Apple Spice Cake with Maple Goat Milk Buttercream

Do you ever have those times where you think "we'll, I'm just sitting here on my couch and the Netflix instant streaming queue is a little subpar right now… I should probably write a blog post." You keep thinking this over and over but alas, no blog post.  Story of my life right now.  I think in the time I thought I wanted to write a blog post I: watched some movies of questionable quality, ate a bowl of popcorn, did my laundry and cooked a whole bunch of things but failed to take photographs of them.  Though I have been catching up on emails and planning a camping trip like my life depends on it.  I mean, it kind of does but really I'm just procrastinating.

Remember above how I mentioned I've been cooking a lot but failing to take photos?  I would like to blame 4 of my best girlfriends, but in reality I continually forget to bring my camera to Tuesday night girl's dinner.  That's right, every Tuesday we gather at Katrina's house to drink wine and cook an (according to all her roommates) extravagantly gourmet meal.  So far we have made roasted butternut salad with fried sage/goat cheese crostini; whole wheat pizza with caramelized onions, figs & goat cheese; pumpkin cashew coconut curry and last night this delicious fall vegetable galette.  I can feel the disappointment and resentment from my parents from the other side of the country; they always urge me to post more "real food."

I'll just set a goal for myself of, no matter what, no excuses, I will bring my camera to dinner next week. Until then, as an act of mid-20's rebellion, I will blog about cake.  At least it's a small cake that I made for a boy on his birthday.  I think you get negative good karma points if you hate on a birthday cake, especially one for a boy that you think is cute.  Disregarding shame and karma points, this cake was perfect for two people and I imagine it would work even better for a small gathering. The boy and I each had a small slice and I sent him off with the rest wrapped up and ready to be frozen.  From what I understand, he ate a couple slices for breakfast the next day and polished it off not much later.

While is he a guy and this doesn't mean much because it is common knowledge that all guys are human garbage disposals, this cake was pretty good.  A simple spice cake with the addition of grated apples made the cake incredibly moist and light and the maple goat buttercream, as usual, provided an interesting and complex tang.  While you can obviously make this cake larger or divide the batter up into cupcake tins, the recipe below works perfectly for two layers of a 5 or 6 inch cake. I used the largest ramekins I had on hand, I'm not exactly sure how large they are.

Lavender Cupcakes with Lemon Goat Milk Buttercream

So, these cupcakes were supposed to be a little fancier than they are.  Now, I’m not discrediting my skills.  No no, these cupcakes just as good, if not better, than I expected. It's just that I was looking forward to decorating them in a certain way. I had been watching and reading tutorials on how to make flowers with buttercream. I even spent a whole two dollars on a new tip. Moral of the story: don’t use zest in buttercream when you intend to use a tip with a tiny opening.  It gets all sorts or clogged and the user (read: me) get's all sorts of frustrated.

As luck would have it, I have about 20 other frosting tips littering a drawer in my kitchen.  I pretty much closed my eyes, reached in and felt for one that was not too big and not too small. The Goldilocks of piping tips.

Other than the slight issue with the buttercream, I actually had a blast making these. While I had dabbled in baking with goat butter/milk before, this is the first time all aspects of the cake were goatified.  Is that a word? No? Moving on…

Regardless, even though goat butter is about double the price ($5 for 1 cup) and so far I’ve only been able to track it down at Whole Foods, it really makes a difference.  PEER PRESSURE. Not really, you’re more than welcome to use some unsalted butter but don’t say I didn’t warn you… The combination of the soft lavender with the tang of goat makes a full bouquet of flavors.  And the buttercream? Oh jeeze, if that much sugar didn’t put me into a coma nor make me the size of a blue whale, I would eat it every day. No one wants to see a passed out Katherine the size or a blue whale with a mane of red hair. SCARY.

Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Buttercream

Did you know, before today, I hadn't had a cup of coffee in almost a week?  I'm trying to make changes here people and my complete and total dependence on coffee was a good start.  That, and I really hate cleaning my French press.  Today is a different story.  As I type, I am waiting for my friends to show up so we can head into the Cascades to do some hiking.  Guess what time I woke up?  6:30 am.  Without an alarm.  Can someone please tell me why I naturally wake up so early on the weekends yet it is feat of strength for me to even pull the eye-shades off before 7:30 during the week?

Regardless, I had coffee this morning.  A whole French press of coffee.  I haven't done this since college and now I am remembering why I don't do this on a regular basis.  I feel like I'm on magical cocktail of all the mood enhancing drugs in the universe.  I sorted my laundry!  I'm writing a blog post!  I made my lunch!  WEEE!  Let's hope the inevitable crash comes AFTER I'm done hiking for the day. [fact: it didn't]

Now that I've forewarned you to how drugged I am, tally-ho!  Onto the food!

This is a cake I made for my friend Sasha's birthday.  We play kickball & bar trivia together, so she knows about my baked goods.  When her birthday rolled around, she asked for a birthday cake knowing that I willingly make extravagant cakes.  After questioning her about cake flavors (Chocolate?  White?  Yellow?  Neon Green?) and toppings of choice (Rainbow sprinkles? Fruit? Fluffy clouds?) she decided on her favorite flavor combination: chocolate and raspberry.

Easy for me as I've made cakes & cupcakes with this combo countless times! As far as the raspberry buttercream goes, you can use either fresh or frozen raspberries, just make sure you strain the puree before reducing it.  I made this mistake once… I almost lost a friend over a rogue raspberry seed.  Even after adding some preserves to the puree, if the color isn't to your liking, feel free to add a pin prick of rose food coloring.

Brown Butter Pumpkin Layer Cake

Yes, that IS snow on the table outside!

Did this recipe deserve the cover of Fine Cooking magazine?  Yeah, I'm pretty sure it did.  Once again, I am behind on posting and I even pushed this one up in the cue because I really liked the picture and I feel like I need to redeem myself from the previous two posts.  I know I've whined about this before, but really Seattle?  You really have to make the sun start setting at 3pm?  When I was sick this last weekend, I didn't even get UP until 3 pm (I was sick!)… let alone try and take pictures of food.

I made this cake for Thanksgiving this year, my first one away from Michigan.  I could tell you a sob story about it (there really wasn't one…), but instead I baked my feelings away during the Snowpocalypse that happened just a few days before T-Day.  To all my Michiganders out there, please feel free to be disgusted, but the whole city of Seattle shutdown for almost two days before of 3 (THREE!) inches of snow.  I couldn't get to work on Monday or Tuesday and to get ingredients for this cake, I had to walk over a mile, half of it up and down a huge ice covered hill, to the Interbay QFC.  I then found out that one of the Thanksgivings I was going to didn't have power (they eventually got it back on in time) over on the Olympic Peninsula.  Say it with me now, SERIOUSLY Seattle?

I brought this over to my first Thanksgiving of the evening, hosted by my neighbors Doug & Elspeth!  I know they read my blog, so I'll only say nice thing about them, but honestly, there are only nice things to say about them!  Soon after moving in they greeted me and invited Rachel and I over for some wine.  We regularly go over to their place and I feel comforted knowing they're my neighbor!  Thanks guys!

Anyways… this cake is delicious!  I mean, actually plate licking delicious.  The cake portion is so moist and soft, but still has a tight enough crumb that frosting it isn't difficult at all.  Topping wise, I couldn't have thought up of a more perfect combination.  The toasted nuts contrast perfectly with the heat of the ginger while the pepitas provide an unexpected but welcome crunch.  To finish it off, the frosting is wonderful but I think the recipe developers were a little skimpy with the ingredients - I barely had just enough frosting.  Next time I'll make a little more.  However, it was nice that there wasn't much sugar in the frosting.

I know the pumpkin season is ending as we move into the non-stop feast on holiday cookies, but I swear this will be worth your while.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry/Raspberry Buttercream

Here's a little secret: I use cupcakes to woo boys and make friends.  I know, it may seem a little shady and unsavory, but hey, I'm in a new city!  Cut me a break!

