100th Post Giveaway!! Salted Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Wow I can’t believe it’s my 100th post!  The time seems to have flown by.  To celebrate I have a small little giveaway, sponsored by Duncan Hines and through my participation in the Foodbuzz Tastemakers program!  In this fun Tastemaker event Duncan Hines and Comstock came together and challenged us to create a recipe using their products.  Duncan Hines was even nice enough to provide me with some coupons so my readers can try their cake mix, frostings or heavenly glazes for free!  I have five to giveaway and you can win by leaving a comment telling me you a). following me on Twitter, b). liking me on Facebook or c). just leaving a comment.  Be sure to leave a comment if you already a fan on either twitter or facebook too!

If you’ve read my blog before, you know I am a fan of jazzing up plain old cake mixes and turning them into something more.  So when I was shopping and saw the Duncan Hines Caramel Apple Cake Mix, I wanted to try it immediately but also really infuse the flavor of apple in the cakes, so I grabbed a can of the Comstock Apple Pie filling.  The results?  Amazing!  

Salted Caramel Apple Cupcakes

1 box Duncan Hines Decadent Caramel Apple Cake Mix (Spice Cake would be awesome too)
1 cup Comstock Apple Pie filling

1.  Assemble cake mix and caramel mix as directed in the box.  Add in the 1 cup of Apple Pie filling (dice apples into smaller pieces) into the cake batter. 

2.  Pour batter into cupcake liners and spoon the caramel sauce into each cupcake and swirl with knife.  *Save any extra caramel to drizzle on top of cupcakes after frosted. *

3.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until baked through.  Remove from heat and let cool. 

Salted Caramel Frosting
from CHOW

1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp water
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup powdered sugar

1.  In a heavy bottom sauce pan add the sugar and water to the pan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Let it cook until the mixture turns dark amber in color, about 6 to 7 minutes.  * Don’t stir the mixture with a spoon, gently swirl mixture by rotating the saucepan.*

2.  Remove from heat and slowly add in the heavy cream and vanilla extract, stirring until the mixture is completely smooth.  Set aside until the caramel is cool to the touch.  *Approximately 20-25 minutes*

3.  Combine butter and salt in a bowl and beat on medium-high speed until light in color and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, add powdered sugar, and mix until completely incorporated.  Chill frosting for 30 minutes or longer to allow it to set.

Frost cupcakes and top with apple pieces (left over from the comstock apple pie filling).  *Optional:  Drizzle with left over caramel.*

 

Oh and just wait until you take a bite, caramel goodness awaits you!!!  My friends and I loved these cupcakes, so decadent, the salted caramel was perfect with the sweet fall flavors of caramel apples.  The addition of the apple pie filling in the batter made the cake even moister!   

Don’t forget to enter to win some Duncan Hines coupons!!  I’ll pick the winners at random and announce them in my next blog post. 

Baked: Devils Food Cupcakes with Angel Frosting

I have never managed to make it out to Baked Bakery in Brooklyn when I go to NY.  Apparently it’s quite the trek from Manhattan, and when you are only there a couple days, you know how it goes…  However my East Coast foodies assured me that this Bakery was something special.  A couple months ago I bought their second cookbook, Baked Explorations. 

I made these cupcakes for my bosses birthday and we named them Heaven and Hell Cupcakes since it combined a Devils Food Cake and Angel Frosting.  Sorry for the lack of pictures, I think I had made these really late at night and just wanted to crank them out!  

“Heaven and Hell Cupcakes”
adapted from Baked Explorations

Devils Food Cupcakes
1 oz. high quality chocolate (at least 65% cacao)
1/2 cup Valrhona cocoa powder
2/3 cup hot coffee
1/3 cup milk
1 1/3 cup AP flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
10 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 cubes
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line the cupcake tin with liners.  Place cocoa and chocolate in a heat proof bowl and pour the hot coffee over the mixture.  Whisk until combined and add in milk. *I made around 20 cupcakes with this recipe*

2.  In a second bowl sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. 

3.  In a third bowl beat butter and sugar on medium until fluffy.  Add in the eggs one at a time (while still beating) and add in vanilla.  Mix until ingredients are well combined.

4.  Slowly add in the flour mixture (in three parts), alternating with the chocolate coffee mixture.  (Begin and end with the flour mixture).

5.  Pour batter into cupcake liners and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until done.  Remove cupcakes from the oven and let them cool completely. 
 

