Brown chocolate bark for the bottoms and pink (or whatever color you want) for the tops. Follow the instructions on the package for melting, but most recommend heating for 30 second intervals at a time and stirring in between. You can also do the double boiler method. When you are ready to dip, remove the cupcake balls from the freezer and set up another wax paper covered cookie sheet. Take the cupcake shaped mixture and dip bottoms into the melted chocolate, just to the point where the mounded shape starts. Remove from chocolate, turn upside down and wiggle so that the excess starts to slide down slightly. Then lay on the wax paper upside down. If you want them to be lollipops, then go ahead and insert the lollipop sticks while the chocolate is still wet. You can also leave some without the sticks; they’re just as cute as Cupcake Bites. If you’re not feeling confident about the support of the lollipop stick, dip the end of the stick in the melted chocolate before inserting into chocolate bottoms. Under no circumstances should you get water in the chocolate; make sure your hands are completely dry. Water will cause the chocolate to separate and mess up all your hard work. Dry completely. (15-20 minutes).

Once dry, melt and then dip the tops of the cupcakes in the pink or white chocolate.

You may need to move it around a little to cover all the exposed areas. Let the pink chocolate sit for a few minutes after heating to thicken; this will help it from dripping down the sides of the cupcake. Remove from the pink/white chocolate and turn right side up. You may need to hold and rotate it if there is any excess so that it doesn’t drip down too far. You can use a toothpick to help cover any areas the melted chocolate didn't cover. Then put each one in a Styrofoam block or, in my case, an Amazon.com box punched with holes. Let them dry.

For the Cupcake Bites, just turn right side up and rest on the wax paper. Then go ahead and put an M&M on the top and add sprinkles while wet. For the lollipops, continue holding and place an M&M on the top and add sprinkles. Let them dry in a Styrofoam block that you have already poked holes into (or, in my case, an Amazon.com box). When completely dry, cover the lollipops with small plastic treat bags and tie with a ribbon. You can store these in an airtight container and they will last for several days. You can also store in the refrigerator if you would like them cold.

I hope you enjoyed the grueling process much more than I did!

Hamantashan Cookies

2008-07-19T20:47:00.000-07:00

On a whim tonight I decided to bake Hamantashan, a delicious Jewish shortbread cookie made with assorted jams. I had gathered the ingredients to make them a long time ago, but summer has been hectic and it wasn’t until tonight that I finally had some down time and remembered how delicious shortbread cookies are with a cup of coffee (or tea, you tea lovers).

The recipe I found and decided to use was from Smitten-Kitchen and, following their lead, I too decided to omit the ‘kosher’ ideal of the Hamantashan and use butter rather than oil, as I like a thick, dense cookie (it’s good for the dipping!). The jams I had on hand were apricot, blackberry and strawberry, which made not only a delicious variety, but a darn good looking presentation, if I do say so myself. The recipe is as follows:

Hamantashan Cookies:

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

3 ounces cream cheese at room temperature

3 tablespoons sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon orange zest

1 1/3 cups plus 4 teaspoons flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

Jams (raspberry, blackberry and apricot work best)

Servings: 22 cookies

Using a spatula, cream butter and cream cheese together in a large bowl until smooth. Add sugar and mix for one minute longer, then add egg, vanilla extract, orange zest and salt, mixing until combined. Finally, add the flour. The mixture should come together and be a tad sticky. If it feels too wet, add an additional tablespoon of flour. Form dough into a disc, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour. Preheat oven to 350°F.

To form the Hamantaschen, roll out the dough on a well-floured surface until it is about 1/4-inch thick.

Using a round cookie cutter (3 inches is traditional, but very large; I used one that was 2 1/2 inches), cut the dough into circles. If the dough is sticking to your surface, try rolling small balls of dough with your palms and flattening them evenly on the cookie sheet; this also works well. Spoon a teaspoon (it won’t look like enough, but trust me, it bubbles over as it heats) of you filling of choice in the center.

Fold the dough in from three sides and firmly crimp the corners and give them a little twist to ensure they stay closed. Leave the filling mostly open in the center. Bake on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Cool.

