2008 March « Baked in Birmingham

Spring it on, baby.

March 27, 2008 at 12:27 am | In Chocolicious, Cupcakes are my true love, White Chocolicious, {the atomic cakery} | 2 Comments

Happy Easter a couple of days late, fellow bloggers and blogettes. What better way to celebrate spring and the resurrection of our Lord than with cupcakes? What better way to celebrate anything than with cupcakes? For my fam’s Easter festivities I made these darling cupcakes per Martha Stewart. I did my own little spin on them, however.

First things first, the cupcake itself. I used a regular white cake mix (I’m sorry to be so semi-homemade here, but I didn’t get a lot of sleep the night before) and mixed in some Bailey’s White Chocolate liqueur (about 3 tablespoons). SO good. I would have added some white chocolate chips in as well, but sadly, I just used up the last of them. I got a little of Wilton’s cornflower blue icing dye and swirled it in the batter, careful to make sure the batter gets tinted but also careful that you get those nice darker blue swirls. While those were baking a I toasted some coconut.

Next is the icing. For this I used Martha’s chocolate buttercream. This is the best buttercream I’ve ever had. It’s not a confectioners sugar base; it’s more of a swiss meringue buttercream with egg whites and granulated sugar. I have the leftovers hanging out in my freezer, waiting, beckoning, calling my name.

After the cupcakes cool and you dollop some buttercream on top, roll them in a bowl of the toasted coconut. I used some tinted white icing and a #12 tip to make the little eggs.

Here’s the Martha version I based these off of, and below is some more pictures that I took and I just like how they turned out. Enjoy!

Welcome Home, Perry!

March 17, 2008 at 2:36 am | In Chocolicious, Cupcakes are my true love, Friends are friends forever! | Leave a Comment

My bff from college and old rowing buddy, Perry, is in grad school at Georgetown. He came home for Spring Break and stopped by the casa for dinner and a re-hash of old times. Our dear friend Margaret joined us too, so I knew I had to make something homemade and fabulous. The answer: Cream Cheese and Chocolate Cupcakes via Taste of the South magazine (the other mag I work for). They were ooey-gooey melt in your mouth and they are also really pretty whenst you pull back the cupcake papers! They have the nicest texture, too! Technically, the recipe is called Cherry Topped Cupcakes, but all that means is that in the end, you garnish with a maraschino. I didn’t do that, though. But how good would some toasted almonds be on there?

Click here for the recipe.

It has nothing to do with baking, but here’s some old rowing pics of me and Perry! Allow me to reminisce…I really miss those days!

Me (second from the left) and Perry (far right) after getting thrown in the water (tradition for the coxswain when your boat wins).

One of the best pictures of all time–Perry in mid-flight after beating the crap out of the Auburn’s boat-twice.

When we all had fashion mullets in 2004.

The unstoppable coxswains on Bourbon Street the night before we scrimmaged with Tulane (and kicked their bows). I miss my green hair and mullet; Perry’s was purple. We were so tiny!

Perry’s 4+ boat.

Alabama Chanin

March 17, 2008 at 1:54 am | In I got style, how 'bout you?, etc. etc. etc. | 2 Comments
Tags: alabama chanin, diy, sewing, style

I am so proud to be a Southerner, and an Alabamian at that (Roll Tide!). If you haven’t heard of Alabama Chanin, or her former line, Project Alabama, then I am so pleased to introduce you to Natalie Chanin. She is an Alabama native who has lived around the world (including one of my favorite place, Vienna) and has returned to the Heart of Dixie to serve as home base for her company. Alabama used to be in giant in the textile industry (King Cotton sound familiar?) and since it’s deterioration due mostly to outsourcing, Natalie gives former textile workers jobs by teaching them exquisite sewing techniques. All of her products, which include not only fabulous garments for men and women, but also furniture and home dec, are 100% handmade. How swelligant is that? Southern Lady magazine is profiling her for our summer issue, and I’m going to get to meet her! I’m beside myself.

