Archive for the ‘Cakes, Cupcakes, and Brownies’ Category

I don’t have a whole lot to say so I’ll stick to the facts:

I like chocolate cake.
Cook’s Illustrated Chocolate Cake is one of my favorites. If I’ve ever made a chocolate cake for you, that’s the recipe I always use. This recipe uses sour cream and makes a very dutch cocoa-y, incredibly moist cake.

I love peanut butter.
Like, zOMG love peanut butter. And it has to be Jif. Only Jif. I love peanut butter so much that I stopped writing this post to go make a batch of peanut butter cookies.

I habitually over-frost my cupcakes. Always have. Always will.
The Foodie Groom felt that a little peanut butter frosting went a long way and took off some of the frosting on his taste-test cupcake. Blasphemy. I promptly placed it on top of my cupcake.

The world became a better place the day chocolate and peanut butter were first combined.
But really… it’s chocolate and peanut butter. You just can’t go wrong.

Sour Cream-Chocolate Cupcakes
Printer-friendly recipe

1 cup flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
3/8 cup dutch process cocoa*
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp white vinegar
1 egg
Peanut Butter Frosting, recipe follows
Chocolate Covered Peanuts, for garnish (optional, recipe follows)
Mini chocolate chips, for garnish (optional)

*If you can’t find dutch process cocoa, look for Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa. It’s a natural/dutch blend that subs well.

Preheat oven to 350. Spray the tops and line two muffin pans with 16 cupcake liners.

Add dry ingredients to the bowl of your stand mixer. Turn on low and add sour cream and oil. When completely mixed, add water in 1/4-cup increments until the batter is uniform. Add vanilla, vinegar, and the egg, mixing on medium until combined. The batter will be very runny. Ladle batter into the cupcake liners, filling 3/4 full.

Bake for ~25 minutes, until a skewer inserted in a center cupcake comes out with moist crumbs attached. Let cool in pan for 20 minutes and then cool on wire rack completely before frosting.

Yields 16 cupcakes
Adapted from Sky High Cakes

Peanut Butter Frosting
5 oz cream cheese, at room temp
4 Tbsp butter, at room temp
pinch of salt
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup peanut butter

Beat cream cheese and butter on high, until light and creamy (2-3 minutes). Mix in salt and powdered sugar on low speed until just combined and then beat on high for 2-3 minutes, until the frosting is fluffy. Add peanut butter and mix on high until completely combined.

Yields: ~3 cups frosting
Adapted from Sky High Cakes

Nutritional Information
Calories: 347.1 | Fat: 17.7 | Fiber 1.3
WW Points: 8

Chocolate Covered Peanuts
1/3 cup chopped semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup peanuts, unsalted
Pinch of sea salt (optional)

Melt chocolate in the microwave. Stir in peanuts, coating completely. Spread evenly on wax paper. Sprinkle with sea salt, if using. Let cool. Break/cut into pieces for garnish.

About a year ago, I flipped passed a recipe for Raspberry Buttermilk Cake in Gourmet. It wasn’t really my kind of cake. 1 layer? No frosting? No thanks.

And then I found myself with a mountain of blackberries and few new ideas so I gave the cake a chance. I love the simplicity of this cake, so much so that I’ve now baked some adaptation of it more than a dozen times. My favorite flavor is Blackberry-Lemon. The lemon and buttermilk make for a tangy, tender cake and the big, fat juicy blackberries? They’re big, fat, and juicy.

It’s the perfect recipe for spring and summer fire-sale berries and isn’t so over-the-top that you can’t have a piece after dinner all week.

Blackberry-Lemon Buttermilk Cake
Printer-friendly recipe

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, divided
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 large egg
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
5oz fresh blackberries

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in the middle. Butter/flour or spray an 8-inch round cake pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. Beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar on medium-high until pale and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add almond extract, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Add egg and beat well.

At low speed, mix in flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the buttermilk in two batches, mixing until just combined. Pour batter into cake pan, spreading evenly and smoothing top. Scatter berries evenly over the top and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar.

Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool to warm, 10 to 15 minutes more. Invert onto a plate and cut into 8 wedges. Store covered for up to three days.

Adapted from Gourmet, June 2009
Serves 8

Nutritional Information
Calories: 199.6 | Fat: 6.6 | Fiber 1.4
WW Points: 4

Growing up, blackberries grew wild in the wooded area across the street and all along our fence line. My mom would send my sister and I outside with a couple of bowls and a job – step 1 for blackberry cobbler. Warm blackberry cobbler with a melty scoop of Blue Bell’s Homemade Vanilla on top is probably the only thing that I’d ever pick over a chocolate dessert.

It’s too bad that I no longer have a place to pick fresh blackberries but they do go on fire sale during the spring and summer months – plenty of time to work them into a pretty salad, a nostalgic cobbler, and a fun cupcake.

The Classic White Layer Cake recipe from Cook’s Illustrated is proving itself to be a very versatile recipe. It’s my favorite white cake and has been engineered to produce what I believe to be the world’s best from-scratch strawberry cake. With some blackberry puree mixed into the batter and classic American style buttercream, it makes a fun purple cupcake with a hint of blackberry goodness.

Blackberry Cupcakes with Blackberry Buttercream Frosting
Printer-friendly recipe

3 6oz packs blackberries
1/3 cup milk, at room temperature
6 large egg whites, room temperature
2 tsp lemon juice
2 1/4 cup cake flour, sifted
1 3/4 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
12 Tbsp unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened
1 recipe Blackberry Buttercream Frosting, recipe follows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare two muffin pans with liners.

Puree blackberries in a food processor or blender. Scrape into a fine mesh sieve set over a bowl. With a rubber spatula, work the blackberries through the sieve, leaving seeds behind. Remove 1/4 cup of puree for the frosting. Your mileage may vary but you should have ~2/3 cup of blackberry puree leftover.

In small bowl, combine puree, milk, egg, lemon juice, and mix with fork until well blended. In bowl of stand mixer, add sifted flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix to combine. Continue beating at slow speed and add butter. Mix until combined and resembling moist crumbs.

Add liquids and beat at medium speed for about 1 minute or until full and evenly combined. Stop mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for 30 more seconds. Fill cupcake liners ~3/4 full.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center cupcake in each pan comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool in pans and then transfer to a covered plate.

Yields 24 cupcakes
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated Classic White Layer Cake

Blackberry Buttercream Frosting
2 sticks butter unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp almond extract
5 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 Tbsp meringue powder
pinch of salt
1/4 cup blackberry puree

Cream butter and extracts until smooth. Mix in confectioner’s sugar, meringue powder, and salt and beat 2-3 minutes on high. Add blackberry puree and beat for an additional minute. Adjust consistency, if desired, with additional confectioner’s sugar or water.