I Blog What I Bake

I am a klutz. After years of dance training one would think I would be graceful. No.  I drop things all the time, walk into walls and trip over my own feet. I fall UP stairs.  So when things like red food coloring come out I always proceed with caution. Despite all my best efforts I get red food coloring all over the kitchen and myself (and to think I want a culinary torch!).  Word to the wise, should your food coloring drip, spatter or spill WIPE IT UP IMMEDIATELY. This will save you from permanently staining your lovely granite countertops. Your clothing. Your cat. Whatever.

The cake portion is yet another Magnolia recipe. It’s been a solid Red Velvet cake recipe. I have made a couple of my own edits over the years, but by and large it’s Magnolia’s.  I got a little funky and instead of doing a cream cheese frosting over the entire cake, I only put the cream cheese in the middle and decided to pour white chocolate ganache over the top. I should have let the ganache cool for a little longer than I did so it could thicken. It was still too molten when I poured it on the cake and didn’t quite have the effect I was going for since it thinned out so much (and dripped all over the place). I also used vanilla extract in the ganache, omit this. It changed the color of the ganache and gave it a brown tinge. Ick.  If you don’t like ganache or don’t want to make it you can just double the cream cheese frosting recipe and cover the whole cake it it. You can also make this into cupcakes. Just adjust the cooking time to 15-20 minutes instead of 30-40 minutes.

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting & White Chocolate Ganache

CAKE (adapted from Magnolia Bakery Red Velvet Cake)

3 1/2 cups of cake flour (not self-rising)
1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened
2 1/4 cups white granulated sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 small bottles of red gel food coloring (I use Spectrum brand)
3 tablespoons good quality unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, well shaken
1 1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

CREAM CHEESE FILLING

1 8oz block of cream cheese, softened
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of half and half, milk or heavy cream
3 cups confectioners sugar

WHITE CHOCOLATE GANACHE

1 11oz bag of good quality white chocolate chips
1/2 heavy cream
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter

In a medium bowl sift together the cake flour and the cocoa powder. Set aside.

Using a hand held mixer, in a large bowl cream together the sugar and the butter until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Beat in red food coloring.

Combine buttermilk and salt in a measuring cup.

STIR in the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the buttermilk mixutre. Do not use beaters, this will make the cake very dense. I prefer light and fluffy. Do as you wish.

In a small bowl combine the baking soda and cider vinegar and watch the 3rd grade science experiment unfold (you’ll see what I mean). Stir mixture into batter.

Distribute batter evenly amongst the two prepared pans and bake in a 350 degree oven for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Allow to cool in pans for 15 minutes, turn out of pans and allow to cool completely on a baking rack.

While this is cooling make the cream cheese frosting and ganache.  For the cream cheese frosting beat on 8oz block of cream cheese, half a stick of unsalted butter and a quarter cup of sour cream together in a medium bow. Add half of a teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1/2 cup heavy cream and beat. Slowly add approximately 3 cups of confectioners sugar. Spread frosting over one layer of cake. Place remaining layer on top.

For the ganache, melt together an 110z bag of white chocolate chips and 1/2 cup heavy cream in a double boiler. Stir constantly. Once smooth and melted take off of heat and had 2 tablespoons of butter. Stir until melted. Allow to cool and thicken and pour SLOWLY over cake. You may not need all of the ganache.

To assemble the cake; once cooled, apply cream cheese frosting to one layer. Top with other cake layer and pour thickened ganache slowly over the top, letting the ganache make it’s own way down the cake.

Slice and enjoy! This cake is huge, share with many friends!

I realize I make a lot of things with bananas. There always seems to be two lonely bananas in my house that just never get eaten. They sit there in the fruit bowl all by themselves turning brown.  What’s better than baking them into something?

After my banana bundt cake debacle a couple of weeks ago, I was itching to make something with browned butter. I came across the original recipe for this bread durning some mindless web searching. I added the crumble, the glaze and did some other minor tweaks, but it had me at Bourbon. I needed no other reason to make this.