All in all, the cookies came out very delicious—rich and buttery with a nice crisp. In the future, however, I think I’d like to try more jams, including orange marmalade in lieu of apricot (not too much of a flavor there). I also think red raspberry jam would make one mean cookie! The twisting technique I used seemed to work, as not many of the cookies unfolded in the oven as they did in the past. As I rolled the corners, I simply pinched the two sides together; this seems to do the trick.

I may not be Jewish, but I am definitely a cookie convert— Hamantaschens are delicious!!

Caprese Sandwiches

2008-07-13T17:07:00.000-07:00

When we were in France, Caleb and I ate these sandwiches—Caprese Sandwiches—at least several times a week. For the first month, I was still a vegetarian, and vegetarian-friendly sandwiches were hard to come by (a contributing factor to my eventual surrender to all things meat). These sandwiches provided a quick, cheap lunch, and in celebration of that, I made one recently.

They’re quite simple to make, but for an ideal sandwich, the recipe is as follows.

Caprese Sandwiches

1 pkg. fresh mozzarella cheese

1 beefsteak tomato

French baguette or crusty loaf of bread

Fresh basil

Olive oil for seasoning

Pepper, salt for seasoning

To begin, thinly slice the baguette. Using a marinating brush, cover one side of each slice of bread with olive oil. Salt and pepper liberally. Slice both the tomato and mozzarella in thin slices. Wash several basil leaves and stack the ingredients on the sandwich carefully. Put together and enjoy!

I know a recipe probably wasn’t necessary for this, but the photos made me hungry for it all over again—I had to showcase its delicious contributution. Yum!

Tiramisu Celebration Cake

2008-07-13T15:18:00.000-07:00

One of Caleb’s favorite desserts in the entire world, and I have to admit it’s one of mine, too, is tiramisu. Something about it is irresistible; it’s the perfect dessert. The cocoa satisfies a sweet tooth, the dense, wet ladyfingers leave you feeling full and the liquor and coffee add that finale, that something extra. Although we agree that it’s one of our favorite desserts, we also feel that barely anyone gets it right. We’re incredibly picky when it comes to tiramisu, and although I’m usually disappointed when I order it in a restaurant, I always order it nonetheless, hoping it’ll be the perfect combination of coffee, chocolate and mascarpone.

This year, Caleb has requested that for his birthday I make him a homemade tiramisu, and although I’ve already experimented with one recipe, practice makes perfect. I was all set to make a traditional tiramisu, using another recipe, several days ago when another recipe caught my eye, thanks to Smitten-Kitchen.

Convinced this was the perfect recipe, I rushed out and bought new ingredients, then quickly set to work baking, creaming and tasting. I had had the highest of hopes for this cake, but was disappointed to see that it was just that: a cake. Somewhere along the line, I got it in my head that this dessert would taste like one large tiramisu—wet, dense and tasting highly of liquor. In truth, what it really was—and what I should have recognized it as—was an overdone birthday cake masquerading as tiramisu. Nonetheless, I wasn’t disappointed with the taste; it had plenty of it. But in the future, I would probably only make this for someone’s birthday—it has far too fancy of a feeling to be used as a dinner party dessert, as I did, and the cake is overwhelmingly…well…cakey.

Tiramisu Cake
Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

For the cake layers:
2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup buttermilk

For the espresso extract:
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
2 tablespoons boiling water

For the espresso syrup:
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon amaretto, Kahlua, or brandy (Deb note: I used brandy)

For the filling and frosting:
1 8-ounce container mascarpone
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon amaretto, Kahlua, or brandy (Deb note: I used brandy)
1 cup cold heavy cream
2 1/2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, or about 1/2 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips

Chocolate-covered espresso beans, for decoration (optional)
Cocoa powder, for dusting

Getting ready:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9×2 inch round cake pans, dust the insides with flour, tap out the excess, and line the bottoms of the pans with parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

To make the cake:
Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat for another 3 minutes. Add the eggs one by one, and then the yolk, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla; don’t be concerned if the mixture looks curdled. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, adding the dry ingredients in 3 additions and the milk in 2 (begin and end with the dry ingredients); scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed and mix only until the ingredients disappear into the batter. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.