I actually made these cupcakes a long time (read: 3 weeks) ago.  Soon after moving to Seattle, I went to a rooftop BBQ in Belltown (downtown Seattle) because my roommate and a friend Nick knew the people who were hosting through some other people.  Sorry, let me clarify.  A friend of a friend of a friend was hosting a BBQ.  Clear?  No?  Moving on… Anyways, we chatted and hot tubbed and swore to meet up again.  Cut to two weeks later, I go out on a Friday night in Capitol Hill with about 5 of the people I met at the BBQ.  More merriness ensued, we exchanged numbers, discovered that we were all new to Seattle and wanted friends!  That Sunday we all got together for a game/"make your own pizza" night and thus the cupcakes were born!!! (Along with some sourdough pizza, but more on that later)

This is another successful recipe procured from my "More from Magnolia" cookbook that I picked up when I was in New York City this year.  Not only is it an amazing cookbook, it is also incredibly ironic that it is my new "go to" cookbook because I live in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle.  Spooky!!  The actual cupcake is incredibly fluffy and moist with a strong vanilla flavor.  When baking, then don't form too much of a dome but just enough that they are a perfect  canvas for decorating.

Now the buttercream.  It's my forte, there is no skirting around that.  Earlier in the year I found out that I am pretty good at making buttercreams in most flavor combinations just off the top of my head.  I know, it's a gift, or what four years (or the baking induced "stress relieving" nights) at the University of Michigan taught me.  Recently I've been on a fresh fruit buttercream kick.  This results in a more naturally sweet buttercream (but don't discount the powdered sugar, there is still plenty of that) and I usually use less butter to achieve my desired consistency.  So maybe I can sell this buttercream off as "health food?"  Anyways, for this buttercream I used a combination of strawberries and raspberries.  While these fruits are both wonderful, they also have 'seeds' and must be smushed through a strainer before being beaten into buttercream.

Magnolia's Vanilla Cupcakes
Adapted from: More from Magnolia
Ingredients:

• 2 ¾ cups All Purpose Flour
• 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup almond milk
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract (I also used a vanilla bean, but that is completely optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin tins with cupcake papers.
2. In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream (preferably with an electric mixer) the butter until smooth and light yellow in color.  Gradually beat in the sugar until fluffy, approximately 3 minutes.  Add in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla.  This is key: after each addition, make sure to beat enough to incorporate the ingredients, but do not overbeat.  (This will create gluten and you will have rough and dry cupcakes)
5. Using a spring loaded ice cream scoop (or other preferred dispensing method), carefully dispense the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about ¾ of the way full.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a cake tester is inserted into the center of the cupcake and comes out clean.

Strawberry/Raspberry Buttercream
Ingredients:

• 1 cup strawberries, cored and halved
• 1 cup raspberries
• 1 stick butter, softened
• splash of vanilla extract
• 4 cups powdered sugar (approx).

Directions:

1. Puree strawberries and raspberries in a food processor until smooth.  Smush through a large strainer into a bowl.  Add softened butter and vanilla extract, beat until well incorporated.
2. Add powdered sugar slowly, about 1 or 2 tablespoons at a time, until desired consistency is reached (needs to be thicker for piping).
3. Can be stored in a air tight container in a refrigerator for up to a week.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate/Raspberry Swirled Frosting Topped with Tempered Chocolate

Who knew cupcakes could be so evil.  In my mind, they represent all that is pure and good in this world.  But apparently the day I decided to make them in my new kitchen, they had other plans.  Saying that everything around me fell apart, stopped working and generally just did not work is not an understatement.

When Alex was visiting (part one) last week, I got the urge to bake one sunny Seattle day (yes, they do exist).  Having not baked anything sweet in a long time, I decided the best way to start back up again was with cupcakes.  Cute, pink, chocolate and fruity cupcakes.  The universe had other plans.