After a 9pm run to the liquor store for a bottle of Maker Mark, one ruined pot of brown butter and much clanking around in the kitchen, this is now the only banana bread I will ever make.

The bread turned out moist and flavorful and the Bourbon Glaze was great. Had a great hit of the Bourbon flavor.

So next time you have a some overripe bananas lying around, don’t throw them out…bake them into this!!

Bourbon Browned Butter Banana Bread with Oatmeal Crumble and Bourbon Glaze
Adapted from www.pioneerwoman.com

Bread
6 tablespoons of browned butter
2 large eggs
2-3 ripe bananas mashed with 1 tablespoon agave nectar or honey
2 tablespoons of bourbon
1/2 cup plain sour cream
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cups brown sugar
1 teapsoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
1/4 teaspoons ginger
1 pinch of salt

Crumble
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup oatmeal
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup of cold unsalted butter, cubed

Bourbon Glaze
5 tablespoons of confectioners sugar
3 tablespoons of bourbon
1 teaspoon agave nectar or honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and butter and flour the pan.

To brown the butter, place butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. The butter is done after it bubbles, foams, turns a carmel color with little brown bits and smells kinda of nutty. Be careful not to burn it. Let the butter cool. (The cooling is important! If you add the hot butter to the eggs, you will scramble them. Yuck.)

Mash bananas with 1 tablespoon of agave nectar or honey.

Beat the eggs in a medium bowl. With a wooden spoon, mix in the mashed bananas, bourbon, sour cream and cooled butter.

In a separate large bowl whisk together the flour (sifted) baking soda, sugar, spices and salt.

Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir gently until combined. Do not over-mix unless you want dry dense bread. You don’t want that. Trust me.

Pour mixture into the prepared loaf pan.

For the crumble combine oatmeal, brown sugar, white sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg. Cut in  1/4 cup of cold unsalted butter using a paster blender, a fork or your hands (using your hands is the most fun) Add crumble on top of the bread batter and bake for 60 minutes.

Allow to cool in pan for 10-15 minutes. Turn out of pan and let cool completely on a baking rack.  Once cooled, drizzle Bourbon Glaze over the top.

Slice and serve!

Printable Recipe:Bourbon Browned Butter Bread with Oatmeal Crumble and Bourbon Glaze

When I started this blog I said that I would post my failures as well as my successes. Well, here ya go. My Brown Butter Banana Cake debacle. I had some bananas that I need to either use or throw away. I didn’t want to make yet another banana bread so I decided to do something different. I had seen a few recipes using brown butter lately so I Googled Brown Butter Banana Cake to see if there were any for a cake. I found what looked like a really good one and got started.

There are two things that went wrong here.

One, I used a 30 year-old bundt pan. Why? The recipe called for a bundt pan and I don’t have one. My mom was nice enough to rummage around in the basement and find a pan from 1979. I floured and buttered this thing within an inch of his life and it still did not want to come out! I am now convinced that bundt pans are the reason non-stick was invented.  Second, I messed up the recipe and forgot 1/3 cup of flour. Disaster. Instead of being fluffy the cake was dense and overly moist. Good taste, HORRIBLE texture.

There you have it. My Brown Butter Banana Cake debacle. I will try this again once I have my own pan. For now, I have posted the recipe below so you can try it. If you do, send me pictures and I will post what this poor little cake was supposed to look like.

Brown Butter Banana Cake with Chocolate Chips
Source: www.finecooking.com

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup finely mashed ripe bananas (2 medium banans)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 2/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cups mini semisweet chocolate chips

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 10-cup bundt pan. Tap out excess flour.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Once the butter is melted, cook it slowly, letting it bubble, until it smells nutty or like butterscotch and turns a deep golden hue, 5-10 minutes. Remove the pan from thereat and pour browned butter through a fine sieve into a medium bowl and discard the bits is the sieve. Let the butter cool until it is very warm rather than boiling hot, 5-10 minutes.

