Velvety Beet Cupcakes with Raspberry Icing

  Cupcakes:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Fry's
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 398mL can beets, rinsed, drained & patted dry
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup safflower oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk
  Icing:
1/2 250g block light cream cheese, cubed
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup frozen raspberries

***

Ahh, cupcakes. I always let out a little giggle when I hear that word. Ever since that fateful day of basic training in the army I had in the Summer of 1996... We were learning how to use to radio, how to sign-off, speak correctly, and how to use the phonetic alphabet (A - Alpha, B - Bravo, C - Charlie, D - Delta, etc...). Well one of the guys in our troop began the alphabet with "A - Alpha, B- Butterfly, C - Cupcake...." that was as far as he got until we all started laughing. "Butterfly"? "Cupcake"? Oh goodness, even our instructors had a chuckle after they berated him with numerous colourful, enlightening and confidence-boosting expletives (they would have made my potty-mouthed sous-chef "Nikki" blush), and before they punished us by sending ALL of us to run around the building 10 times. I tell you though, that guy in our group was a piece of work... not only did he lose a machine gun barrel, but he "forgot" that he had a machine gun (the Canadian C-6) in his locker. No shit, the Chef is not making this up. Oh boy. There was no helping this dude. No doubt in my mind some of the other guys were thinking of "fixing" the problem with one of these. That, thankfully, didn't happen, but I don't think anyone ever ate with that dude again after his clusterfuckups...

Back to cupcakes. I found this recipe in the January 2011 edition of Chatelaine. I was only reading it because it was on our kitchen table. Honestly.

But two recipes caught my eye: Velvety Beet Cupcakes with Raspberry Icing and Barley Sushi Salad with Nori. Both being on the same page, too.

So I ripped out the page, purchased the missing ingredients on the weekend (after my Eggs Benedict, in fact), and prepared to bake.

Beets in a cupcake does sound odd, doesn't it? Well, to be honest, you can't tell those little red devils are in your cupcake. I think they just add some moisture to the dessert.

In terms of preparation, everything went smoothly, EXCEPT for the icing. I didn't let the cheese melt enough before blending in the raspberry goodness and the icing sugar. So what happened was that instead of a fluid, uniform texture, my icing had lumps of cream cheese in it.

As always, the evidence:

The cupcake was quite delicious and moist. Although I think I would use less cream cheese next time - the icing is just too rich. And I'd blend it together better, too.

Final grade: 8.3/10. These might work well for Valentine's day - the pink icing and all. Unless you plan on your Valentine's Day to look like Jenn's... damn she looks good. Good like the way porkchops look good when you've had applesauce on the brain. All. Day. Long.

Mexican Chocolate Cake with Dried Cranberries

   Cake:
1 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon instant coffee
3/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk, sour cream or plain yogurt (The Chef used sour cream)
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup dried cranberries
  Glaze:
1/2 cup whipping cream
3 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

***

Well, does anything reduce the stress of a Thursday night like baking a cake? I'm sure something does... Regardless, I tried this recipe I had for over 3 years. Not once did I make it until now. We can thank the Edmonton Journal for this beauty - I still think they have their "Bistro" section on Wednesdays or Thursdays. It's not all bad. Oh no, it's no rag, it has some good stuff.

I'm a big fan of chocolate and cranberries. I don't know if they have chocolate-covered cranberries, but you'd think that Glossette/Hershey's would get that out soon and somehow - because it's a fantastic combination. And this cake is the perfect vessel for delivering "C&C" to your quivering palate.

It's a surprisingly easy cake to make too. Everything went swimmingly. No issues at all.

After having mixed the batter, I began pouring it into the bundt pan. It was as smooth as Barry fuckin' White. No kidding. Well, at least his voice, when he was alive. It tasted perfect - in the raw. I licked the spatula clean.

After it was cooked and cooled, and the chocolate glaze settled for a few minutes, I had a piece. This is a great cake. Not too sweet at all, chocolatey with a hint of coffee, and of course the cranberries. I think those little guys keep it pretty moist. Warm chocolate cake it pretty good, but I held my judgement in check until today, when I had a day-after piece. The glaze had hardened a bit (similar to the chocolate on chocolate-covered strawberries) but the rest of the cake was still moist and delicious.

And of course, the photographic evidence:

Before baking:

...and après baking and still-warm glazing:

Final judgment: Day-um! Downright delectable. Success! I'd give it a grade of 9.2 out of 10. Yesssss. It's that good.