I have always had gas stoves and always want one.  Alas, my condo has an electric stove.  Albeit a nice one, but it will still take me some time to get used to. This was the first time I had used my oven in Seattle; I had no idea if it'd run a little hotter or colder.  If definitely runs hotter - WAY hotter.  My cute little cupcakes that, according to More from Magnolia, should have taken 25 to 30 minutes to cook.  25 minutes after popping those babies in the oven, I was disturbed to sniff the faint smell of burning as I approached the oven.  That's right, about half of the cupcakes were dry and crumbly (through not burnt).  No, I didn't over crowd my oven.  Yes, I let it preheat for 20 minutes after it reached 350 degrees.  Yes, I was sad.  The next batch of cupcakes turned out well, but they baked for only 21 minutes.

Oh, but that's not the worst of it.  One, the drawer that utensils are in literally fell apart when I opened it to get a spoon out.  Alex fixed that for me.  Then when I was mixing the raspberry frosting with my tiny little hand beater (the chocolate was already finished in the Kitchen Aid stand mixer), I blew a fuse... the same fuse that the fridge is on.  My fridge shut off.  No big deal, right?  Just go back to the circuit breaker and flip the switch.  Wrong. So very wrong.

After frantically flipping the fuses, and one phone call to my landlord later, Alex and I had no success.  We though maybe they was a surge protected outlet behind the fridge, but who would do that?  Apparently whoever designed my condo.  After pulling out the fridge we pressed one button and the fridge whirled back on.

Phew.

But at least the buttercream turned out wonderfully and the frosted cupcakes were still as cute as can be.  No matter what is thrown at me, I seem to have a surprising knack for making buttercream's.  I just though you all should what lengths I went through to bring these beauties to the masses... well, to mainly Alex & Rachel... and a few people at a downtown Seattle rooftop BBQ.

Devil's Food Chocolate Cupcakes
Adapted from More from Magnolia

Ingredients:

• 2 cups All-Purpose flour
• 1 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa 
• 1 ½ teaspoons soda 
• ½ teaspoon salt 
• 1 ½ cups light brown sugar 
• ½ cup sugar 
• ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened 
• 3 large eggs at room temperature
• 1 ½ cups buttermilk 
• 2 teaspoons vanilla 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º
2. Line muffin tins with cupcake papers, set aside.
3. Sift the dry ingredients together, set aside.
4. Using the medium speed of a stand mixer, cream butter until smooth and light in color.
5. Add sugar, beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
6. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.
7. Add the dry ingredient mixture, in thirds, alternating with buttermilk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until ingredients are well mixed, but do not overbeat.
8. Using spatula, scrape down bowl, making sure ingredients are well-blended.
9. Carefully spoon into pans, filling 3/4 full.
10. Bake 25-30 minutes.  Cool in tins 15 min.Remove and cool completely on wire rack before icing. Makes about 30 cupcakes.

Chocolate Raspberry Buttercream

Adapted from More from Magnolia

Ingredients:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons strained raspberry puree
• 1 tablespoons almond milk
• 5 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled to lukewarm
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups sifted powdered sugar

Note: to melt the chocolate, place in a double boiler over simmering water on low heat for 5-10 minutes; stir occasionally until the chocolate is completely smooth and no pieces remain; remove from heat and let cool 5-15 minutes or until lukewarm. 

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter using an electric mixer on medium speed for about 3 minutes or until creamy. 
2. Add the milk and raspberry puree carefully and beat until smooth. 
3. Add the melted chocolate and beat well for 2 minutes. 
4. Add the vanilla and beat for 3 minutes. 
5. Gradually add in the sugar and beat on low speed until creamy and of desired consistency.

Raspberry Buttercream

Ingredients:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1/3 cup (approx) strained raspberry puree
• 3 cups sifted powdered sugar

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter using an electric mixer on medium speed for about 3 minutes or until creamy.
2. Beat in the raspberry puree until smooth.
3. Add in the powdered sugar one tablespoon at a time until creamy and of desired consistency.

