Buttercrunch Cake

In honor of January 20th being National Buttercrunch Day, I decided to make a Buttercrunch Cake. Did I say cake? Yes, c-a-k-e! I've been nursing a cold since the weekend. I wasn't in the mood for cupcakes, nor was I in the mood to bake from scratch. Truthfully, I've been craving the flavor of cake mix lately. I'm not gonna be all hoity-toity about it and act like "eww cake mix is so gross." No way, I grew up eating it, and I freakin LOVE the stuff! I did make my own buttercrunch candy, though. I found the recipe for Pecan Buttercrunch on one of my favorite blogs, Dessert First. I followed her recipe exactly, including sprinkling sea salt on top, and it's delicious! I used it to top my Buttercrunch Cake. I'll get right to it because my lunch is calling me from the microwave... Mmmm, my mom's leftover herb-crusted pork loin! But let me just say, this cake is delicious! The caramel filling is SO good. I'll definitely be using the recipe for it again!

Making the candy... Mmm doesn't it look good?
Buttercrunch Cake!
Want some?
This is what I had for breakfast! ;)

Pecan Buttercrunch with Fleur de Sel (from DessertFirst)
about 16 pieces (I got 45-50 small pieces)

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
12 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (I used 60% cacao)
1 cup pecan halves, toasted and chopped into small pieces
Fleur de Sel

Line a baking sheet or pan with a silicone baking mat.
Combine the sugars, butter, vanilla, and salt in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring to combine, until it comes to a boil.
Continue cooking without stirring until the mixture reaches 298°F on a candy thermometer.
Remove from heat and stir in the baking soda and vanilla.
Pour the mixture onto the baking sheet and spread it out evenly, working quickly before it sets. (I spread mine in a 12" circle) Let the toffee layer cool completely.
Either temper the chocolate or simply melt it in a double boiler. Pour the chocolate over the toffee layer and spread out evenly.
Immediately sprinkle the pecans over the chocolate. Sprinkle a few grains of fleur de sel over the chocolate. Let the chocolate fully set.
Break the toffee into pieces before serving.

Quick Caramel Frosting (from The Cake Mix Doctor)
(Makes enough to fill a 3 or 4 layer cake)
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup whole milk
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
(I added 1/2 teaspoon sea salt)

1. Place the butter and brown sugars in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir and cook until the mixture comes to a boil, about 2 minutes. (The book forgets to mention to be very careful on the next step. Add the milk slowly, because it will spatter a lot in the pan!) Add the milk, stir, and bring back to a boil, then remove the pan from the heat. Add the confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Beat with a wooden spoon until the frosting is smooth. (The book says to use the frosting while it's still warm, but it was way too thin to spread. I let it cool all the way to room temp. Then I beat it on high with and electric mixer to fluff it up a little. It will thicken a lot when you start spreading it on the cake. If it gets too stiff, pop it in the microwave for 10-20 seconds.)

Chocolate Ganache
8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 - 3/4 cup heavy cream (depending how thick you want your ganache to set up)

Put chocolate chips and cream in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 45 seconds to 1 minute, depending on your microwave. Stir gently with a rubber spatula. Heat for 15-20 more seconds. Stir until well blended. Let sit about 30 minutes (or cool in an ice bath for 5 minutes) until ganache is spreadable.

To assemble the Buttercrunch Cake:
Bake and cool two 8-inch round cake layers. Split each layer in half. Fill with cooled caramel filling. Top with cooled chocolate ganache. Decorate with buttercrunch candy!

I don't even know if anyone even reads this far down but, PS: The new season of Big Love started on HBO last weekend. It looks pretty good so far. AND my new favorite show, United States of Tara, comes on Showtime. You should totally watch it. It's so hilarious and fun!!

IronCupcake_004: Pear Cupcakes w/ Cranberry Orange Filling

Iron Cupcake:Earth
Theme: Cranberry
My entry: Spiced Pear Cupcakes w/ Cranberry-Orange Filling
Voting begins: Sunday, November 30 at 8 pm Central @ http://mkecupcakequeen.blogspot.com and will be open through Friday, December 5 at 12 noon Central.




After some major brainstorming and some careful consideration, I came up with an entry for this month's Iron Cupcake:Earth challenge! My mom brought some pears home from a roadtrip and they became my initial inspiration. I really wanted to stick with seasonal flavors, so I wanted to do a spiced pear cupcake. I'm a huge fan of cranberry and orange. I decided to use those flavors in the filling and frosting. My frosting came out a bit softer than I wanted (because I'm retarded and added a few tablespoons of heavy cream for some reason...???) But if you make it sans heavy cream, the frosting will be thick and gorgeous! These cupcakes are fantastic! They're perfectly moist. All of the flavors go well together, and how can you go wrong with cream cheese filling? They taste just like Thanksgiving! Here are my photos and the recipe.

