Devil's Food Cupcakes

As much as I could love to say that I'm finally done studying for midterms for a while, after taking three midterms within the last 2 weeks, I can't. :( Midterms are already back! I essentially have midterms every week until Thanksgiving. Oy Caloy!! Sounds fun, huh? Due to this, I haven't been baking as much, haven't been reading up on the blogs I follow, haven't caught up on my love for reality shows, haven't been watching the Food Network and haven't been eating a whole lot. That's why this week it's all about Devil's Food Cupcakes! I think Midterms are the devil! lol. Well, that and Halloween is tomorrow and I need something kind-of, sort-of, semi-ish Halloween related. ha. It only seems right to do. So, Happy Halloween!

Now I have to go do something scary....Homework and Studying! I bet you jumped right out of your seat just now. hehe.

Tips
-The batter will be quite thin but don't worry about it. It will become a moist cupcake after baking.
-Fill the cupcake liners to about 2/3 of the way up to prevent "stick-age" to the pan
-My Cupcakes baked in about 20 min

Results
Taste: The taste was good, not great. The cupcake itself needs an extra chocolate boost. It had a mellow chocolate flavor instead of a deep intense flavor that I wanted. The frosting needed an extra chocolate boost as well. Perhaps, about a tablespoon more cocoa powder to enhance the cake and about a teaspoon of cocoa powder to enhance the frosting will do the trick. 

Texture: An EXTREMELY MOIST cupcake!! There is definitely no dryness to this cupcake recipe. It's soft and fluffy and with that creamy chocolate buttercream, can you ask for anything more?


Devil's Food Cupcakes with Milk Chocolate Buttercream
Recipe's are Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake and Milk Chocolate Buttercream by Anne Thornton
Ingredients
For the cake:
2 cups sugar
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup cocoa powder
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup whole milk
½ cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Frosting:
5 sticks (2 1/2 cups) butter, cut into tablespoon pieces and softened
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
5 cups confectioners' sugar
2 1/2 cups milk chocolate, melted and cooled
1/2 cup unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat the oven 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

Whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Divide batter between the two prepared pans.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until thin knife inserted into center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

Frosting: In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, combine the butter, salt, and 2 cups of the confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Add the melted chocolate, vanilla, and remaining sugar. Whisk on medium-high until smooth and fluffy.

Once the cupcakes are cool, frost the cupcakes.

-Aaron John
My Food Outings: AJ's Food Adventure
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Palmiers

Forget all the times I've said a recipe is the "easiest ever!" because this one is by far the easiest of all! haha. Why is it this easiest? Well, it only uses TWO ingredients (Not counting a pinch of salt)!! Say Whaaaa?! TWO ingredients is all you need for this "dessert". What is it you ask? Palmiers aka Elephant Ears!! While we're on the subject of Elephant Ears, when I was younger my brother used to call me Dumbo after the elephant named Dumbo in the Disney movie. The reason behind this? Well, I had huge ears and I was able to wiggle (more like flap) them just like Dumbo. To this day, I still can wiggle/flap them! They are not as huge as before though. hehe. Can you even believe I was able to win a mini laptop at UW with this hidden talent? It's TRUE!! Enough of my random tangents. haha. Like I said, this is the easiest recipe ever. Take sugar and puff pastry, roll out the puff pastry with sugar, fold , slice and bake. Believe me now? You can change up the flavor by adding different spices such as cinnamon. A perfect cookie to whip up in no time. Here's my results, tips and the recipe!

Results

Taste: Simply sweet and buttery

Texture: Crisp and crunchy with an outer layer of sugar

Tips
-No time to bake Palmiers after rolling and folding the dough? Freeze it for later use! I actually slice them prior to freezing to make it even easier

-I found that baking the sliced Palmiers pretty close together prevents excessive unraveling.

-Don't try to work in all the sugar. If there's too much sugar when baking, it creates a caramel which I had.

Palmiers

Recipe from Ina Garten

Ingredients
2 cups granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
2 sheets puff pastry, defrosted (recommended: Pepperidge Farm)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Combine the sugar and kosher salt. Pour 1 cup of the sugar/salt mixture on a flat surface such as wooden board or marble. Unfold each sheet of puff pastry onto the sugar and pour 1/2 cup of the sugar mixture on top, spreading it evenly on the puff pastry. This is not about sprinkling, it's about an even covering of sugar. With a rolling pin, roll the dough until it's 13 by 13-inches square and the sugar is pressed into the puff pastry on top and bottom. Fold the sides of the square towards the center so they go halfway to the middle. Fold them again so the two folds meet exactly at the middle of the dough. Then fold 1 half over the other half as though closing a book. You will have 6 layers. Slice the dough into 3/8-inch slices and place the slices, cut side up, on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Place the second sheet of pastry on the sugared board, sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar mixture, and continue as above. (There will be quite a bit of sugar left over on the board.) Slice and arrange on baking sheets lined with parchment.