Jake Trithart's 22nd Birthday Cake - White Cake with Fresh Raspberry Buttercream

Happy Birthday…about a month ago… Jake Trithart!  He did get this cake on his birthday, but I have been relatively busy and haven't been able to update as much as I'd like to.  When asking the Jake's what they wanted for their cakes, Mr. Trithart said "A white cake."  I said that's great and all, but I doubt you want just a white cake with no frosting.  He said I know my way around a kitchen and gave me the freedom to come up with something.  I was, and still am, very into experimenting with fresh fruit buttercream's and thought the taste of raspberries would compliment the white cake.  I also added some dark chocolate ganache just to make it even prettier.  Too bad I'm not always good at judging space - I wrote "Happy" in the middle of the cake thinking I'd have enough room to write "Happy Birthday Jake!"  Instead, I had to write "Jake, Happy Birthday"… not as aesthetically pleasing but it tastes just the same! 

It was so adorable when I went over to have Jake blow out his candles and eat some cake.  All the boys in the house rushed down to the living room as soon as I yelled "BOYS!  I HAVE CAKE!"  Jake was quite appropriately dressed in wolf pajama bottoms and a Zoltan Mesko shirt.  And good news - Jake was still able to blow ALL his candles out in one blow!  After cutting the cake and inhaling a slice, we popped in the always amazing Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

White Cake

Adapted from Culinary Concoctions 

• 1 ½ cup whole milk, room temperature
• 9 egg whites
• 3 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 ⅜ cups cake flour
• 2 ⅝ cups granulated sugar
• 6 tsp baking powder
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 1 ⅛ cup unsalted butter (9 oz), softened

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Grease three 9 inch cake pans, line the bottom with parchment paper, grease the parchment paper and flour the pans.
3. Combine milk, eggs whites and extract in a small bowl with a fork. Set aside.
4. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in an electric mixer and mix at slow speed with a paddle attachment. Add butter. Continue beating at slow speed until mixture looks like wet sand (If you’re doing this by hand, sift the dry ingredients together and rub in butter).
5. Add all but 1/2 cup of milk mixture and beat at medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes. Add remaining milk mixture and beat for an additional 30 seconds, scraping the sides of the bowl if necessary. Do not overmix.
6. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans and gently shake to smooth batter. Bake 30-35 minutes, until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
7. Let cakes cool in the pans for 15 minutes then invert onto racks to cool completely before frosting (I froze mine overnight, wrapped in Saran wrap and placed in a freezer lock ziplock bag).

Fresh Raspberry Buttercream

• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 4 cups (may need more or less) powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 cup raspberries, purred in a food processor
• ½ cup seedless raspberry preserves
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• A pinch of salt

1. Puree raspberries in food processor with raspberry preserves, set aside.
2. Beat butter and 1 cup powdered sugar on medium speed for 1 minute.
3. Add vanilla and raspberry puree and beat for 1 minute.
4. Adding 1 cup at a time, add the remaining powdered sugar. You may find that you need less than 4 cups or more than 4 cups depending on the consistency of the frosting you are going for. I wanted a stiff buttercream so I added more like 5 cups.

Jake's 22nd Birthday Cake - Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Bean Buttercream

It has been forever since I last posted.  You know, just some small things were happening.  I had my senior finals, I finished college, I graduated yesterday (Obama spoke at my graduation!) and I feel like I could sleep forever.  Also the amount of inventive and interesting cooking and baking I have been doing in the past few weeks has been dwindling, I have been holding on to three recipes for almost three weeks - Jake Hoernschmeyer's 22nd birthday cake, Jake Trithart's 22nd birthday cake and a few batches of cake balls (most of which ended up at the former Jake's house or in my roommates stomachs).  The first recipe I will be posting is for the first Jake's birthday - a chocolate cake with a vanilla bean buttercream.  With a special request for sprinkles.

I baked for about three days straight, continuously wore my apron and always had a light dusting of flour covering my hair and face.  Seeing how happy Jake was when we brought out the cake singing "Happy Birthday" and being able to give all his friends cake made it all worth it.  Yet it also didn't hurt that I had a chance to try out my new cake leveler and two new piping tips!