Start by soaking your cranberries in fresh orange juice.Peel and core your pears.

Scoop the batter into the cups.

Here are the cuppies cooling!

Making the filling...

Mmmmm creamy cranberry-orange goodness!

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a visial runthrough of "The Cone Method."

After filling your cupcakes, you should have about 1/2 leftover to use in the frosting.

Then voila! Delicious Thanksgiving cupcakes!

How about an inside view!

Voting will begin Sunday, November 30 at 8 pm (Central) at NO ONE PUTS CUPCAKE IN A CORNER, http://mkecupcakequeen.blogspot.com/, and will be open through Friday, December 5 at 12 noon (Central).

Recipes were created by yours truly!

Pear Cupcakes with Cranberry Orange Filling
Makes 16-18

CUPCAKES
1 1/2 cups finely diced pears (1 1/2 - 2 pears)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
Pinch of orange zest
1 large egg
3/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, fresh ground if available
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

FILLING
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup dried cranberries
Juice of 1 orange
1 teaspoon orange zest
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

FROSTING
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup leftover filling
3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Prep for filling: Combine cranberries and orange juice in a measuring cup and heat for 30-40 seconds in microwave, just until mixture is warm. Let sit until cupcakes are baked and cooled, at least 30 minutes.

Make the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350F. Line muffin pan with 16 paper liners. In a large bowl sift together flour, spices, salt, and baking soda. Combine milk and vanilla in a measuring cup. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and mix until well incorporated. Add flour and milk alternately, beginning and ending with the flour. Add pears and mix just until incorporated. Divide batter into muffin cups. Bake for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on wire racks.

Make the filling: Drain the plumped cranberries and reserve the juice. In a food processor, pulse cranberries until finely chopped. With an electric mixer, combine chopped cranberries, 8 oz cream cheese, 1 teaspoon of reserved orange juice, 1 teaspoon orange zest, and 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar. Cut a cone out of the center of each cupcake, keeping the top. Fill each cupcake with 1-2 teaspoons of filling. Replace top.

Make the frosting: With an electric mixer, combine 4 oz cream cheese, 1/2 of leftover filling, and 3 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar. Mix until smooth. Keep frosted/filled cupcakes refrigerated for up to 3 days.

Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 5
Tenderness: 5
Frosting: 4

Prizes provided by:
LOLLIPOP WORKSHOP
COOKIE SUNSHINE
A pair of cupcake earrings from LOTS OF SPRINKLES
Also, IronCupcake:Earth is excited to welcome back CAKESPY, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice!
As an added bonus for November only we have a delicious apron complements of SWEET CUPPIN CAKES BAKERY AND CUPCAKERY SUPPLY.
Corporate prize providers:
HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS
HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson
JESSIE STEELE APRONS
CUPCAKE COURIER
TASTE OF HOME books
Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers

If you want to be a part of Iron Cupcake:Earth, visit http://ironcupcake.blogspot.com/!

Autumn Baking: Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

October is finally here!! It's my favorite time of the year for baking. Everything tastes so warm and cozy. I'm asking for you guys to send your favorite Autumn/Fall recipes to me at howtoeatacupcake@yahoo.com (an e-mail is preferable, but a comment is fine!). This recipe was sent to me by Debbie Vassil. It comes from Bon Appetit's October 2005 issue. I had never made whoopie pies before, but I had read a lot about them in Flickr discussions. I love love LOVE pumpkin, so I definitely couldn't resist this recipe. I rolled some in toasted chopped pecans and some in mini chocolate chips. They'd also be super good topped with dried cranberries like those raisin creme pies you can get at the grocery store. Thanks Debbie, these were SO great! There were no leftovers! ;)

OH YEAH!! And I totally forgot October 1st is National Cookie Day. These are kinda like cookies... right?

Ingredients

After letting the electric mixer do most of the work, I like to finish the batter by hand.
I used a medium (#30) cookie scoop to make sure they were all the same size.
While they were cooling, the house smelled SO nice!
Tada! Autumn deliciousness!

MY NOTES: This is my adaptation of the recipe sent to me by Debbie Vassil from Bon Appetit's October 2005 issue. I halved the recipe, and changed it slightly. I'll put the original quantities in bold parentheses. The original recipe probably makes about 23-24 pies. You'll need to double the filling if you make the whole recipe. Also, I made my own buttermilk by adding 1/4 tsp white vinegar to 1/4 cup whole milk. Let it sit for at least 5 minutes. I used my own recipe for the spiced cream cheese filling.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Makes 23 cookies (11 pies + 1 leftover cookie to eat!)