Using a whisk, stir the sugar and the eggs into the butter. Whisk until the mixture is smooth, about 1 minutes. Whisk in mashed bananas, vanilla and salt. Sift flour and baking soda directly into the batter. Pour the chocolate chops over the flour. Using a rubber spatula, stir just until the batter is uniformly combined. Don’t over-mix.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it evenly with the spatial. Bake until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, 40-45 minutes. Set the pan on a rack and cool for 15 minutes.. Invert cake onto rack and remove the pan. Let cool until just warm and then serve immediately or wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for up to five days.

Brown Butter Banana Cake Recipe

Earlier this week I was commissioned  to bake 3 dozen tie-dyed cupcakes for a middle school event. I wasn’t sure if I would blog this, but they turned out so cute and so many of you asked about them I decided to put them up. Having never made a tie-dyed pastry of any sort, figuring out how to do this was a challenge and really fun!

I just got the last of the green food coloring off my skin today.

How to assemble the cupcakes:

• Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners
• Make your favorite vanilla cupcake recipe. (I use Magnolia Bakery’s)
• Separate the batter into 3 bowls
• Add red dye to one bowl, green to one bowl and yellow to the last bowl
• Add one spoonful of each color to each cupcake liner
• Swirl design in using a toothpick or wooden kitchen skewer
• Bake according you your chosen cupcake recipe
• Allow to cool in cupcake pan for 10 minutes, turn out and let cool completely on wire rack

Frosting:

• 2 sticks of unsalted butter at room temperature
• 4-6 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoon of whole milk
• Food coloring (whichever color you prefer)
• Beat the butter on the medium speed of an electric mixer until smooth
• Add the sugar alternating with the milk and vanilla
• Add the food coloring of your choice
• Beat until it reaches a spreading consistency

Happy little cupcake army.

There are tons of recipes that I want to put up on the blog, but I only have so much time. So, I have decided to do some baking “shorts”.  I’m not really sure what else to call them. “Micro-posts” sounds weird. Anyway, these won’t have a million pictures or stories to go along with them . Just good food.

I adapted this recipe from the Strawberry Bread recipe on My Baking Addiction. The Limoncello glaze was delicious! But if you don’t have, or have never heard of, Limoncello, you can substitute fresh lemon juice or lemonade.

Strawberry Lemonade Bread with Limoncello Glaze
Adapted from My Baking Addiction “Fresh Strawberry Bread”

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon fresh grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, roughly blended

Glaze
4 tablespoons of confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon of Limoncello (or lemon juice or lemonade)

DIRECTIONS

Bread:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and flour a 9×5 inch loaf pan and line with parchment paper.
I a medium bowl sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.
On the medium speed of an electric mixer beat the sugar and butter together.
Beat in the vanilla, lemon zest and lemon juice.
With a wooden spoon or spatial, stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture until just blending. Add the buttermilk and still only until just combined. Be careful not to over mix.
Fold in the strawberries and bake in a 350 degree oven for 50-60 minutes.  Allow bread to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Carefully turn it out of the pan and allow to cool completely on a baking rack.

Glaze:

Stir together 4 tablespoons of confectioners sugar with 1 tablespoon of Limoncello. Once bread has cooled completely, pour over the top and spread. If the glaze is to runny add a little more confectioners sugar.

I’m on a berry kick lately. It must be the weather. Sunshine and heat make me want fruit. I’ve also been reconnecting with my “More From Magnolia” cookbook. As I was flipping through it on Saturday afternoon I came across the Strawberry Shortcake recipe. The whole of my experience with Strawberry Shortcake has been those packaged angel food cakes you buy at grocery story, topped with Cool Whip and strawberries. Not that appealing.  I was excited to attempt my first homemade Strawberry Shortcake!  Overall, this was fairly easy to make. My cake layers didn’t come out perfectly even, but I fixed that with a leveler. Also, my cake frosting skills are still a work in progress, but I think I’m getting better at it. I think.