Her new book, the Alabama Stitch Book, is available online and in stores now. The book contains patterns, how-tos, and beautiful stories (my favorite is how to “love” your thread) so that you can make your own stuff! You really don’t want to miss this one. The picture above is my first project from the book. I’ve been doing appliqué for years, but this is my first attempt at reverse appliqué. I think it turned out pretty good!

Here are some pictures from her book (via alabamachanin.com). If you try your hand, send me pics!

For only $75, not only do you get this amazing hand-crafted shirt, and ALL of the profits benefit Architecture for Humanity for the work they are doing in the Gulf Coast area post-Katrina.

Close up and personal with the reverse applique technique.

The Alabama Stitch Book, a must-have in my life!

Kiss kiss. Hug hug. Little hug. Big kiss. Big kiss. Little Hug.

March 17, 2008 at 1:53 am | In Chocolicious, Non-baked in Birmingham, {the atomic cakery} | 3 Comments
Tags: Bakerella, Hoffman, Kisses, Oreos, Valentine's Day

This year for Valentine’s Day, I took a cue from Bakerella, one of my fave bloggers, and made some the most adorable Oreo Truffles you could ever hope to receive from your dearly beloved. I shaped them into jumbo-sized Hershey Kisses, wrapped them in aluminum foil, and made little flags that had an inside joke written on them. I gave several to the hubby so he could keep them stashed at work and think of his wifey, but since the recipe made so many, I gave them to some of friends and co-workers. I know it sounds so cliche, but they were so much fun to give! One of the gals at the office, my associate editor Karen, even kept her foil and flag and perched it on her desk. The inside jokes were as big of a hit as the goodness underneath it. Some of my faves are posted below:

Click here for Bakerella’s super cute blog and her Oreo Truffle Kiss recipe.

These are the ones I made for Zack. Aren’t they cute on my kate spade china?

For both Erin Moon and Stacey Norwood.

Another classic quote from The Office that I gave to Brandie, and “now we match! yay!” for Ruth (a quote from Meet the Spartans).

All boxed up and ready to go to work to spread the love.

My First Wedding Cake!

March 17, 2008 at 1:29 am | In Bridal Fare, Cake Decorating, {the atomic cakery} | Leave a Comment
Tags: cake, flowers, gumpaste, wedding

I’m so excited! Yesterday I finished my first wedding cake! It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and my friend and co-worker, Loren Wood (who legitimately, with her culinary degree, is a wedding cake maker), gave me the chance to be her assistant baker/decorator for a wedding she was hired to do. I made all of the rounded white flowers that look like paper whites, Loren made those beautiful chrysanthemums, and we hired a crazy women to do the dogwoods (she messed them up big time by airbrushes the centers green–we fixed them, but I can’t tell you how). I think it turned out SO beautiful! We are for hire if you live in the Birmingham region and want a cake! The cake was a lemon white cake with vanilla bean swiss meringue buttercream frosting. I wish I could share the recipe with you, but it’s not really mine to share! So I guess you’ll just have to hire us if you want to try it. Sneaky, I know.

Can you see the sparkles on the flowers? Preeeettyyyy.

Plethora of Good Ingredients = Out of this world CCCs.

March 17, 2008 at 1:10 am | In cooooookies, {the atomic cakery} | 1 Comment
Tags: butterscotch, chocolate, chocolate chips, cookies, Hot Rod, white chocolate

Do you ever just get the urge to bake cookies? Yes, all of us home-bakers love to be daring and try new things, but sometimes it’s fun to bring it back old school and bake some good ol’ Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Here’s a cookie recipe that I’m proud to say I developed! Zack and I had a couple to eat while we watched Hod Rod one night, but I sent the rest to work with him the next day and I understand they didn’t last too long! The base is just a classic Chocolate Chip recipe, but what makes these so out of this world is using Maple and Brown Sugar instant oats instead of regular, and mixing three chips together: Chocolate, White Chocolate, and Butterscotch. Experiment with it and use your favorite chips and oatmeal flavors.