Chocolate Banana Coconut Cake with Mango Lime Sauce

2 ripe mangos, peeled and seeded
2 tablesoons lime juice
1 cup mango juice

See previous post for cake recipe.

***

At my new place of employment, we don't take coffee breaks all week. Until Friday afternoon. On that day we take 1 hour of the afternoon off to chit chat, and someone has to bring in a cake or dessert to nipple, er, I mean nibble on. (Speaking of which, one of my friends <cough>Dylan<cough> complained that I didn't have nearly enough boobies on my blog. So this is for him). So I signed up for this Friday and I brought a double whammy of the Maple Apple Blueberry Crisp and Chocolate Banana Coconut Cake with Mango Sauce.

Well, it was okay with the sauce. It wasn't as yummy as I was anticipating, but it still played of the rich moist chocolate cake pretty well. It was basically like thick mango juice. Oh well, better I make it than have Booster Juice charge me $5 (CAD) for it. Regardless, a respectable 7 out of 10.

Good news, everyone! It looks like we'll be heading out for NFL picks and brunch tomorrow. Hopefully we'll have a restaurant review for all my little sous-chefs to read.

Chocolate Banana Coconut Cake

1 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
2 bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup dried, unsweetened shredded coconut
Chef's decision: 1/2 cup chocolate chips

***

I tell you, nothing is better than warm chocolate cake. Except maybe warm pie. Hmmm...

This was from my farang-Thai cookbook I had mentioned previously. It's basically a yummy chocolate cake:

Not much to it. I didn't make any icing for it or anything. The author recommends that you serve it with a mango-lime sauce, so I think I'll bake the cake again later this week when I have to bring in some dessert into my workplace on Friday. I'll provide a new blog update with comments on the sauce. I think a chocolate icing would have worked just as well.

Regardless of the no-icing, no-sauce status of the cake, it was warm and moist and delicious. You can't smell the nutmeg at all, so it doesn't remind you of Christmas, or your best friend getting sick from rum and eggnog. All-in-all, a very good 8.3 out of 10.

Here's an individual piece for you to feast your eyes upon...

Maple Apple and Blueberry Crisp

Filling:
6 cups sliced peeled apples (I used Granny Smith)
1 pkg (300g) frozen blueberries
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Topping:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp butter, melted

***

Well... I met up with ANOTHER ex-coworker just recently. What's with me hangin' out with ex-coworkers? Don't I have any co-workers worthy of my precious time?

Anyway, I went to her house for dinner on Saturday. She wasn't too keen on me providing a write-up of her hostessing and cooking talent, so I just focused my criticism on the dessert I prepared - The Maple Apple and Blueberry Crisp.

I've actually brought this dish in to work several times when I was employed with FCC and AIMCo, and so it's has usually cooled down when served. But Saturday night it was hot! A good change.

As always, the dish was quite sweet. I honestly could have eaten the whole pyrex dish by myself. You know, because it's so darn healthy, those blueberries being such good antioxidants.....

Here's the goods. On my plate.

Rating: A solid 8.0 out of 10.

Coconut Ginger Chocolate Brownies

1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted
2 eggs
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 chocolate chips
2 tablespoon diced crystallized ginger
1/2 cup dried, unsweetened shredded coconut

***

Wow. Have you ever been kicked in the mouth with pure delicious flavour before? Well, it tastes like these brownies. If you like chocolate and ginger, then this is right up your alley.

I cooked this up on Saturday afternoon, and had them warm and fresh from the oven. It indeed was chocolatey-ginger goodness. Unf*cking believable is what these were...

I bought a Thai cookbook about 6 or 7 years ago (Honestly, who doesn't love Thai??? Actually, I do know someone - I think my cousin's wife doesn't like Thai food). It's from an American chef - Nathan Hyam, and this recipe was contained therein. He tends to westernize some of the Thai recipes, but it's still a great resource. I have to admit, this cookbook is my favorite, and I've made a handful of desserts and a few main courses. All but two have worked out. I'll see if I can throw together something else from his book soon.

Even before I took my first bite, I think that maybe a suitable substitute for the ginger might be dried cranberries. (Seriously? Yes, Niki, SERIOUSLY). All my little sous-chefs know that I like cranberries, and you can see that I've cooked with them before. I do think the chocolate flavours would go along swimmingly with the cranberries. When I try it I'll let you know.