I asked him in March what kind of cake he wanted - he specifically requested a chocolate cake with a vanilla frosting and there had to be sprinkles.  Of course I had to make it a little fancier.  I used my "stand-by" chocolate cake recipe - I have been using this recipe for about four years.  It's a slightly dense, but moist, cake with a nice crumb.  I froze the three layers overnight wrapped in saran wrap placed in freezer safe bags - it makes leveling and decorating immensely easier.  For the frosting, I had been wanting to use vanilla beans for a quite some time and I felt like a vanilla bean buttercream would be the best way to foray.  I'm glad I made the buttercream, but who knew just TWO vanilla beans were so expensive?  Once again, it was worth it.

Regardless, I really do recommend making this cake for your next birthday, celebration… or any day you think you want a cake.

Stand-By Chocolate Cake

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• 3 cups light brown sugar, packed
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups sifted cake flour
• 1 1/3 cups sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups hot coffee

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 3 (9-inch) cake pans. Cut 3 circles of waxed paper or parchment paper to fit the bottoms of the pans, then press them in.
2. In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or using a hand mixer), cream the butter until smooth. 
3. Add the sugar and eggs and mix until fluffy, about 3 minutes. 
4. Add the vanilla, cocoa, baking soda and salt and mix. Add 1/2 of the flour, then 1/2 of the sour cream and mix. Repeat with the remaining flour and sour cream. 
5. Drizzle in the hot coffee and mix until smooth. The batter will be thin. Pour into the prepared pans and bake until the tops are firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (a few crumbs are okay), about 35 minutes. Halfway through the baking, quickly rotate the pans in the oven to ensure even baking, but otherwise try not to open the oven. Let cool in the pan 10 minutes. Turn out onto wire racks and let cool completely before frosting.

Vanilla Bean Buttercream

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated 

• 2½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 2 vanilla beans, halved lengthwise
• 4+ cups confectioners’ sugar
• Pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds. Using a paring knife, scrape seeds from vanilla bean into butter and beat mixture at medium-high speed to combine, about 15 seconds.
2. Add confectioners’ sugar and salt; beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened, about 1 minute. 
3. Scrape down the bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully incorporated, about 30 seconds; scrape bowl, add vanilla, and beat at medium speed until incorporated, about 20 seconds, then increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down bowl once or twice.

Small Batch Vanilla Cupcakes with Fresh Strawberry Buttercream

Last Monday it was Cory's (pardon me, I need to roll my r's for his name…Corrrrrrrrrrry's) birthday and if made me a cake for my birthday so of course he would get a cake back!  Sunday while watching Life Kate, thankfully, reminded me of Cory's birthday.  I immediately sprung over to the kitchen and began whipping up a small batch of cupcakes.  I have a "stand-by" vanilla cake recipe, but I wanted to try something new… and I didn't want to have to figure out how much I would have to reduce my cake recipe to make 12 cupcakes.  I decided to try out the fabulous Joy the Baker's recipe - and it was already formatted for 12 cupcakes!  Lucky me!

But I didn't want to use any old buttercream recipe.  Lately I have really gotten into experimenting with different buttercream flavors - in particular ones with fresh fruit.  After quizzing Cory on what kinds of fruit he likes, we landed on strawberry.  I might like to note that at this point I don't think Cory knew he was getting cupcakes.  I must say… this is probably one of my favorite buttercream's I have EVER made.  It tasted light and the sweetness came mainly from the strawberries. (note: I made mine a lot thinner because I wanted it to look like a "drippy" glaze, but it'll easily thicken up with more powdered sugar)

The next day Kate and Zenka brought the cupcakes up to North Campus and the text I received a few hours later confirmed my suspicion - Cory LOVED the cupcakes!

