Boozey German Chocolate Cupcakes

It was my dad's birthday this past weekend, and I was nominated to bring the dessert. Since I can't make cakes, I figured it would be a good excuse to experiment with another cupcake recipe. My dad's favorite cake is German Chocolate cake. But, I don't make cakes, and I have no idea how to make a German Chocolate cake ... so the google blog browsing began.

I finally came across a recipe on Annie's Eats, and some pictures that were mouth watering delicious. Actually, as soon as I saw rum soak, I was sold. Annie's seriously amazing cake can be found here.

Like I said, I don't make cakes ... I use box cake. I know, I'm really lame but I don't care. The scratch cake is just way too much measuring for me. Frosting is more my style because it's more in line with the "eyeball," "good enough," "yum, more is more" approach to cooking.

So, after scanning the 900 cake ingredients, and reading the blog comments about two types of chocolate, etc. I decided to move toward my pantry and pull out my $1.00 box of Duncan Hines German Chocolate cake mix. Please, don't tell this poor Annie woman because she seems like the type that won't take that kind of thing very lightly.

Step 1 - Rum Syrup
Actually, the rum syrup was your basic simple syrup with rum added - or "more is more" rum added. From the instructions, nothing unusual or noteworthy to report on making that part other than a heavy hand with the rum bottle was delish.

Make that crap and set it aside.

Step 2 - Coconut Filling
Let me be the first to tell you that if you accidentally find that you hadn't followed the directions at all in this section by omitting sugar, and dumping everything into a sauce pan - don't give up. It still turns out; luckily a taste test confirmed I forgot the sugar, and added that in after the sauce was thickened - only drawback was a slight "sugar crunch" when taste testing. Eh, I'll survive.

Once you make the filling, set aside. 

Step 3 - Crack. I mean Frosting. I mean Ganache
Let me also tell you that if you dump all of the ingredients for the ganache into the pan (chocolate, cream, corn syrup) instead of heating the cream and pouring it over the chocolate in a bowl, it also still turns out. The only drawback (I think) was that it took longer to set - but that's what my freezer was for. There are some good tips on the frosting in the comments section that I recommend reading through. One question pending is how long this cake frosting will keep - which isn't long because it will harden - so this is a day-of cake for sure.

Try not to eat the whole bowl while it sets.

Step 4 - Get that cupcake a drink!
Remember that amazing rum syrup? Well, once the cupcakes have cooled, dip the tops of those bad-boys into the rum syrup down to the paper lining. I dipped mine 3 times, and still could have used a little more love.

Step 5 - Hole-y Cupcake!
So, after trying to spread the filling around on the cupcake without it sliding down the paper, my sister in law (who made cannoli cupcakes) reminded me that we could hallow out the cupcake a little and shove the coconut filling inside, then frost the tops. So we did. I have a cupcake filler tool, but since I was at my mom's house for this baking session, I just used a small knife and popped out a little bit of the cupcake. I figured that was more sanitary than taking bites out of the tops of each one. One thing I may try next time is dipping the cupcake after the hole is in the top so the rum can get to the inside of the cupcake. Since it was an experiment, I didn't think of that the first time around, and they were still good.

After the holes are made, put a spoonful of coconut filling inside each one. Then, finish off with the ganache frosting.

They were pretty good. I didn't have any room to eat one by the time the dessert came around, so I froze mine (honestly, have you ever had a frozen hoho? No? Try it and you won't have them any other way).

Here's a picture of my frozen breakfast the next day.

Don't Mind the Frost!

Inside - frozen but still yummy!

Cupcake Wars

What do you get when you combine three siblings, cupcakes, competitiveness, and alcohol? Cupcake wars.

Apparently new to this year's "easy going dinner share contest" is an intense battle of the bakers. This has been building up over the past three weeks over facebook, and it set to climax at Nags Head when the three teams bake it out to see who has the winning cupcake ... or at least that's the plan until we get there and decide to sit on the beach all day with a frosty bevy instead.

