German Chocolate Cupcakes

This is the best cake from scratch I've ever made. Seriously. To me, it has the exact texture that a light cake should have (as opposed to those cakes that you want to be dense or have a larger crumb - carrot cake, almond meal cakes, and such). I would even describe the texture as tender, while holding shape well and having good flavor. And it's more chocolaty than most German chocolate cakes, which makes me an even bigger fan.

I would attribute its texture to the buttermilk and the whipped egg whites that you fold into the cake flour-based batter, and its flavor to the melted chocolate AND cocoa powder that you add in (see this post for a helpful explanation of the differences between Dutch processed and natural cocoa powder). Thanks to David Lebovitz for posting this great recipe!

I would use my mom's traditional coconut pecan frosting recipe rather than Dave Leb's chocolate version, because hers has this buttery flavor and thick consistency that you just can't beat. I haven't tried making this batter into a layer cake, but it's worth trying. This cake with that frosting is a dynamite combination!

German Chocolate Cupcakes
makes 12

2 oz (60 g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (less than 60%), chopped
1/4 C (60 ml) boiling water or coffee
8 T (4 ounces, 115 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 C (150 g) sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature, separated
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 C plus 1 T (150 g) cake flour (not self-rising)
1 T unsweetened natural cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C (125 ml) buttermilk,* at room temperature

1. Preheat the open to 350ºF. Line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners.

2. Pour the boiling water or coffee over the chocolate, and stir until melted. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or by hand, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

4. Add the egg yolks and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Then mix in the vanilla and the melted chocolate.

5. Whisk together the cake flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir half of the dry ingredients into the wet mixture, then add the buttermilk, then the remaining dry ingredients, mixing just until blended.

6. In a clean, dry bowl, whip the two egg whites until stiff, then fold one-third of them in to the chocolate batter, then the rest. Fold just into there are no streaks of white remaining, but don't overfold.

7. Divide the batter between the muffin cups and bake for about 25 minutes, until the batter feels just set in the center. Remove from the oven, then let cool for a few minutes.

Once cool enough to handle, remove the cupcakes from the muffin tin and let cool on a wire rack completely before frosting.

Coconut Pecan Frosting

1 C evaporated milk
1 C sugar
3 egg yolks
1/2 C butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 C angel flake coconut
1 C chopped pecans

Combine in a medium saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened, about 12 minutes (if it's taking longer, turn up the heat slightly).

Add coconut and pecans.

Beat until thick enough to spread. Makes 2 1/2 C.

*David Lebovitz adds this note: For those of you who can't get buttermilk, you can use a similar quantity of whole milk plain yogurt or sour cream, Or mix 1 1/2 teaspoons of vinegar or lemon juice with 1/2 cup (125 ml) whole milk and let it sit 10 minutes.

Compost Cookies, aka Amnesty Cookies

I suppose the name of these cookies is somewhat along the same lines as the Garbage Burrito - a whole unpredictable mess of things is thrown in, but the result in the end is the better for it. This recipe has been all the rage online in the last few weeks, so I thought I'd better post my outcome quickly. It is the famous recipe from Momofuku Milk Bar, whose pastry chef invented and, I assume, named these cookies. I personally avoided telling people their name lest they find it unappetizing, but these cookies sold themselves. See David Lebovitz's post to see why he renamed his Amnesty Cookies - less gross imagery, but perhaps a little too political for me.

I don't have anything really new to say about the recipe, so I'm just going to jump on the bandwagon and tell you to MAKE IT. They were incredible, I could not stop eating them, and even when they got smooshed to death in my bag, my coworkers gobbled them up.

One of the funnest things about these cookies is the fact that you can pretty much throw any junk food into them that you want, and they will end up amazing. I ran into some Easter candy at the store the other day, so I chopped up some pink bunny Peeps (I know, I know) and threw in some egg-shaped M&Ms, alongside some Lay's classic potato chips and some pretzel sticks. The salty-sweet combination is killer, so don't shy away from the savory snacks. Don't worry, the potato chip crumbs basically melt away and just add flavor.