Angel Frosting
5 egg whites, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
1 Tbsp. corn syrup
1 tsp. Vanilla extract

1.  In a medium sauce pan over low heat, combine 1 1/4 cup sugar, corn syrup and water.  Let the sugar dissolve and then increase the heat to medium-high. Clip on your candy thermometer and let the mixture get to almost soft ball stage.  *Don’t stir the mixture too much, you can just swirl the pot.  Soft ball stage is about 235 degrees- it should be marked on your thermometer.*

2.  While waiting for the mixture to reach soft ball stage, start whipping the egg whites in another bowl.  Whip the eggs on medium speed until soft peaks form.  *Whether you are using a mixer or hand held mixer, use your whisk attachment. *

3.  Once the mixture reaches soft ball stage remove it from heat.  Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup sugar over the egg whites and whip on low.  Slowly stream in the hot sugar syrup.  Once it has all been added increase the speed to medium high and beat the icing for approximately 7-8 minutes.  *Mixture should be thick and shiny*

4.  Add in the vanilla and beat again for another 10 seconds. 

Assembly

1.  Using a knife or apple corer, remove the core of the cupcake.  *The apple corer is so easy to do this with!* 

2.  Put the frosting in a piping bag and fill the cupcake center and frost the cupcake. 

This was seriously so delish!  The frosting was so light and airy, it was like a huge marshmallow was melting in my mouth.  Since this frosting is basically like a marshmallow, the frosting is best made the day that you are serving them.  I had frosted the cupcakes the night before and they still held up really well, if anything I think they may have deflated a little by the time that we ate them. 

My boss was super happy and touched that I made her cupcakes and frosting from scratch!  She is a great boss and mom and I was totally happy to do this small gesture for her.  I am one of those annoying few people that actually really enjoy what they do for work and don’t dread going back to work every Monday.  (Hate me – it’s ok)  My boss and co-workers play a large part in keeping me feeling that way, so even when I do have a day where I dream of retiring at 31 years old, they keep me coming back the next day with a smile on my face.  Thanks work peeps!    

A New Friend!

I'm at that age where my friends have started to have babies...  For some reason I have never been fond of giving flowers for the birth of a baby.  In my head I imagine the parents being so busy that they never get a chance to enjoy the flowers (poor flowers!) and lately it seems everyone gives the same things for baby from Target or Baby Gap.  And even though I would love to gift Sophie the giraffe or the baby favorite Moo Baa La La La- you never know if the baby already has it.  If I were a new mom, I would want someone to cook me a meal!

On Friday I went to visit my new friend Baby John and his mom and dad!  John was born in December and is a cutie patootie.  His mom is often my lunch buddy and we often try to keep it healthy or follow the 80/20 rule.  With that in mind I brought over a healthy but deeelish Chili Chicken Verde and some yummy cornbread.  But knowing the new mom, I knew I had to go the extra mile and create a dessert!  Since the meal was pretty healthy (I lightened up the cornbread a bit) I went for a dessert that was bright, yummy and easy to eat.  (She might only have one hand to eat it while holding baby John!)  I had some Meyer Lemons left over from my last trip to the farmers market that were just begging to be used.  So I decided on a Meyer Lemon Yogurt Cake.  I made some slight edits to lighten it up, I need to try this again since I think I might have made one too many...

Meyer Lemon Yogurt Cake (Slightly Lightened Up)
      recipe adapted from joythebaker.com

2 2/3 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
2 1/3 cups sugar (I used 2 cups)
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 large eggs (room tempature)
2/3 cup heavy cream (I used yogurt)
zest of 2 Meyer lemons
juice of 1 Meyer lemon (optional)
1 stick plus 7 Tablespoons butter (I used 1 stick plus 1/2 cup applesauce)

For the Syrup
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
juice of 1-2 lemons

Baking the Cakes:
1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Butter and flour two 8 1/2 x4 1/2 inch loaf pans.

2.  Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. 

3. Put sugar and lemon zest in the bowl and mix together till the oils from the lemon peel are infused into the sugar. 
4.  Add in the eggs and whisk them into the sugar, beating until they are incorporated.  Whisk in the vanilla extract and the yogurt. 

5.  In 3-4 parts slowly add in the dry ingredients until the batter is smooth.  Finish by adding in the lemon juice, butter and applesauce.  Pour the batter into the two pans and smooth the surface if necesary. 



Sprinkle some almonds on top!

 6.  Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes, or until a knife comes out cleanly from the center of the cakes.

For the sauce:

1.  Stir the water and sugar together on medium heat till the sugar is disolved.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and add in the lemon juice.  Remove the syrup from heat and let cool. 

2.  Brush cakes with syrup while cakes are still hot so that the cakes absorb it all. 

The cake came out pretty and the taste was bright and sunny,  However I didn't really love the texture of the cake.  It was a little crumbly, kinda like a polenta or olive oil cake.  I reread some of the comments at Joy the Baker and it seemed some people did mention a crumbly texture...  If I were to redo it, I think I would either just replace the butter OR the heavy cream.  (I think reducing the sugar was fine, esp since there is sugar in the glaze)  Perhaps taking away both took away the dense, creamy texture too much.  Hopefully John's mom and dad won't notice- since they are so tired with the new baby and happy to eat!  The Brazilian gave it two thumbs up (but he loves all sweets).