Malinda Kay’s CCCs:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup Maple and Brown Sugar instant oatmeal
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate minichips

1/4 cup white chocolate chips

1/4 cup butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350°.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda soda, and oats. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl on medium speed, beat sugars and butter until well blended. Add vanilla and egg and beat until blended. Turn your mixture to low, and a little at a time, mix in your flour mixture. Don’t overbeat (that’s what she said). Stir in your chosen combo of baking chips. With a spoon or ice cream scoop, drop rounded dough a couple inches apart onto baking sheets lined with a silpat or covered in non-stick spray. Bake at 350° for 12 minutes or until the edges are a little brown. Allow to cool (but not too much!), serve with milk, and watch Hot Rod.

The batter might be the best part.

Zack LOVED them; too bad these don’t really comply with the South Beach Diet.

I’m dreaming of a White…chocolate cupcake.

March 17, 2008 at 12:58 am | In Cupcakes are my true love, White Chocolicious | Leave a Comment
Tags: emeril, white chocolate

I LOVE white chocolate. I love it the way Southerners love college football. I could drown in a vat of white chocolate and die happy. I could eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You get the point.

Our friends Eric & Tris Chapman had me and Zack and our other friends Brandie and Shane Etheridge to their house to watch the Assasination of Jesse James last month (Casey Affleck is amazing. The rest of the movie just wasn’t my thing). I baked some chocolate chip cupcakes with white chocolate chips and filled with white chocolate ganache – you actually carve out a little plug and pipe in the ganache! Cute! It’s a recipe I got a long time ago by Emeril Lagasse. My dear friend Ruth Tinsley decribed them as a “party behind her face” and even wrote a poem about them. As you can see, I had a little trouble with my cocoa powder on top. I honestly don’t think anyone else liked them quite as much (yes, Tris, I saw you throw away half of yours), but I reckon you really have to be a white chocolate fanatic to truly appreciate them, so I don’t begrudge.

Emeril Lagasse’s White Chocolate Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup sifted cocoa powder (for chocolate cupcakes)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, cracked into a small cup or saucer
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup hot water
White Chocolate Filling, recipe follows
16 maraschino cherries, garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter 1 (12-cup) muffin tin. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the remaining ingredients, adding the hot water last. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Divide the batter evenly among the greased muffin tin wells. Bake until the cupcakes are puffed and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

Cool to room temperature in the tins. Run a thin, sharp knife around the sides of the muffin cups to loosen the cupcakes, and carefully lift out. Place the cupcakes on a work surface.

Transfer the white chocolate filling to a pastry bag fitted with a small tip. With a small paring knife, cut a small plug from the top of each cupcake, reserving the plug, and scoop out a hole in the center of each cupcake to hold the filling. Place the tip in the cupcake and pipe in the filling to fill the hole. Replace the plug and place the cupcake upright. Pipe a small amount of filling on top to hide the plug and top with a cherry.

Arrange the cupcakes on a platter and serve.

White Chocolate Filling:
4 ounces white chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup milk
4 ounces cream cheese
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract In the top of a double boiler, combine the white chocolate and milk. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring, until the chocolate is melted. Let cool to room temperature. In a bowl, beat the cream cheese, and vanilla. Gradually add the cooled chocolate and beat until smooth. Chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours before filling cupcakes. Use to fill the chocolate cupcakes as directed.

Well I ‘eclair!

March 11, 2008 at 11:52 am | In Chocolicious | Leave a Comment

Pate a Choux. A little intimidating at first? Sure. But it doesn’t have to be, my friends. My first time out of the gate with Pate a choux was with a great and simple chocolate eclair recipe from one of my favorite blogs, Tartelette. One my husband’s best friends came over one night for some male bonding. They watched the Simpons Movie and a Korean horror flick–I made these and watched Ace of Cakes. Ian and Zack complete devoured them. And by devoured, I mean that I walked into the living room 30 minutes later to wrap up the uneaten ones, and they were completely gone and the plate was licked clean. Do you think I am kidding?

Enjoy these and then click over to Tartelette’s blog to see the other two desserts she made to go with these!