Strawberry Shortcake Recipe from Magnolia Bakery

Cake
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks of butter) softened
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whipped Cream Filling/Frosting
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cups confectioners sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Berries
2 pints (4 cups) ripe strawberries sliced in half
2 tablespoons of sugar

Grease and lightly flour 3 9×2-inch round cake pans, line the bottom with parchment paper. Do this step even if you working with nonstick pans.

In a small bowl combine the flours and set aside.
In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter and the sugar until smooth (about 3 minutes).  Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy.
Add the eggs on at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure all the ingredients are well blended.

Divide the batter among the prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the layers cool in the pan for 1 hour. (YES, one hour. You can wait.) Remove from the pans and cool completely on wire rack.

To make the cream filling whip the heavy cream with the sugar and vanilla until stiff peaks form. How long this will take depends on how cold your cream is. I recommend chilling the bowl you will be using in the fridge prior to making the whipped cream.

Once the layers have cooled completely (LET THEM COOL OR THEY WILL MELT THE FROSTING…I’m not yelling you, just warning you) spread one-third of the whipped cream filling over the bottom cake layer, followed by one-third of the berries. Repeat with the remaining layers.  After all the layers were assembled I used the rest of the whipped cream to cover the whole cake, you can leave the sides bare if you choose.

I used 8 inch cake pans, because I didn’t have three 9×2 inch pans. Result? A REALLY TALL Strawberry Shortcake.  It was so good.  I would recommend serving this as soon as you can. The whipped cream frosting can be temperamental in the summer heat and putting cake in the fridge dries it out in no time.

Enjoy!

ps – my next post involves the left over strawberries I had from this recipe

One of the best bits of summertime is all of the fresh fruit and not only it’s availability, but it’s cost! I can finally buy a pint of raspberries for under $4.  Yay!

I love raspberries. They are one of my favorite fruits and one of the few raw fruits that my husband is not horribly allergic to.  That being said, I try to get these little berries into as many recipes as I can. This is the first time I tried putting them into cupcakes. Truth be told, they did not turn out as expected in the first go around. I over-beat the batter and turned them into raspberry muffins. Tasty? Yes. Cupcakes? No.  So, a word to the wise, DO NOT put the raspberries into the batter whole. Chop half, puree half and then FOLD them into the batter.

I made two options for the topping to go on these cupcakes because I couldn’t decided which I wanted to use, so I used both. The first is a raspberry cream cheese frosting, the second is chocolate ganache topped with a whole raspberry. One note, if you do the ganache it is best to serve them fairly soon after adding the ganache. I like my ganache a little more liquid than set.

Raspberry Cupcakes Recipe
Basic Vanilla Cupcake Recipe from “Magnolia Bakery”.

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pint fresh raspberries

Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8oz package of cream cheese, at room temperature
1 stick butter, at room temperature
3 cups confectioners sugar
1 pint fresh raspberries

Chocolate Ganache

8oz semisweet or bittersweet chocoloate
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons unslated butter

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line two muffin tins with cupcake papers.  In a small bowl, combine the flours and set aside.

Chop one half of the raspberries. Set aside. Puree, or just mush with a fork, the remaining raspberries. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of hand held mixer, cream the butter until it’s smooth. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy. About 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and the vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over-beat! (unless you want muffins)

Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended.

Fold the chopped and pureed raspberries into the batter

Carefully spoon batter into cupcake liners, filling them about 3 quarters full. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool in the muffin tin for 10 minutes before removing them and placing them on a baking rack to cool completely.

Now, for the cream cheese frosting.

Cream together the cream cheese and the butter. Slowly beat in the confectioners sugar one cup at at time. Beat in 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. Add 1 pint of raspberries and beat until incorporated. Spread, or pipe, over cooled cupcakes.

For the chocolate ganache…

Place chopped chocolate into a heat resistant bowl. Set aside.  Heat cream and butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil. Immediately pour the boiling cream mixture over the chopped chocolate. Allow it to stand for about 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth. Gently spoon ganache over cooled cupcakes and top with a fresh raspberry.