Bake for 28 to 30 minutes, rotating the pans at the midway point. When fully baked, the cakes will be golden and springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the centers will come out clean. Transfer the cakes to a rack and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them, and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature right-side up.

To make the extract:
Stir the espresso powder and boiling water together in a small cup until blended. Set aside.

To make the syrup:
Stir the water and sugar together in a small saucepan and bring just to a boil. Pour the syrup into a small heatproof bowl and stir in 1 tablespoon of the espresso extract and the liqueur or brandy; set aside.

To make the filling and frosting:
Put the mascarpone, sugar, vanilla, and liqueur in a large bowl and whisk just until blended and smooth.

Working with the stand mixer with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, whip the heavy cream until it holds firm peaks. Switch to a rubber spatula and stir about one quarter of the whipped cream into the mascarpone. Fold in the rest of the whipped cream with a light touch.

To assemble the cake:
If the tops of the cake layers have crowned, use a long serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion to even them. Place one layer right-side up on a cardboard round or a cake plate protected with strips of wax or parchment paper. Using a pastry brush or a small spoon, soak the layer with about one third of the espresso syrup.

Smooth some of the mascarpone cream over the layer - user about 1 1/4 cups - and gently press the chopped chocolate into the filling. Put the second cake layer on the counter and soak the top of it with half the remaining espresso syrup, then turn the layer over and position it, soaked side down, over the filling. Soak the top of the cake with the remaining syrup.

For the frosting, whisk 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons of the remaining espresso extract into the remaining mascarpone filling.

Taste the frosting as you go to decide how much extract you want to add. If the frosting looks as if it might be a little too soft to spread over the cake, press a piece of plastic wrap against its surface and refrigerate it for 15 minutes or so. Refrigerate the cake too.

With a long metal icing spatula, smooth the frosting around the sides of the cake and over the top.

If you want to decorate the cake with chocolate-covered espresso beans, press them into the filling, making concentric circles of beans or just putting some beans in the center of the cake.

Refrigerate the cake for at least 3 hours (or for up to 1 day) before serving - the elements need time to meld.

Just before serving, dust the top of the cake with cocoa. I cut a star shape out of waxed paper and placed it lightly over the cake, and shaved a layer of chocolate over it with a microplane, before carefully removing the star to leave a stenciled shape.

Other variations I would make would include adding more frosting to the top (I wanted it to be smooth looking, so I used less and smoothed it, but in truth taste comes before appearances in my book) and perhaps even more espresso syrup. I didn’t want the frosting to be too intensely coffee-tasting, but after a day in the refrigerator the icing was bland—sweet, but bland. Otherwise, a good recipe.

4th of July Red, White and Blue Cupcakes

2008-07-06T18:17:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows me knows I love cupcakes. There’s something about them that I can’t resist. I can’t resist looking at them, I can’t resist baking them, and I certainly can’t resist eating them. They are delicious.

One of my favorite things about cupcakes—and believe me, the list is very lengthy and spans, easily, a page and a half—is that they are so easy to decorate (and decorate well). Unlike cakes, which risk sopping in the middle, being lopsided or looking unsymmetrical when frosted, cupcakes are both versatile and sturdy. Plus they always look adorable once they’re done. There’s a grocery store near me (shout out to Landis Supermarkets in Vernfield, PA) that sells specialty sprinkles—we’re talking everything from cows to fish to elephants (yes, elephants!) and they always have the best selection for holiday decorations. This year I found adorable red, white and blue stars, and coupled them with Funfetti “Stars and Stripes” cupcakes. Now, normally I don’t use boxed cupcake mixes, but I was in a rush this week to finish up work and pack to drive up to New Hampshire, where my friends and family and I spent the 4^th of July weekend.

Since it’s a boxed mix, I won’t include the recipe (just cut open the bag, pour in some oil, water and eggs and stir!) but I do want to include several pictures of the finished products. The frosting is my never-fail “Quick Buttercream Frosting” (posted in practically any cupcake recipe you’ll find on here) and I used a variety of dyes and sprinkles to create one-of-a-kind, unique cupcakes that were both festive and fun. Enjoy!