Eclairs With Dark Chocolate Espresso Mousse: (serves 4)

Eclairs:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
4 eggs

Heat oven to 375F. Heat water, sugar and butter in 3-quart saucepan to a rolling boil. Stir in flour. Stir vigorously over low heat until mixture forms a ball, about 1 minute. Remove from heat. Transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer and let cool a few minutes. Beat in eggs, one at time making sure the eggs are well incorporated each time. The dough should have the consistency of thick mayonnaise. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain round tip with the batter and pipe fingers of dough about 3-4 inches long on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake until puffed and darker brown on top, 20 minutes, let cool completely before filling with the mousse. You’ll have more than just for 4 servings but you can freeze the shells for up to 3 months.

Dark Chocolate Espresso Mousse:

3/4 cups bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup espresso
2 egg yolk
1 Tb sugar
1 cup heavy cream

Combine the chocolate, butter and espresso in a small saucepan over low heat until the chocolate melts and stir until combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolk and sugar until pale. Fold the chocolate into the egg mixture. Whip the cream to soft peaks and fold it into the chocolate base. Refrigerate one hour before using. Fill the eclairs with the mousse. Dip them into the chocolate glaze. Let set in the fridge

Chocolate Glaze:
1/2 cup dark chocolate
1 Tb butter
2 Tb cream

Melt the chocolate in the microwave, add the butter and cream and stir until combined

Won’t you be my neighbor?

March 9, 2008 at 3:48 am | In Chocolicious | 2 Comments

Zack and I just moved into our first home in November, 2007. It’s a new townhome development. We have two neighbors in our little row of houses, so of course this was the primo opportunity to bake some welcome to the ‘hood treats. Our last neighbors were shot and killed 2 weeks before we moved (while we were asleep–Zack found the semi-automatic assault rifle that was used the next morning dumped under our window), so we were pretty stoked that our new friends were the picture of normalcy.

I baked them some yummy chocolate cookies glazed in Nutella happiness. If you’re unfamiliar with Nutella, then first, you’re dumb. Second, it’s like a peanut butter but with hazelnuts and chocolate instead. You could put it on a fish sandwich and it’d still taste beautiful. These were really easy and pretty quick to bake. I wrapped it up (slightly ghetto) in plastic wrap (kinky, I know) and put a festive ribbon around it. They were a hit! But don’t wait for a new neighbor to come by to make these. Do it now!

I got the recipe via tastespotting.com at Felicia Sullivan: Author. Foodie. Rockstar. High-five to my new friend Felicia. You can view her recipe and awesome blog by simply clicking upon this: http://feliciasullivan.com/?p=798

In the meantime, enjoy my killer food photography.

Reese’s PB Cups: Not just from from a vending machine.

March 9, 2008 at 3:46 am | In Chocolicious, Non-baked in Birmingham | 4 Comments
Tags: chocolate, peanut butter, reese's

My sweet husband LOVES peanut butter. He calls it protein paste. We are both on diets, but being newlyweds and hopeless romantics, I CANNOT stop baking and making treats to show my love and affection. Seriously! I know, I know.

So I made him some homemade reese’s peanut butter cups. They are SO SO easy. They’re a joke they’re so easy. Sorry for the lack of exact measurements in the following “recipe,” but this is what we call organic. I’m kinda just making this up as I go along. Just add ingredients as you see fit for how many people you’re making these for. I mean, look at the ingredient list! It’s nothing but goodness for your body and soul. You can’t really mess these up.

Peanut Butter.

Confectioner’s Sugar.

Chocolate Chips (I used Milk Chocolate).

Vanilla Extract.

Melt your chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl in 30-second increments, stirring in between (or go old-school and melt over a double boiler).

With a pastry brush, paint the inside of about 20 or so mini muffin liners (or jumbo…that could be cool) with the melted chocolate chips. You might be tempted to add in heavy cream or butter like you’re making a ganache, but don’t because the chocolate won’t harden. Pop ‘em in the freezer.

Mix together a couple cups of peanut butter and about a cup of confectioner’s sugar. Throw in a couple splashes of vanilla extract. Mix it all up and spoon into the muffin liners. Back in the freezer for a few.

Pour the last of your melted chocolate over the top and let them harden in the freezer of fridge till they’re set.

Serve and accept accolades and kisses of gratitude.