The initial cupcake post was not associated with the beach. It was a picture of cupcakes made for my brother Jason on his birthday (pre my personal obsession with cupcakes). All I know is that they looked amazing, and they were topped with a cherry. 

Last month I started trying to spike cupcakes ... posting pictures which were immediately scrutinized by Jason (and his baker friend) and riddled with false accusations of being "fake" or "store bought." Like an idiot, I forgot he's bringing his friend, the baker that produced the amazing cherry-on-top cupcake who is certainly way above my skill level.

And now, my sister in law has upped the game with her recent posting of her filled Holy Cannoli Cupcakes.

FAKE!!!!!

I'm going to have to dig deep for this one ... or maybe I pull a revisit from last year. Just get everyone wasted on Margaritas (after the kids are in bed of course).

Cocktail Cupcakes: Chrysalis Sarah's Patio Red Velvet Cake

What do you get when you mix my two favorite things: Red Wine, and Chocolate. A damn good cupcake, that's what.

This cupcake creation started with a wine tasting at Chrysalis Vineyards, where the view is amazing, and the wine is ... good. Seriously, I enjoy the wine, but part of me feels like I like it that much more than I should because I'm sitting on a grassy field, child playing and running nearby, friends drinking and eating picnic food. Lots of laughing all around. It's just simply a great day (unless you get kicked out, but that's another story).

Ahhh ... the view at Chrysalis ... you forgot about work already, didn't you?

Norton is a big wine for them, and they do a lot of wines with it. If you don't like Norton, you won't like Chrysalis.

That being said, one of my favorites at this vineyard is Sarah's Patio Red. It's sangria-like, served cold, and great on a sunny summer day. Chrysalis can explain it better than I can (I just drink the stuff, I don't "date it"):

Chrysalis Vineyards Sarah's Patio Red (whole cluster pressed Norton rosé)
The wine in this bottle is unique - unlike any you've ever tasted. Named in honor of our ancestral patron at Chrysalis Vineyards, it's made from 100% Norton, the almost-forgotten great American grape. You'll find the alluring fruit flavors and aromas in this wine simply irresistable. And Norton's natural acidity is in perfect balance with this sweet fruitiness. A revolutionary new wine, Sarah's Patio Red is perfect for all occasions when friends gather to enjoy the simple pleasures of life. We suggest you serve it chilled, to emphasize its fresh fruit flavors and sweet-tart balance.

Chef Hump (really, I can't make that up) does some of the tastings, and suggested one day that you use this wine in chocolate brownies or chocolate cake in place of the called for water. And that's exactly what I did. Since I didn't have chocolate cake on hand I used Red Velvet (good enough, has chocolate in it, and goes with the wine color).

A note on box cake mix. I have no idea which is better. Honestly, I buy whatever is on sale, so I would say, if it's more that $1.25 (at most), skip it and wait until there's a sale.

Hi, I'm only $1.00 if you buy me on sale

For the frosting, I pulled from my now go-to starter frosting website and used a basic butter cream, and added to the mixture some of the Patio Red.  Honestly, I didn't measure - estimate it was a glug or two, and I think next time I'll go for more, or go for making chocolate butter cream (ewe, melting candy peices ... so boring - and another pot to clean). One day that will be appealing to me, until then, plain butter cream whipped up while the cupcakes are baking is good enough for me.

Buttercream Frosting

Yields about 8 cups of frosting (enough to fill and frost a 9" round cake - 3 layers)

• 2 pound bag of powdered sugar
• 1 cup milk or water
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 2 sticks butter, cut into ½ inch slices
• 2 ¼ cups shortening (not butter flavor)

1. using the whisk attachment on your electric mixer, mix the powdered sugar, salt, vanilla and milk or water at low speed until smooth and creamy.
2. add butter, one slice at a time, until incorporated
3. Add shortening and whip at highest speed 10-12 minutes, until almost doubled in volume

A lot of "work" to get it balanced on the wine glass if you ask me ...
this is as fancy as I get ... and as fancy as my wine glasses get.