Bake the cookies for 6 minutes until caramelized and brown on the bottom, then turn with a spatula and bake another 3 to 5 minutes, until caramelized on the other side. Transfer to a baking rack to cool.


-Aaron John
My Food Outings: AJ's Food Adventure
Facebook Fan Page

And The Winner Is.....

The winning number is 16. That means that Michael wins the $55 Gift Certificate to CSN Stores. Congrats!! I will contact you about your prize.  This is the second time Michael has won so he will not be eligible to enter the next TWO giveaways. Seriously, what are the chances for winning twice?! I'm in shock just as much as you are! Anywho, I guess that's about it for this post. Thank you to everyone who entered and thanks to CSN Stores for allowing me to do this giveaway. Who knows what other surprises are in store?

-Aaron John

My Food Outings: AJ's Food Adventure

Facebook Fan Page

Giveaway Entrants And Your Numbers

Here we go. I numbered the entries myself again. Look for your name and numbers and Good Luck!! The winner will be announced shortly!

J_feng: 1

Blake: 2

Domestic Diva: 3

Mamipdx: 4, 5, 6, 7

An Open Book: 8

Elaine: 9

Dee: 10, 11, 12, 13

Daphne: 14

Michael: 15, 16, 17

Liz: 18, 19, 20, 21

Debbie: 22, 23, 24

Meeyeehere: 25, 26, 27

-Aaron John

My Food Outings: AJ's Food Adventure

Facebook Fan Page

Coconut Cupcakes

These last couple of weeks, I've been bombarded with a plethora of school work! (Don't you just love my sophisticated language? ha). From readings, to assignments, to labs and post labs and now midterms, I have been super busy. I've been SOOOO determined to do extremely well in my full load of classes though so hopefully it will be worth it. Also, I have narrowed my major down to two choices! Either Biochemistry/Pharmacy or Pre-Nursing. I guess we'll find out what I choose by the end of the year! :)

Back to this week's post for Coconut Cupcakes. If you have a facebook account, you may have noticed, in the last couple of weeks, that your friends may be posting a status that says 'I like it on the ___(Fill In The Blank)___". In addition, you may have noticed that only females were posting this. I'm about to de-mystify what this means! So what was this about? Breast Cancer Awareness Month..Duhhhh! lol. How this status relates to Breast Cancer Awareness, I have no clue, but the message does have us ask "Why the status?" and thus, it brings awareness. To bring awareness to Breast Cancer, I made Coconut Cupcakes with a Pink Buttercream. I only felt it would be right to do something for Breast Cancer Awareness since it is this month. Plus, since it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, you definitely have to have something Pink inspired. ha. How will you honor Breast Cancer Awareness?

Also, if you still haven't entered my giveaway for a $55 Gift Certificate for CSN Stores, just check out my post for "Love Potion #31 Cookies". You can enter until October 20th.

Results

Taste: The cake had a distinct almond-vanilla flavor which brings out the flavor of the coconut. I wasn't able to test out the cream cheese frosting however...

Texture: Not exactly a soft and fluffy cake. More dense than a regular cupcake but not as dense as a pound cake. The coconut that was mixed into the batter gave a nice textural difference to the cake. 

Tips
-I did not fill the cupcake liners to the top as the recipe says. If you do, your cupcakes will rise too much and bake onto the cupcake pan. I filled mine with about 3 tbsp of batter so about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way up.

-Other people have variations of this recipe. I even saw some using toasted coconut instead! :)

Coconut Cupcakes (Makes 24 Cupcakes)

Recipe by Ina Garten

Ingredients

3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups sugar

5 extra-large eggs at room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup buttermilk

14 ounces sweetened, shredded coconut

For the frosting:

1 pound cream cheese at room temperature

3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract

1 1/2 pounds confectioners' sugar, sifted

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In 3 parts, alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry. Mix until just combined. Fold in 7 ounces of coconut.

Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Fill each liner to the top with batter. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove to a baking rack and cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the frosting. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, on low speed, cream together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla and almond extracts. Add the confectioners' sugar and mix until smooth.

Frost the cupcakes and sprinkle with the remaining coconut.

-Aaron John

My Food Outings: AJ's Food Adventure

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