Martha Monday - BAKE FAIL!

For this Martha Monday, I made the Sparkly Star of David cupcakes. As you can probably see, my Sparkly Stars of David turned into Sparkly Christmas Trees. I didn't have a Star of David cookie cutter, but I had a Christmas tree one. I used the one-bowl chocolate cupcake recipe with Swiss Meringue Buttercream and Fluffy Vanilla frosting.

Now, dear readers, I know what you're thinking... "But Connecticute, that doesn't look like a fail at all. In fact, it's quite cute." Definitely cute. I will not argue that. However, the story behind these cupcakes is a tale fraught with sadness and failed attempts. And really, one of my first bake fails ever. So that has definitely heightened the sting of disappointment.


The tale begins on Monday, when I did my usual gather the ingredients photo. (As an aside, I love the gather the ingredients photo, even when I don't take one! It's always a relief to put together all the items I will need to bake something. When I don't gather my ingredients, I scramble for something halfway through baking. I highly recommend beginning your baking by gathering your equipment.)

To make these cupcakes, you will need:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda, 3/4 teaspoons baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 2 large eggs, 3/4 cup buttermilk, 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, 3/4 cup warm water.


1. Preheat oven to 350° and line muffin tin with paper liners.
2. With an electric mixer on medium, whisk together dry ingredients. Reduce speed to low.


Here's where the wheels started to fall off. My egg exploded on the counter and from there it just got worse. Anyway.


3. Add remaining ingredients, beating until smooth and combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, if needed.



4. Pour batter evenly into liners, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, about 20 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.

Here was the real fail - the Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Honestly, I can't even say what went wrong. It requires cooking egg whites and sugar and making a double boiler out of the bowl from the mixer. That part went OK, I think. After cooking the egg whites and sugar, then you whip the egg whites until they're frothy and form peaks. They never formed peaks. They got a little foamy, but nothing too peaky. I decided to add the butter anyway, a few tablespoons at a time, just like Martha said. I guess the butter wasn't soft enough, because it was all chunky and gross. Martha's cookbook said that if the mixture appears curdled after adding the butter that it's OK and just keep beating it for another 5 minutes or so. I did 5 minutes, and nothing happened. So I kept going. I stood there while the mixer kept beating for another 30 minutes before I quit. Meringue and I were just not happening that day.

So I moved onto the immensely easy Fluffy Vanilla Frosting - 3 sticks of softened butter, 4 cups of confectioner's sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. Beat butter for about 2 minutes, add sugar 1/2 cup at a time. When sugar is added, mix in vanilla.


Frost with an offset spatula, and use a small (no larger than 3 inches) cookie cutter to fill with decorating sugar in seasonal shapes. I used trees with green sugar. But if you want to do a Hanukkah cupcake with Star of David cookie cutters, that would be really cute.

As failures go, this one wasn't too bad - I was able to recover by using a different frosting. When that meringue was not beating into stiff peaks, I wanted to quit baking and never go in the kitchen again! But of course, as with any other failure in life, I kept going until I found something that worked.

These weren't the awesomest-looking cupcakes I've ever made. But I have to give a shout out for the one bowl chocolate cupcakes. Those are some mighty fine chocolate cupcakes. And it's definitely worth something to keep going after failing. Not my sweetest success, but I wasn't quitting.

Burgers, Shakes & Fries - Now open in Darien!

It's finally here! The time we've all awaited... BSF is now open in Darien. This is big news. For about 3 years, Mr. Cute and I have been traveling to Greenwich for our Burgers Shakes and Fries. Not that Greenwich is far, mind you, but when we saw in early 2010 that Kory was considering opening a BSF in Darien, well, that was really exciting.

In the last few months, Mr. Cute and I would go to BSF in Greenwich and ask Kory, "When are you opening the one in Darien?" And he'd patiently reply, "Soon."

Last week, we got a hot tip that Darien's BSF was opening on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving - when both Mr. Cute and I would be out of town! Oh no! When we got back into town, we realized that BSF was not open, we thought it would still be possible to go on BSF's first day being open. We thought it might open on Monday, but it didn't. We thought maybe Tuesday or Wednesday. Nope.

Today we decided that we would try to go for lunch. We pulled into the parking lot and we didn't see anyone inside. So we weren't sure. We decided to walk up and at least find out when they were opening, even though it didn't seem like they were open yet. Mr. Cute and I walked into the restaurant and we were surely glad we did!

Mr. Cute saw Kory and asked him when they were opening, and Kory said, "Right now! Do you want some lunch?" Yes, we do! And then, as we ordered, I asked the question that would give me the answer I've been waiting about 10 months to hear. I said, "Have you been very busy today?" And the answer I've waited 10 months to hear, "Well, you are our first customers..." It's true, brave readers, you read that correctly... Mr. Cute and I were the first customers at BSF Darien!

We were the first customers, which is why the place looks pretty empty in these pictures. This is a look at the dining room from the long table where we sat. It definitely did not stay this empty for long.


Far down, you can see the bar area, which has beer, wine and soda. One of the beer taps is the super ice frozen kind. It makes the beer extremely cold. I was driving and Mr. Cute was going back to work, so we opted not to drink a beer today. Next time though, for sure!


Here is the counter where you order your food and pay at the registers. In the background of this picture, you can see the window into the kitchen where the cooks can pass your food out and the runners can bring the food to the table.


Here is the food they brought to our table - Mr. Cute had a burger with special sauce and cheddar and a side of onion rings. I ordered a burger with bacon, American cheese and a fried egg with a side of fries. First food customers!