Cupcakes? I can do that ... I think ...

Do you ever get the feeling that you want to try something, and you have no idea why? Well, that's me with cupcakes. They look so perfect on TV, and yet so easy. I couldn't help but think, "I can do that!" Ok, the part that sparked my interest the most was how exactly do you get that lovely mound of frosting on the cupcake?

Combine that with a mom that works next to the cake supply store in Fairfax, and you have a recipe for exploring something new.

My first attempt was a cupcake creation for the 4th of July family reunion picnic in Buffalo, NY. This picnic deserves a post of its own, and when I have a quiet moment, I will definitely put something together for it. But until then, I'll stick with the cupcake.

Leading up to the event, Harris Teeter kept having huge sales on cakes, so I just picked a few up every time I was at the store. I don't know if it was the heat wave, it being summer, or what, but I kept picking up "lemon supreme" from Duncan Hines. For all of you bake-from-scratch folks out there, hats off to you. But for me, I have the patience of a toddler, and the organization of a hoarder. I cannot measure that many things with the accuracy needed for a cake. So, box for me it is. All of my "creativity" can be focused on wacky frostings, which  I think (speaking from no expertise whatsoever) can be more forgiving of mis-measuring than the cake itself.

So, my box cake in hand, the only next thing I needed to figure out was the frosting. But what flavor?  After polling friends, neighbors, and colleagues, I settled on raspberry for the lemon cake.

My first stop for recipes was the Internet - somehow, I ended up on Easy Cake Ideas , a site that listed a million different buttercream, ganach, and cream cheese frosting recipes. It gave you a basic one, and then had some options for tweaking them. PERFECT for me.

For this cupcake, I used the whipped lemon buttercream frosting (with lemon curd), and added to it a few teaspoons of raspberry jam. I am sure some baker out there is freaking out, but it was really yummy!

To decorate it, I used what I had in the kitchen - a decorator kit my mother in law gave me from the Pampered Chef. Keep in mind, at this time in my life, my go-to way of frosting was a butter knife and a slab. Nothing more (and nothing wrong with it). So for me to even take out the kit from it's place in the back of my pantry was a huge step alone.

Now, I have my kit - what do I do with it. To be honest, I just hoped it worked like an easy share camera and pointed and shot. And ended up with a messy cupcake, but I was playing around. Here's what they ended up like.

Flower, or Tinkerbell Poop?

My experiment above taught me two things. 1) Box cakes are amazing and all I need 2) I need a bigger gun ... I mean, frosting tip.

I googled "frosting tip" and confirmed, yes, I needed a big one to make that delicious pile of frosting on the cupcakes I see on other blogs. I can't agree with Half Baked more on this. Here's a picture of popular choices these days.

A quick phone call to my mom (do they EVER stop coming to the rescue) - and she picked up two at the cake store for me. I have no idea what they are, but I will post a picture of them soon.

Her other find ... disposable frosting bags. Yes, I know you can use a Ziploc bag, but when you have no idea what you are doing, I found these sturdy and easy to use. When I did use a Ziploc, my death grip caused an explosion. I'm sure I'm not holding the bag right, but I tell you - the disposable ones held up, death grip sumo strangle hold and all.

It's all in the tip, really. It is. Once you have the giant tips, you are a swirl away from an awesome looking cupcake. Here are the first cupcakes I frosted with my new tips.

Margarita cupcakes with Tequila Spiked frosting * recipe coming soon!

Lemon cupcakes with Lemon Frosting *recipe coming soon!

Paired with my new toys, and curiosity, and general stubbornness and you have a new "thing to do with spare time." I can't say hobby, because that implies I'm actually good at this. Which I am not. Honestly, in most cases they look better than they taste (which doesn't say a lot). Occasionally I have gotten lucky in my online recipe search and modification combo, and will share the amazing "finds" from online with you, along with my tweaks.

So there you have it. Old dog, and 1 new trick.

What "something new" do you want to try?  

