Posts tagged frosting
Red Velvet Pancakes
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I was recently in Miami and the prize for going to early morning service (on top of being closer to God o_O ) was a trip to the Grand Luxe Cafe. lol I have to say that instead of making my little joke about being rewarded by man or my pancakes in heaven (IDK…I hadn’t worked it out completely which way I wanted to go with it lol) I decided NOT to piss my mom off and be happy that I finally had the opportunity to try their famed Red Velvet pancakes. (Meanwhile, my mom is on the cell phone inviting all of my sisters and cousins who DID NOT attend church with us but not without a small scolding about eternal damnation. (Trust me, you rather just get up and go with her than hear it, lol)
Of course the non-churchgoers beat us there but we didn’t hold them up because I’d heard too much about the pancakes and was sticking to it. Once they were served, I noticed they had actual chocolate chips in them and while that wasn’t my idea of a “traditional” red velvet cake, they were goooood. They serve them with fried chicken but I did it with bacon. Maybe later.
I took a basic buttermilk pancake recipe and made it velvety. That simple!
Buttermilk Pancakes
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons white sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs
1/3 cup butter, melted
oil or butter for pan
Milk (just under one cup)
1 Tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice
2. Add enough milk to bring the liquid up to the one-cup line.
3. Let stand for five minute. Then, use as much as your recipe calls for.
Buttermilk Red Velvet Pancakes
Buttermilk Pancake recipe (above)
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
Bag of Ghiradelli Bittersweet Chocolate chips 70% cocao (10-12 per pancakes)
2-3 tablespoon red food coloring (see if that is enough to get the color you want, if not red enough, continue to add)
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz softened cream cheese (1 package)
2 oz softened butter (1/2 stick)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract + more to taste
1 1/3 cups of powdered sugar + more to taste
With a mixer on medium speed, mix cream cheese and butter together. Add vanilla. Mix in sugar gradually.
Directions
In a large bowl, whisk the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt).
In a separate bowl, beat together the wet ingredients (buttermilk, milk, eggs, red coloring, vanilla extract and melted butter).
Keep the two mixtures separate until you are ready to cook.
Heat a griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. The pan is ready when you can flick water across the surface and it instantly beads up and sizzles. Lightly grease it.
Once that is hot, pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture, using a wooden spoon or fork to blend. Stir until it’s just blended together. Don’t over stir it. (A little lumpy is ok.)
Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/2 cup for each pancake. Immediately add 10-12 chocolate chips. Wait for the pancakes to bubble (2 – 3 minutes) before flipping and continue to cook for a minute or two. Serve hot with a dollop of cream cheese frosting (recipe follows).
Options:
Top with toasted walnuts or pecans
Top with chocolate chips
Make your own buttermilk (recipe above)
Top with maple syrup
Chocolate Cupcakes with Ganache Filling
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Chocolate Cupcakes with Ganache Filling
You all know I am a HUGE, HUGE, HUGE fan of America’s Test Kitchen/Cook’s Magazine so it should come as no surprise to you that when I found this “free” posting of their recipe for “Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes with Ganache Filling” I HAD to try it. Like the original poster said, they are recipe hoarders and while I do subscribe to one or two publications I am always looking for more.
The cupcakes themselves were the best I’d ever had. They were moist, soft, rich and velvety. The depth of chocolate flavor really exceeded my expectations. A grown up cupcake, if you will. I profess to be a chocolate gurl. But the icing they provided coupled with the cupcake was a little toooooo chocolaty, even for me. I couldn’t handle it. It scared me. lol. (The kids seemed to not care but they aren’t known round these parts for their discriminating palates….except when it comes to veggies. o_O)
So, I sought out for something else to partner with the scrumptious cake and found this much lighter (and much less involved) frosting. (It’s FROSTING for heaven’s sake. It shouldn’t take longer than the cupcakes to prepare if you ask me… but who am I? #shrug) It has a taste similar to a cool whip but you can tell it is more substantial and more akin to icing.
This recipe makes 12 cupcakes and for 12 very happy people.
Ingredients
Ganache Filling:
- 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine (I used the Ghiradeli chocolate brick. It’s 60% cacao and premeasured into 1/2 oz. pieces. each square represents a 1oz portion so measuring shouldn’t be a problem…for my slow friends, that is 4 pieces.)