Vanilla Cupcakes with Fresh Strawberry Buttercream

adapted from Joy the Baker

makes 12 cupcakes

  

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• a scant 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  
2. Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and butter into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or use a handheld beater and beat on slow speed until the mixture is a sandy consistency and everything is combined.  Gradually pour in half of the milk and beat until the milk is just incorporated.  
3. Whisk the egg, vanilla and remaining milk together in a separate bowl for a few seconds, then pour into the flour mixture and continue beating until just incorporated.  Scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side or the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Continue mixing until the batter is smooth.  Just a few minutes.  Do not overmix.
4. Spoon the batter into paper lined muffin tins, dividing between the 12 cups.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until light golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let the cupcakes cool slightly in the pan, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.  

Fresh Strawberry Buttercream

• 1 cup of strawberries, washed and cut into fourths
• 5 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
• 4 cups powdered sugar (more of less depending on the thickness you desire)

1. Beat butter with a hand mixer until fluffy, set aside.
2. Puree strawberries in a food processor, beat into butter until well combined.
3. Beat in powered sugar ¼ of a cup at a time.  When desired consistency is reached, begin frosting cooled cupcakes.

Mint Chocolate Chip Cake

Happy 86th Birthday, Grandpa!  Today we celebrated my grandpa's birthday (even though his birthday is a little later in the week) and it was my duty to make the cake.  Of course, I didn't complain; it's more experience in the kitchen, more material for my blog and another chance to make my Grandpa smile!  His favorite ice cream flavor is mint chocolate chip.  As long as I can remember, every single time we have ever gotten ice cream, he always orders mint chocolate chip if they have it.  May summers in Frankfort were spent walking down to the Cool Spot and order ice cream with Grandpa.  I couldn't think of what kind of cake to make him until I was thinking about how much I wanted some ice cream (even if I can't eat it).  Then I remember my Grandpa's LOVE of mint chocolate ice cream and the cake was born!

I looked all over the internet and there were no recipes that I really liked.  Some required only mixing together the wet and dry ingredients - I know that wouldn't produce cake results I'd like (it'd most likely come out too dense).  Instead I turned my attention to King Arthur.  I based my recipe off their Chocolate Cake recipe.  I didn't want anything too chocolatey, as it would overpower the mint flavor I was going for.  But at the same time, I didn't want it to fall flat and taste boring like milk chocolate.  So, I had to improvise.  I also used my own recipe for mint buttercream - I just followed the rule of ratios.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, very soft
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1 cup milk, warmed in microwave for 1 minutes
• 1/2 water, boiling
• 4 large eggs, separated & whites beaten until stiff peaks form
• ½ bag of creme de menthe chips

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease and flour three 8" round pans.
2. Place a strainer over a large mixing bowl. Measure in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa, and sugar. Sift/shake the dry ingredients through the strainer into a mixing bowl, to eliminate any lumps.
3. Add the butter and mix at low speed for 1 minutes. With the mixer running, add the oil and continue mixing until the mixture looks like sand.
4. Combine the vanilla with the milk and coffee or water, and add all at once. Mix for 1 minute at low speed, stop and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, then mix for 30 seconds more.
5. Separate the eggs.  Beat the whites until stiff peaks form, set aside.  Beat in egg yokes one at a time.  Stir in creme de menthe chips.  Then gently fold in egg whites.
6. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Bake for 24 to 26 minutes.
7. The cake is done when the top springs back when very lightly touched in the center, and the edges just begin to pull away from the edge of the pan. A toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean.
8. Remove the cake from the oven and place on a rack to cool before removing it from the pan.
9. Once cooled, put the cakes in the freezer for about a half an hour.  When 'frozen' remove and cut layers in half (you will now have 6 'layers').

Mint Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

• 12 tablespoons butter, softened
• 5 ⅓ cups powdered sugar
• ⅔ cup milk
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 teaspoon peppermint extract
• gel icing, until desired color is achieved

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, beat the butter at a low speed with an electric mixer or tabletop mixer.
2. Add powdered sugar, alternating with the milk, and beat to smooth, but thick consistency (you may need to add more milk or sugar)
3. Stir in vanilla and peppermint. If you want a less minty flavor, decrease the peppermint extract or leave out altogether.

Grandpa blowing out his candles!

Look at those six (slightly demolished) layers!!