The other unique thing about this recipe is the fact that you beat the butter-sugar-corn syrup-eggs-vanilla part of the batter for 10 minutes, which dissolves the sugar granules and churns out a fabulously silky batter that maintains its texture even after the dry ingredients and mix-ins are added. I'm going to try a chocolate version of this cookie that replaces some of the flour with cocoa powder, and my instincts tell me that it's going to work out well.

As you prepare to make these, beware that once the batter is portioned out onto the baking pans (for which I highly recommend parchment paper and a 3 T scoop with a scraping blade to portion out the batter), the pans need to sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour before baking. The batter will not hold together if you bake them from room temperature. Even after refrigeration they spread out a lot, and after puffing up in the oven they fall flat when cool.

I love these so much that I'm excited for you to make them! Enjoy making the recipe your own with your mix-in choices!

Momofuku's Compost Cookies
Taken from The Amateur Gourmet, which has great step-by-step photos.

1 C unsalted butter
1 C granulated sugar
3/4 C light brown sugar
1 T corn syrup (optional, if used will make the batter shiner)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 3/4 C all purpose flour
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsps Kosher salt
1 1/2 C sweet snacks (chocolate chips, candies, etc.)
1 1/2 C salty snack foods (crushed chips, pretzels, etc.)

1. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Cream the butter, sugars, and corn syrup together in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (the whip attachment or a hand mixer would whip in too much air). Beat them at medium-high speed for 2-3 minutes until fluffy and pale yellow. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber scraper.
3. At a lower speed, add the eggs and vanilla. Beat at a medium-high speed for 10 minutes. The mixture will become pale in color and almost double in size.
4. After the 10 minutes, at a low speed add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, mixing just for 45-60 seconds until all the dry ingredients are just incorporated.
5. Add your sweet snacks for 30-45 seconds, followed by your salty snacks, all at a low speed. Do not overmix, just mix until these ingredients are evenly distributed in the batter.
6. Portion the dough onto the cookie sheets (as you can see, they will run together if you put 12 on a pan!). Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of one hour, maximum 1 week.
7. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. When the oven is ready, remove one cookie sheet at a time from the refrigerator and bake for 9 to 11 minutes. Check them at 9 minutes to see if the middle of the cookie is browned to the same color as the edge of the cookie; if the middle is still pale and doughy, leave in the oven for the additional minutes.
8. Cool the cookies completely on the pan. Store in air-tight containers.

Adaptable Icings: Buttercream and Mascarpone Frostings

I accidentally had a cupcake for lunch on Valentine's Day; it wasn't planned, it just was there in front of me at noon, and I thought "I can't just Not Eat that cupcake." So I ate it. Which reminded me that I made all of these cupcakes last weekend for a friend's birthday...

She had requested a variety of frostings - chocolate, cream cheese, and vanilla bean - so I decided go on a spurt of cupcake creativity. The kind of spurt where I make 6 different flavors, using a basic cake and frosting as a foundation. I honestly started out with about 10 flavors in mind, which I whittled down to 6, which finally became 5 in the absence of key ingredients and extra time.

This time I went with my favorite mascarpone chocolate cupcake recipe, minus the mixed-in chocolate chips. For one of the flavors I mixed in some spice, and for one I added some white chocolate chips, but the rest I left plain chocolate. And then came the icings:

Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting
This is really just a basic buttercream with a vanilla bean scraped in.