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
Chocolate Cupcakes:
- 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate (6 pieces of the Ghiradeli block
), chopped fine - 1/3 cup (1 ounce) Dutch-processed cocoa
- ¾ cup hot coffee
- ¾ cup (4 1/8 ounces) bread flour (While I usually use cake flour for baking, if they say use “bread flour” I am using it. I trust them.)
- ¾ cup (5¼ ounces) granulated sugar (regular table sugar)
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs (room temperature)
- 2 teaspoons white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Frosting:
- 5 Tablespoons Flour
- 1 cup Milk
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- 1 cup Butter
- 1 cup Granulated Sugar (not Powdered Sugar!)
Preparation
Ganache Filling:
Place-chocolate, cream, and confectioners’ sugar in medium -microwave-safe bowl. Heat
in microwave on high power until mixture is warm to touch, 20 to 30 seconds.
Whisk until smooth; transfer bowl to refrigerator and let stand until just
chilled, no longer than 30 minutes.
Chocolate Cupcakes:
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard-sized muffin pan(cups have ½-cup capacity) with baking-cup liners. Place chocolate and cocoa in medium bowl. Pour hot coffee over mixture and whisk until smooth. Set in refrigerator to cool completely, about 20 minutes. Whisk flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.
Whisk oil, eggs, vinegar, and vanilla into cooled chocolate-cocoa mixture until smooth. Add flour mixture and whisk until smooth.
Divide batter evenly among muffin pan cups. Place one slightly rounded teaspoon ganache filling on top of each cupcake. Bake until cupcakes are set and just firm to touch, 17 to 19 minutes. Cool cupcakes in muffin pan on wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 10 minutes. Carefully lift each cupcake from muffin pan and set on wire rack. Cool to room temperature before frosting, about 1 hour.
Frosting:
In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. It should look like a thick, wet paste of sorts. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. (You can also place the saucepan over ice in the sink for about 10 minutes or so until the mixture cools.) Once it is completely cooled, stir in the vanilla.
While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. You don’t want any sugar graininess left. Then add the completely cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and whip it on medium high for about 4 to 5 minutes. If it looks separated, you haven’t beaten it enough! Beat it until it all combines and resembles whipped cream.
To frost, mound 2 to 3 tablespoons frosting on center of each cupcake. Using small icing spatula or butter knife, spread frosting to edge of cupcake, leaving slight mound in center.
Now eat! Told you they were good!!!!
Sipping on Patron… Cupcakes
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Apparently, my invitation was lost in the mail to Kim Porter’s (most famous for being a mother to 3 of Diddy’s kids and the one he supposedly wants to be with) recent bday bash. Other than her reportedly $2500 Chanel boots, the only thing enviable about the event were her Patron cupcakes. Ummm….
So, with my complete FierceFoodie budget for the month (according to Greg) I purchased my first bottle of Patron ($26.99, Publix Liquors). You guys are ALL invited….except Little Ms. Kim….go play with your boots!
This recipe is adapted from a cookbook called Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Of course, this recipe isn’t vegan however, lol.
Patron Cupcake Recipe
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 1 1/2 tsp lime zest (1 lime)
- 1 c. milk (I used 2%)
- 1/4 c. vegetable oil
- 2 tsp Patron
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup sugar (I used confectioner’s)
- 1 1/3 c. all purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
Preheat oven to 350F. Fill a 12-cup muffin tin with liners.
WET INGREDIENTS: In a large bowl, mix together lime juice, lime zest, milk, oil, Patron, vanilla and sugar.
DRY INGREDIENTS: In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
Add to lime mixture and stir until just combined. Divide evenly into muffin tins. Bake for 20-24 minutes, until a tester comes out clean and the cakes spring back when lightly pressed. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
The Tequila Lime Frosting Recipe
- 1/4 cup butter melted
- 1 tbsp heavy whipping cream or milk
- 3 tbsp lime juice
- 1 tbsp Patron
- 2+ cups confectioners’ sugar
- coarse sugar and salt for “rims”
Cream together butter, milk, lime juice, tequila, and 2 cups of confectioners’ sugar. I ended up using maybe 4-5 cups of sugar. With 2 cups, the frosting was very wet and could basically be poured. As you can see from my pics, I liked it a little stiffer so I could pipe it. Add and add the confectioner’s sugar (in 1/2 c. increments) until it’s where you want it. Play with it, it’s pretty cool. (more…)