Enjoy!!

This just was released and I thought I would share for those of you who love food blogs. The text below is copied directly from the 55 Knives page.

“The 55 Knives book is a collaborative project from some of the web’s top food bloggers in a simple, easy to download format.  The authors included in the project were picked not only because of their expertise in the kitchen but also because of their ability to write well about food.

Each of the 55 bloggers will have a chapter where they will present one or two of their favorite recipes.  Some recipes will be simple and some might be more complicated (Individual Beef Wellingtons!).  Don’t worry though, the complicated recipes will have crystal clear instructions.

In addition to the recipes, each chapter will have a story explaining why that recipe is important to that author.  Some of the recipes have been in families for generations and some are newly created.  I think you’ll find the stories to be touching, funny, sincere, and above all else, entertaining!”

55 Knives is available for sale !

Limelight. Once a dark gritty headonistic nightlife mecca , has reivented itself as Limelight Marketplace. The former, church- turned- nightclub, is now a bright, glittery luxury marketplace relpete with specality soap shops, botique lingere stands, clothing alcoves and, of course, lots of cute little dessert stations. My how times have changed.  Once upon a time, I recall stumbling out the door of Limelight after a very long night of…fun. Today I stumbled out the door practically vibrating from the sugar  extravaganza I just indulged in.

I’d heard about all of the dessert stands that had opened up in their “Sweet Room”, paticularly the Cupcake Stop, and figured reviewing them for the blog would be a brilliant excuse to go on a sugar binge. So, with Matt (I Blog What I Eat) as my accomplice, I attacked the “Sweet Room”.  Below, I have listed my conquests in the order assault.

Disclaimer: All but two pictures were taken with my iPhone. I had my camera, alas cameras are of no use without a battery.

THE CUPCAKE STOP

The Cupcake Stop, which usually is just a truck that drives around Manhattan and parks in different locations everyday, has secured a stationary spot in Limelight. And I am sooo glad they did.  I have had cupcakes from dozens of NYC bakeries, they are trendy little confections after all, and I must say these are among the best.  I ordered a Mexican Chocolate cupake and a  Nutella Crunch.  They both had great consistency and smooth frosting. The Mexican Chocolate was the winner of the two. The Nutella Crunch was good, but didn’t have as much flavor. Honestly, if you try these you will never eat a Magnolia Bakery cupake again. Okay, onto the next…

BUTTERFLY BAKESHOP

Isn’t that a pretty little Red Velvet Cake? I thought so too. That’s why I bought it.  It had really nice flavor and a good cream cheese frosting (maybe a bit too sweet), but the consistency was…well…odd. It was like the cake had been soaked in a simple syrup mixture. Yes, the cake was wet.  I’m not sure what the reasoning was here. Maybe to keep it moist past it’s prime? I was a little suspect. I wouldn’t advise to steer clear of the place, maybe just try a alternate selection. It was pretty. I ate the butterfly.

MARIEBELLE CHOCOLATES

Please forgive my wacky formatting with the images. It’s late and I have had some wine.

Anyway, Mariebelle’s Chocolates. This shop was a little challenging to find, even though you can see it as soon as you walk into the Marketplace (they also have a cart on the first floor). It’s in a space that is sort of between floors. I should add that Limelight Markeplace is a bit of maze and you feel like Alice in Wonderland trying to navigate the place. There are little half staircases that lead to dead ends and various nooks and cranies that can have you very turned around. What made the nightclub version so interesting , can make a shopping trip feel like falling down a rabbit hole. After we found Mariebelle’s, I was excited to try their off-beat artisan chocolates. Of all all the flavors, I selected Saffron and Whiskey. At first I wasn’t so sure about the Saffron chocolate, but it grew on me and I am now determined to use Saffron in one of my recipes. The Whiskey flavor did not dissapoint. It was like taking a chocolate shot of Jack Daniels. I will certainly make a return trip to try flavors like Cardamon, Earl Grey and Passion Fruit. Oh, and a quick note, they serve real food. You can sit down at one of the little tables and order lunch. Cute.