Chicken Basil Sausage Pita with Roasted Garlic Mushrooms, Fresh Mozz, and Spinach

Who says you can't eat well at work. Do you have a toaster oven? That's all you need for "desktop cooking."

Since my refrigerator is practically a giant compost bin, I have started to take any leftovers, scraps, or misfits to work. With the ingredients we bring in, my office mate and partner in crime, Cari, try to come up with a creative way to use what we have.

Today's creation was Chicken Basil Sausage Pita with Roasted Garlic Mushrooms, Fresh Mozzarella, and Spinach.

Ingredients Used:

Amylu Caprese Chicken Sausage (Costco)

Fresh Mozzarella

Spinach

1 Clove Garlic

Spray Olive Oil

Mushrooms

Cherry Tomatoes

Total Time: 15 minutes

I first roasted leftover mushrooms with garlic and spray olive oil in the toaster over on the "broil setting" for about 5 minutes.

At the same time, Cari microwaved the chicken sausage from Costco for 1 minute.

We met back at the kitchen table and started assembling our masterpieces.

She went with an easy to eat stuffed pita. I took my chances on a "pizza" version that I toasted in the toaster over for 2 minutes. I have to say, it was pretty impressive.

Go ahead, skip the cafeteria, and make use with what you have (and a toaster oven). You may surprise yourself!

Topped Pita

Stuffed Pita

Beach Planning Crafts Edition

When I go to the beach, I love that I have more time than usual. And with that time, I like to do two things ... the first, reading books that literary snobs turn their nose up at. And second, do a project that I would normally not have time to do.

Last year the girls and I made hair bows out of flowers from Michaels. I was so happy to see that my niece loved them so much, that it became "her thing." So cute. I want to come up with something new this year that she will enjoy making.

Awww ... she was so wittle ...

I was thinking of doing more ridiculous pony-o's. Even the name is ridiculous.

Pink and black for leotards

I made a few for my daughter with scrap ribbon and they were really easy. I think they would make for a great team ribbon (soccer teams, college teams, etc) ...

Red white and blue

Aside from the pony-o's, here's some other finds that may be on the list of things to do.

How can you not want to make the brownie waffles? Seriously.

Something for myself. I've been really waiting to make the subway art thing. It's something like this, but I want to do all of the places Christian and I have been together. I know, lame. I have no idea why I'm obsessed with this. I'll never actually do it [although I did get as far as getting the words printed and layed out]. I was going to try it for our anniversary - but that came and went. It's more my style than his anyway ... It's still on the list though.

How it's supposed to look ...

Here's my prototype ...

These paper beads Thirty Sixth Avenue look promising. Much easier than the duct tape bracelets I tried to make with my niece using crappy Justice duct tape. Who knew a kids clothing store would sell sub-par colored duct tape?   

Tatertotsandjello posted these Giant Bubbles, but who can make a dowel bubble wand? If only they sold this at Target, I'd be all over it.

 

You know those expensive beach plaster molds that you can make at the beach? This year I'd like to try to do my own. My job is to figure out how to do them; lots of ideas out there. You can go fancy with shell and sea glass added, or simple, like these footprints on Cleverly Inspired. 

Although these Au Pairs from Aupair in America seemed to have figured out how to watch kids, find sea glass, and make a "fancy" plaster molds like the fish below. 

Sea Shell project with plaster of Paris and sand

I'm still on the hunt for activities. If all else fails, the kids have a heads up that they are tasked to put on a talent show. My office mate is tasking her beach house kids to put on a play. Ahhhh ... that's got to occupy them for hours, right?

Beach Meal Planning 2012

Every year my family heads to the outer banks for a week at the beach, and I have to say, it's something I look forward to. Family is a gift, and I'm blessed to have such a great one that includes awesome parents, brothers, nieces, nephews, in-laws, uncles, aunts, cousins ... the list goes on. I love that we get to spend time together after all of these years, and I really hope this tradition of going together for a week is something that we hang onto for a long time.