1 1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (2 3/4 cups)
1 teaspoon baking powder (2 tsp)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (1 tsp)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (4 1/2 tsp)
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (1 1/2 tsp)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (1 1/2 tsp)
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (1/2 tsp)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp (2 1/2 sticks)
1/2 cup sugar (1 1/2 cups)
1 tablespoon molasses (3 Tbsp)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (2 tsp)
2 large eggs (4)
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling) (1 1/4 cups)
1/4 cup buttermilk (1/2 cup)

Spiced Cream Cheese Filling (my own recipe)
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
A pinch of nutmeg, ginger, and cloves

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Whisk dry ingredients (except sugar) together in a medium bowl.
Using electric mixer, beat butter, sugar, molasses and vanilla in large bowl to blend. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Add pumpkin puree.
Mix in dry ingredients in 3 additions alternately with buttermilk in 2 additions, beating until just combined.
Line large baking sheets with parchment paper. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets, spacing 2 inches apart, leaving enough room for dough to spread.
Bake for 13 minutes, or until cake springs back when lightly pressed in the center. Cool completely on wire racks before filling.
To make the filling, beat cream cheese and butter together on medium speed until blended. Add sugar and spices. Beat just until thickened and well blended.

Boston Cream Cupcakes

One of my dad's favorite desserts is Boston Cream Pie. How could I not make Boston Cream Cupcakes for his birthday??? They were delicious, but due to the custard filling they had to be refrigerated which caused the cake to dry out a bit (talk about a run-on sentence). Not to worry, just have a glass of milk nearby! It's best to let these cupcakes sit out for about 15-20 minutes until they are room temp before eating them, unless you're like my dad and you like your Boston Cream straight from the fridge. By the way, I'll be using this custard recipe for all my custard needs from now on! It is sooo good I could barely stop myself from eating it out of the bowl.

Boston Cream Cupcakes on a broken stand I found for $2 at a thrift store. There's nothing a drop of super glue won't fix!
Boston Cream through a cheap wide angle lens I bought on eBay. Boston Cream innards!

Recipe from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson.

MY NOTES: Next time I'll add a little more vanilla to the cake batter, because the cake didn't have much of a flavor. I doubled the recipe and got 28 cupcakes. Mine were done at 17 minutes. I used the cone method AND scooped additional cake out of the center of each cupcake. I put 2-3 teaspoons of custard in each.

BOSTON CREAM CUPCAKES
Makes 12 cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350F/180C

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup milk

Filling:
3 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
pinch salt
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup whipping cream (35%) plus 3 tbsp divided
2 tsp unsalted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla paste or vanilla

Glaze:
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup whipping cream(35%)

1. In a small bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt
2. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla until smooth. Alternately whisk in flour mixture and milk in three additions. Beating until smooth.
3. Scoop batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until golden and brown.let cool in pan or rack for 10 min. Remove from pan and cool comepletely on rack.

Filling:
1. In a heavy saucepan, mix together sugar, cornstarch and salt. Whisk in egg yolks, milk and 1/4 cup of cream until smooth. Bring mixture to simmer over medium heat. Whisking continously.
2. Once mixture is at a simmer and begins to thicken, remove from heat but continue whisking until very thick. Whisk in butter and a vanilla paste until butter is melted and custard is smooth.
3. Spoon custard into a small bowl. Fill a slightly larger bowl with ice. Place small bowl of custard on top of ice. Whisk custard until cool. Remove small pan, dry bottom and sides with a towel so that no moisture gets inside the bowl.
4. Whisk in remaining 3 tsbp whipping cream. Place a piece of plastic wrap on surface of custard and refrigerate for 40 min or untill chilled or for up to 2 days.

Glaze:
In a microwave safe bowl, combine chocolate and cream. Microwave uncovered on High for 40 sec. or until cream is hot and chocolate is soft and almost melted. Stir until smooth. Let chocolate mixture sit for 5 min. or until slightly cooled but still spreadable.

Assembly: (I USED THE CONE METHOD[pictures and instrux after the link], plus scooped a little more cake from the center of each to add LOTS of custard)
1. When cupcakes are cool, peel off paper liners. Carefully slice off tops of cupcakes. Using a small spoon, scoop out about a rounded teaspoon of cake from the bottom half. Dont scoop a hole in the bottom.
2. Spread a layer of reserved cooled custard on cut side of bottom half and fill small hole of custard too. Sandwich two halves together. Repeat with the remaining.
3. Spread tops of cupcakes with chocolate glaze. Place cupcakes on a platter or baking sheet and refrigerate until ready to serve. They need to stay refrigerated so that the custard filling doesn't spoil. Serve straight from the refrigerator or let sit at room temperature for about 15 min. to remove the chill.

PS: My free Flickr account has reached it's limit on the number of photos I can upload. If anyone wants to buy a Pro account for me, that's awesome. Otherwise I'll eventually get around to buying one whenever I have new cupcake photos to upload.