Cream together:
1 C (2 sticks) salted butter
1 tsp vanilla
the seeds of one vanilla bean scraped into the bowl

Add:
1 lb (about 4 C) powdered sugar
2 T milk or cream or soy milk

To make this into a chocolate buttercream, add:

1 T unsweetened cocoa powder
4 oz melted dark chocolate (bittersweet chocolate chips work fine)

To make this into a cinnamon chocolate icing (think Mexican chocolate, with cinnamon mixed into the batter as well!) add:

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Mascarpone White Chocolate Frosting
For the remaining cupcakes, I made a mascarpone icing, similar to cream cheese but a little less sour. Together with the chocolate cupcakes that had white chocolate chips mixed in, it had the effect of a chocolate cheesecake. I split off some of this frosting to also make a raspberry mascarpone icing, for which I filled the chocolate cupcakes with raspberry jam. To fill cupcakes, cut a cone out of the top of the cupcake, into the middle of the cake, and then lop off the tip of the cone, fill the space with jam, and replace the top of the cake.

Cream together:
1/4 C (1/2 stick) salted butter
1/4 C mascarpone cheese
1 tsp vanilla

Then add:
2 C powdered sugar
3 oz. melted white chocolate chips

To make this a raspberry mascarpone white chocolate icing (shall we just call this "raspberry" for short?), add:

several tablespoons of good raspberry jam (to taste)


When making these frostings, cream the butter/mascarpone and vanilla well together first, until it's getting fluffy, and then after slowly encorporating the powdered sugar and other additions, beat it long enough to make it light and smooth. You want it to make voluptuous cupcakes, n'est-ce pas?

It's always my feeling that food should be decorated to look like it tastes, so I encourage you to find creative ways of doing so - while it might seem too obvious to put white chocolate chips on top of white chocolate frosting, I like the way the textures and shapes look together. And hey, you know what you're eating when you pick it up.

Be forewarned that the amounts of icing produced by these recipes are not proportionate to one batch of 24 cupcakes; the vanilla bean buttercream is more than enough to frost 24, but the mascarpone icing is about enough for 12.

Bon appétit!

Homemade Anisette Liqueur and Simple Syrup

Did you know that liqueur can have simple syrup in it? I had no idea until this past week...but I suppose it makes sense that alcohol can be mixed with sugar. Simple syrup is a combination of water and granulated sugar that has been heated until it's, well, a simple syrup. This liquid sugar is useful for adding to beverages like homemade lemonade, mojitos, and more, because it has already dissolved the sugar, and the heating process has allowed there to be more sugar per liquid unit than there would be if you simply stirred granulated sugar straight into a cold drink. In Israel, I was served "liquid sugar" at times with iced coffee, with the same purpose of increasing the sweetness potential of my beverage. It can also be used to poach fruit, or to soak cakes that benefit from a little drizzle, and it can be flavored as desired.

When I discovered that the pine nut cake I had been dying to make required anisette liqueur, and that said liqueur was $15/bottle at the store when I finally made it to the store to buy it, I headed straight over to the spice aisle to look for anise oil or extract. I had found this recipe when I googled anisette liqueur, and it sounded easy and cheap since I already had a large bottle of vodka sitting around for my vanilla extract (alcohol consumption for me is much lower in priority than sugar consumption, not surprisingly, so it does not get drunk in my kitchen!).

I'm not advocating this as a substitute for good drinking liqueur, since I have only used it for baking flavor purposes, and I have a feeling that it is not exactly the same experience for someone who really appreciates anisette. It is, however, a much more affordable baking version, so keep this in mind as an option for your cooking projects.

Simple Syrup
The first step to anisette is making the simple syrup, for which you'll want to use a 2:1 sugar-to-water ratio. Take a small saucepan, and combine 2 C granulated sugar with 1 C water (use the same measuring cup to measure both the sugar and the water). Over a medium-low heat, stir the mixture occasionally as the sugar dissolves. Avoid bringing the syrup to a boil, but keep heating and stirring it until it becomes crystal clear (may be as much as 20-30 minutes). If it comes to a boil, remove it from the fire immediately. Boiling causes the syrup to form crystals more easily, so you may still use it, but it may not be as smooth in beverages as you would like. You can avoid boiling by using a double boiler. Store it in a clean, airtight container at room temperature, so that it may last 1-2 years. Do not let it get contaminated by touching it with your fingers, or it will spoil.

Once the simple syrup has cooled, it's time to make the anisette!