Here is the aftermath... As always, the burgers, fries and rings were great. The shake machine had not yet been installed; it was supposed to arrive this morning, but the guy was late or something. Whenever the shakes get there, they'll also be awesome. I have no doubts.


I am really happy for Kory and the guys at BSF. Through the last few years in Greenwich, Mr. Cute and I have gotten to know them. Kory is a nice guy who runs a great business and makes delicious food. I wish him nothing but the best in Darien! I know we'll be there frequently.

Martha Monday - Apple Spice Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Icing

Whew! It's been a busy few weeks. I hope that all my readers had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are now full-throttle into the holiday season. Next Martha Monday, I am planning to start up my December holiday cupcakes.

Today is a throwback episode - we're staying on Thanksgiving cupcakes for one more week. I'm the traditional dessert maker in my family for holidays, and it's a job I take very seriously. I try to do something new and different every year to challenge myself. This year I made matching pies and cupcakes. We had pumpkin pie, apple pie, pumpkin cupcakes and apple spice cupcakes.

These cupcakes were only OK. They were heavy on the spice flavor and light on the apple flavor. They were tasty, but I was expecting more of an apple flavor. I did like the brown sugar icing though. That was a nice combination of sweet and tangy.

I apologize again for the lack of pictures - I baked and frosted these at my family's house and it was pretty hectic, instead of my usual leisurely baking in my own kitchen, which usually turns out to be as much photo shoot as baking.

To frost the cupcakes, you could use either an offset spatula or a decorating bag fitted with a tip. I frosted with a bag and tip. I used a Wilton 1M tip and got the big puffy swirls of frosting that everyone always seems to love.

Cupcakes

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.
3. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and both sugars until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
4. Reduce speed to low. Add applesauce and then flour mixture, beating until just combined after each.
5. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each 3/4 full.
6. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.

Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar

1. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter, cream cheese and brown sugar until smooth. Use immediately, or refrigerate up to three days in an airtight container. Before using, bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth.

Martha Monday - Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

I will start off by apologizing for my lack of photos in this post. I was having some camera issues and did not get the step-by-step photos that I've done in previous weeks. Fear not, brave readers, as I know you're smart and can follow the directions without step-by-step photos to produce your own beautiful pumpkin patch cupcakes.

Pumpkin Patch Cucpakes


Cupcakes

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp nutmeg
¼ ground allspice
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 can pumpkin puree

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. In a medium bowl, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and the spices.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and eggs. Add dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Then whisk in pumpkin puree.
4. Line cupcake pan with liners and fill each about halfway with batter. Bake until tops spring back when touched and a cake tester comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes. Rotate pans if needed.
5. Transfer to wire rack and let cool completely before icing.

Cream Cheese Icing

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
½ butter, room temperature
3 cups icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Beat butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and sugar.

When cupcakes are frosted, top with your own marzipan pumpkins and listen to the crowd ooh and aah!

I sent these cupcakes to work with Mr. Cute, and they were extremely popular. Everyone likes the cute marzipan pumpkins on top of the delicious pumpkin & cream cheese flavors from the cupcakes!

Marzipan Pumpkins - Not as difficult as I thought it would be!

One of the reasons that baking appeals to me is that it's accessible, yet still challenging. I've been baking since I was a little kid; I started baking with my mom when I was 5 or 6 years old. I loved the predictability and the structure of baking. Follow these directions in this order, and at the end you'll have something that resembles the picture in the book. Really, it's a very simple formula.

But for all my experience, there are still many things I've never done while baking. Some of them are things that seemed too difficult or challenging. I try to push myself and try new things. One of these new things was marzipan. I'd never worked with marzipan before. When I was in France last year, I saw tons of marzipan fruits in the market, and they looked beautiful, but very difficult to make.

Really, though, it was silly for me to worry. This called on my experience as a preschool teacher, since it was like playing with playdough. I got my marzipan at Fairway, and I've never looked for it at any other store, but I bet the baking section of a regular grocery store would have marzipan.


I took the marzipan out of the box, and it was wrapped in foil. I cut the ends of the foil and squeezed the marzipan paste out onto a sheet of parchment paper on the counter. I kneaded it once or twice to get it slightly flat and round. I used about 2/3 of the package for orange pumpkins and saved 1/3 for green for stems. To do it again, I'd save much less for green because I really didn't need that much green for the stems.


Wearing gloves, I dabbed orange gel paste food coloring with a toothpick. I continued to knead and add the food coloring until I was happy with the orange color.


I kneaded the marzipan until it was completely orange, then I formed a long snake of marzipan.


I cut the marzipan snake into 24 smaller pieces and rolled each one into a ball.


I dipped a toothpick into some vegetable oil.


This was the trickiest part of the pumpkins. I made a small indentation on the top of each pumpkin with my finger. From the indentation at the top, I dragged the toothpick (use the side of the toothpick, not the pointy tip) down the sides to make the indented ridges. I did 4 or 5 ridges on each pumpkin.


Then I took the green marzipan, combined it with small pieces of the orange and swirled the 2 colors together. When the green and orange were together, I made a small skinny rope and cut it into 24 very small pieces for stems to put on the pumpkins. Placing the stems was really easy, considering that marzipan is about the same consistency as playdough. Just as with playdough, if you want a piece to stick onto another piece, you just push it on and it will stick.


All in all, I should not have been as scared of marzipan as I was. At least pumpkins. Maybe some of those French fruits that I saw in the market would have been harder, but pumpkins were really easy.

If you do some marzipan pumpkins, I would definitely recommend wearing gloves to prevent the food coloring from staining your hands. Also, cover your counter or table with parchment paper to prevent the food coloring from staining.

Marzipan fruits in France. Not as difficult as you might think!