WANNAHAVACOOKIE

Wannahavacookie? More like Wannahavadevildog.  I wouldn’t really classify this as a cookie. Round does not a cookie make.  This is a round Devil Dog. They call it a Whoopie Pie and offer different flavor variations. I choose the Chocolate Mint variety. It’s light, fluffy and had a good mint flavor but it’s just not a cookie. Their website www.wannahavacookie.com does have actual cookies, but Whoopie Pies are their main business.  If you are a fan of Devil Dogs, this is your product.

By this point a was on sugar overload and had to call it a day. There is a Gelato stand I will have to go back and visit and some other food stops, like the cheese shop and bread baker that are a must try. In the next few months the restaurants and wine bars will also be open and that will certainly warrant a return trip. Overall, it was a great trip and I really enjoyed trying all the different offerings. I am still skeptical about the non-food based shops and I am curious to see the sustainability of the marketplace as whole. If you are in the neighborhood (6th Ave & 20th in NYC), I would highly recommend stopping by.  That’s it for now, below are a few pictures I took of the interior.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Aimez-vous le champagne ? Aimez-vous le chocolat ? If so, this is your cupcake baby. Rich dark chocolate cake and light fluffy frosting both spiked with champagne transform an ordinary cupcake into a dessert that is simultaneously indulgent and playful.

The inspiration for the recipe came from a few places. I had seen a few Champagne Cakes and was curious, my friend Leo suggested that I make the cupcakes dark chocolate and the base of the frosting recipe came from Give Me Some Oven. I also played with some decorative frosting . I usually don’t get along well with pastry bags, I need lessons, but I think these turned out pretty well and I didn’t make too much of a mess! Which is surprising, because by the time I got around to frosting the cupcakes I had helped myself to a bit of the champagne. I know, I broke one of my own rules. Don’t drink and bake.  I avoided disaster this time.

My fear was that, once complete, these wouldn’t taste anything like champagne. Admittedly, the cupcakes did not really taste like champagne, but the addition of the champagne made them incredibly light and moist.  The real champagne flavor came in the icing. It has the perfect little punch. SO good. On that note… onto the recipe.

Dark Chocolate Champagne Cupcakes

2 cups white granulated sugar
1 3/4 cups of unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 cups unsweetened dark cocoa powder (I use Hershey’s Special Dark)
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
2 large eggs (room temperature)
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup champagne (I used a semi-sweet champagne, not brut)

Pink Champagne Frosting

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3 1/4 cups confectioners sugar
7 tablespoons of champagne
2 drops pink food coloring
Sugar crystals for decoration (because champagne sparkles!)

Assemble your ingredients, pour yourself a glass of champagne and pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. What?

Line two cupcake pans with the liners of your choice. I was feeling playful when I made these, so I used black liners with gold swirls. Seemed appropriate. You can buy all kinds of decorative cupcake liners. Looking for an online shop? Go to Bake It Pretty. Fun stuff… some is a little to cutesy for me, but overall they have creative choices.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in a lage bowl.

Add the eggs, vanilla, oil and milk and beat until well combined on the medium speed of an electric mixer. Add champagne. Beat on low until completely combined. Next, using a wooden spoon, STIR the boiling water into the batter.  Carefully fill each cupcake liner with the batter. Use just under a 1/4 cup per cupcake. Anything more will produce a mess and your cupcakes will overflow the rim when they bake. Don’t ask how I know this.

Bake for 15 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pans for about 10 minutes. Carefully pluck each cupcake out of the pan and place them on a baking rack to cool completely.

For the frosting cream together the sugar, butter. Beat in the vanilla. Beat in each tablespoon of champagne one at at at time. Add the two drops of food coloring and beat until the color is even.

You can either frost the cupcakes the old fashioned way, with a knife or small offset spatula, or you can get fancy and do any array of pipping.  Once frosted sprinkle the crystalized sugar over the top.

Last but not least, grab your glass of champagne and enjoy!!