Having so many people at the beach can also create some challenges. For the first few times we went, there was a little adjusting to "how do we do dinner" and it took a few times for folks to feel comfortable in going off and doing their own thing without worrying about extending the invite to the house. But, we've gotten into a stride, and things run pretty smooth - big family and all.


One of the things we did to help "plan but not over plan" was to come up with a fun way to share the burden in preparing a meal for the house. This helped to streamline shopping, assist with planning, and set the expectation that everyone didn't need to plan their meals for the whole week, nor did they have to feed everyone else for the whole week.


Anyone choosing to participate pairs up with someone (usually spouses pair up), and they decide what they would like to make for the house. It started out as dinner only, but we've expanded that to any meal during the day. When we arrive at the beach, there's usually a scrap piece of paper on the fridge that serves as the sign-up sheet. To go with the meal, each team also prepares a drink (extra points for the kids-version of the drink).


Last year, we did a charter boat (thanks to Big Brother Chris). Since we ended up with 9000lbs of Mahi, clearly a few of us were going to use it for the meal.

Here's me and Big Brother Jason drinking ... I mean fishing ...

 The bounty

Here's the winners. Dinner winner = giant fork. Drink winner = sign

The Contest Entries

Grandma and Grandpa – Paella

Chris and Melissa – Mahi Sandwiches
Jason – Chicken Gyros

Liz and Christian – Mahi Tacos and a TON of sauces, and condiments

Gyros from Alton Brown, Food Network; my brother just made the marinade with chicken (although he has made the ground meat in the past).

Fish Tacos with Black Beans, Cilantro Cream Sauce, and Chipotle Cream Sauce. I also made mango black beans, similar to Rachel Ray's version she paired with fish tacos. All you need is some garlic, and a jar of mango chutney.

At the end of the week, on the last night, the family voted for their favorites. This year we had a lot of awesome entries; and the fresh Mahi proved to be a fun challenge. Chris and I both tried to incorporate it on the fly into our meal. In the end, Jason won with his Gyro dish. As for the “drink winner” – that would be Christian, but I accepted the award on his behalf – I guess I get some points for forcing him to incorporate a splash of orange juice into the Top Secret recipe.

Here’s a look at the kid version though … modeled by my niece who will need to be sent to a convent when she’s 15.

This year, I have some intel on what my mom’s entry is going to be, and it’s pretty badass if I say so myself. Her pulled pork with spicy tangy vinegar sauce is pretty remarkable. Because of that, I think my strategy this year is to give a solid, yet functional meal because I’m not sure I can beat the pulled pork. So, that means I’m leaning toward a revisit on a vineyard favorite (assorted upgraded sandwiches) for their convenience, and practicality. I pretty much can make enough to last the week, and offer something for everyone on any given beach day (which is every day).

• Pepper Crusted Roast Beef with White Cheddar, Horseradish Sauce, Romaine Lettuce, Tomato and Red Onion. 
• Oven Roasted Turkey Breast with Provolone Cheese, Slow-Roasted Tomato Mayonnaise & Romaine Lettuce. For the Tomato Mayo sauce, mix 1/4 C mayo, 5-6 sundried tomatoes, and 4 roasted plum tomatoes (baked at 450 until they pop/blacken a bit).
• Grilled Vegetables Goat Cheese, Black Olive Tapenade, Roasted Red Peppers, Artichoke Hearts & Fresh Herbs with Balsamic Vinaigrette. To make, douse veggies (package from weggies with mushroom, zucchini, peppers, onion) in Weggies balsamic vinegarrete and bake at 450 until roasted. For the topping, mix artichoke hearts (can), whatever herbs you have (I did basil, chives, tarragon, thyme), and mix with weggies vinigarrete.
• Italian Meat -Prosciutto, Genoa Salami, Goat Cheese, Olive Tapenade, Roasted Red Peppers. Topping: Artichoke Hearts and Fresh Herbs with Balsamic Vinaigrette.
• Applewood Smoked Bacon with Roasted Tomato Mayonnaise, Roma Tomatoes, Romaine Lettuce

Sammies at the vineyard, sauces, veggies waiting for roasting, and sammies ready for transport

The only thing is that when we’re at the beach, at least three of us like to each seafood every day ... when in Rome … Because of that, I’m considering a low-key functional seafood entry like a shrimp cobb roll (Ina Garten never fails), lobster roll (TBD), Shrimp and Oyster Po Boy (Paula Deen), or linguini and clams (Giada).