Homemade Anisette Liqueur

15.7 oz (466 ml) unflavored vodka
7 drops anise oil OR 1 tsp anise extract*
9.6 oz (284 ml) simple syrup
1 tsp glycerin (optional - I didn't use it)

Add the vodka to the bottle in which the anisette will be stored; add the anise oil or extract and shake vigorously until the oil is dissolved (1 minute) or the extract is well combined with the vodka. Add the rest of the ingredients and shake well.

Enjoy.

*anise oil is about 4 times stronger than anise extract - the amount of extract here is estimated. anise is a black licorice-like flavor, for those of you who are unfamiliar with it.

Pine Nut Cake

I feel like I need more recipes like this one: made in one bowl, using ingredients commonly found in the kitchen, requiring little to no baking technique, and pleasing any crowd with its moist, light sweetness. The pine nuts sprinkled on top add a little Mediterranean flare, but their flavor is not strong, and the sugar crusted over the top has been whetted down with anisette liqueur, so there's a teeny hint of anise in the crunchy sugar. The simplicity of preparation and flavor (with a little flare) make this cake the perfect last-minute treat for guests; it would go well with tea, or fruit, or after a heavy, strongly spiced meal.



This recipe has a sort of inverted genealogy; I got it from my maternal grandmother, since she really likes to make it, and I tried this cake first at her place. She, however, got the recipe from my mother (her daughter), who had learned it when she was doing her undergraduate degree in Nutritional Science.

I've been thinking recently about how much I rely on my mom for cooking advice; she's the one I call to verify if I need to throw out old dairy products, or to see if I can substitute one ingredient for another, or to determine how altering a preparation technique will change a recipe. I could probably figure out some of this on my own, but it is comforting to me to get an answer from someone whose experience I have absolute confidence in (and in the case of throwing food out, it assuages my guilt in wasting food that I haven't gotten around to using).

For this recipe, I called my mom to discuss the age of the cream in my refrigerator, since I was going to sub it in for the milk in the recipe. I ended up playing it safe and throwing it out, although sad that I had not checked the date on it when I bought it. I also emailed my grandmother to check and see if she really used the anisette liqueur it calls for, and got an emphatic "yes!" back. So you can thank three generations of my family for getting this recipe out to all of you!

The anisette liqueur is the one ingredient some of you may not already have on your shelves, but this cake is good enough to keep some around just in case you decide to make it. I was not willing to pay for the expensive anisette I found at the store, so I made my own from the vodka in my kitchen. Stay tuned for my next post on making anisette!



Pine Nut Cake

cake:
3 eggs
2 C sugar
1 scant C vegetable oil (slightly less than 1 C, just estimate visually)
1 C milk (lowfat is fine)
2 C flour
1 tsp baking powder

topping:
unsalted raw pine nuts (aka pinolas)
~1/4 C anisette liqueur

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two 8-inch round cake pans by coating them with nonstick spray and flouring the pans.* In a mixing bowl, use an electric hand mixer to beat the eggs until they are well mixed and a little frothy. Add all the remaining cake ingredients and mix until just combined. Divide the batter evenly in the two pans and sprinkle pine nuts liberally on top of each.

Bake for 40 minutes, then remove from oven and generously sprinkle granulated sugar over the top of each cake. Wet the sugar on each cake with the anisette liqueur, making sure that all of the sugar has been whetted (I poured the liqueur into a teaspoon first to help me distribute the liquid evenly). Return to the oven for 5 more minutes, then cool the cakes in the pans for at least 5 minutes. Serve at room temperature.



*To flour a pan, spray with cooking spray, and then sprinkle several tablespoons of flour into the pan. Holding the pan over the sink or garbage can, tap the pan to spread the flour in a thin layer over the bottom and sides of the pan, letting the excess fall out. If you're concerned about the cake sticking to the bottom of the pan, cut out a piece of parchment paper the size of the bottom of the pan and put it in the pan before spraying and flouring it.