Ina, Paula, and Giada at work. YUM!

Little Moments and Second Chances

So many times I find myself running from one place to another, late, scrambling, wondering why I can't manage to get everything done but other people seem to do a thousand times more than me a day (and they didn't just find grapes raisins under the passenger seat). I feel like I'm not the mom I want to be, or should be. Like I should be making the absolute most memerable experience of every minute with C, and I get upset with myself when instead I think, "OMG JUST LISTEN TO ME AND GET IN THE CAR" instead of "hey sweetie, how about I just quit my job, and we head to the beach and make a homemade sea shell garland to use on our impromptu family beach party where dad will clam bake, Martha Stewart will come, and we'll put on a play about saving the ocean." So much running around ... so many lost opportunities to make a memory. 

Just last night, C was so excited to make popcorn for "dessert" (we just went with it), but when she was standing on the stove, hanging onto the microwave vent trying to ask me what numbers to press, I admit, I was upset freaked out. I kinda ruined the "fun dessert making" moment, and felt awful afterwards. To her credit, their were no tears; I guess if I've taught her anything so far, it's that mom will occasionally freak out. We ate the popcorn, and carried on, and all was well that night. But the feeling of ruining her fun time with me, what little quality time we get during the week, stayed with me, as it does whenever something like this happens. There's just something inherantly lasting with seeing the change in her face go from pure excitement to disappointment. A knife in the heart. Ugh ... failure. (I know ... DRRRAAAAMA queen).

I am not perfect, and I have a lot to learn. I have to try to remind myself that life is not clean and pretty and flawless (at least for everyone). Sometimes you hang on a microwave, and sometimes you freak out. I suppose the good news is that life is also full of many opportunities to learn and make things better. Just like that wedding quote ... “We do not remember days, we remember moments (Cesare Pavese)." But it's true. I am practicing not having to book every minute with her in an effort to make every second memorable. I just need to do the best I can, love her as hard as possible, have fun, and relax. I was reminded of this the next morning, when C wanted to help me make coffee. A second chance. And she did. And we were both smiling ... coffee grounds all over the floor and all.

"Mom, what are some family sayings, you know, traditions, words of wisdom?"

Everyone has a blog these days, so it seems, but me. Until now.

My Disclaimer:
Honestly, I can find blogs pretentious and annoying. Now, that being said, there are a few that I follow religiously because they make me laugh, they have awesome recipes to try, amazing ideas, and they are really really really good (like Just us Four). I've shared a few of my favorites in the "things I'm obsessed with" section.

I do admit, I cruise other blogs (not in my favorites) because I want to know exactly how inferior my crafting skills are, how uncreative I am with my child, and how boring my home decor is.  For example, did you know there's a raging "chevron" obsession for the home this spring? Or that a fun project to do with your kid(s) is to fold 1000 paper lanterns and release them as a "celebrate spring" family event a la Tangled? Exactly. Hats off to you, crafty bloggers. Blogs have become to moms, what theknot.com is for brides. Too much of a good thing will make you crazy.
So to get back on track, why did I start one? It's not to tell anyone how awesome I am. Because you all know I am not. My house is a disaster, unpainted, dishes-in-the-sink kind of house. I really don't have anything I want to tell anyone in specific. I don't think I'm funny, and I don't think people will care about what I write. I started this just for the purpose of keeping track of the useless thoughts in my head, and the things that I stop and say to myself, "I never want to forget this." Oh, and I am going to work my way through our family recipes and includes stories, pictures, quotes from people as I go ... but baby steps.

So what's in the name? Honestly, it was the only "family saying" that my mom could think of when I asked her. And it fits ... you'll see.