Discovering Fall

It's been a crazy month and I'm personally looking forward to it's end. I'm exhausted. And I can't believe that Thanksgiving is only a few days away! I haven't been cooking at all, unless you count defrosting some of the contents of my freezer in anticipation of losing power (which I did not, thankfully!). I am totes looking forward to trying out some new fall side dishes and baking some pies. 

Somewhere along the way, and for some unknown reason, I made a carrot cake, a potential alternative to pumpkin pie or a nice fall birthday cake. (I probably bought carrots for another use and forgot why.) Speaking of birthdays, I recently had one of my own and on that oh-so-special day, managed to get a reservation to see Discovering Columbus, the installation by the artist, Tatzu Nishi. The exhibition has been extended because of The Hurricane, so you now have until December 2 to get your own reservation. (It's free, but you need an advanced reservation to see it.) I highly recommend it. When else are you going to be able to see a statue in person that is otherwise situated out of reach at 75 feet in the air? And then you should go home and make some carrot cake. Because there's...Cream. Cheese. Frosting.

The structure

Entering The Room

Columbus

Nishi's Wallpaper Design

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
From The Ski House Cookbook

Cake 
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of ground nutmeg
4 large eggs
1 1/3 cups canola oil
3 cups shredded carrots (about 6 medium)
1 cup chopped pecans

Frosting
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
1 (16-ounce) box confectioner’s sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter one 9 x 13 pan or two 9-inch round cake pans.

2. To make the cake, in a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. In a large bowl, beat the eggs lightly to combine, then whisk in the oil. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir to combine. Stir in the carrots and nuts. 

3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan or divide the batter evenly between the two round pans. Bake for 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. Remove to a rack to cool. For the round pans, cool for 5 minutes, then unmold and cool completely. 

4. To make the frosting, in a large bowl beat together the cream cheese, confectioner’s sugar, butter, and vanilla. Spread the frosting evenly over the top. For a layered cake, spread the frosting between the layers and over the sides and top. Store covered at room temperature for up to 2 days or refrigerated for up to 5 days. 

Cupcakes and Calzones

The wait is over! True Blood is back in full effect with the premiere of season four last night. Finally! They definitely set up the eps to come by introducing [SPOILER ALERT!] witches, faeries, and mohawks, oh my! Sunday nights are back!

I, of course, had no idea what I was going to make for my viewing "party" with True Blood super fan, WendyB, who arrived wearing her I ♥ Eric t-shirt. Check her out here! I guess she's more of an Eric super fan. (Who isn't?!?) Just minutes before her arrival I finished icing my red velvet mini-cupcakes, the only blood red "food" I could think of at the time. (BTW it took an hour of pounding the pavement to find red food color!)

For some reason I thought that a bunch of gooey-oozy calzones with tomato sauce would be another perfect recipe. Big mistake. My smoke detector kept going off (sorry, Wendy!) and they really didn't go with the True Blood theme. I'll revisit them for another post...maybe in the winter. Incidentally, since I can't get my recipes together before the episodes air, consider these day after recaps prep for the next episode. I'm really just planning ahead!



Red Velvet Cupcakes
Adapted from Martha Stewart

2 1/2 cups cake flour (not self- rising), sifted
2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon red gel-paste food color, or 1 (1-ounce) bottle of liquid red food color
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Line two standard muffin tins with paper liners (or several mini-muffin pans). Whisk together the cake flour, cocoa, and salt in a medium bowl.

2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, whisk together the sugar and oil until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Mix in the food color and vanilla.

3. Reduce the speed to low. Add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of the buttermilk, whisking well after each. Stir together the baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl (it will foam); add the mixture to the batter, and mix on medium speed for 10 seconds.

4. Divide the batter evenly among the lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted into the centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes (10 minutes for mini-cupcakes). Transfer the tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing the cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

5. To finish, use a small offset spatula to spread cupcakes with frosting. Makes 24 standard size cupcakes or a gazillion mini-cupcakes.

Pipeline

In spite of my efforts to be shredded by summer, I offered to make cupcakes for a baby shower this past weekend. What does one thing have to do with the other? Nothing unless one eats all of the 48 cupcakes one makes. OK I did have one, but only to make sure that they were edible. They were. The cupcakes were happily consumed at the party (by others!) and I even managed to give away all of the leftovers. Success!

I went with chocolate (obvs!) and yellow cake varieties to please the masses. To simplify, I made one frosting recipe for all of the cupcakes: Cream Cheese. So delish. I considered adding some cocoa to half of the frosting so that the chocolate cupcakes looked slightly different, but that just sounded like another bowl to wash and I already had dishpan hands.

This was also my first time piping frosting onto anything. The biggest problem was not piping the frosting directly into my mouth...but I also found that working with the frosting at the right temperature was a bit of a challenge since I had made it the day before, so was working with it straight from the fridge. If it's too cool, the pastry bag is too hard to squeeze and if it's too warm, the frosting gets all mushy, technically speaking.

There are tons of great sources for decorating supplies. For the glitter and sprinkles I ordered from The Party Works and for some additional baby-esque decorations I used Lucks Dec-Ons, which The Party Works also sells. All in all I think that they would have stood up to what I could have purchased from a bakery. In my mind.



Lemon Cupcakes
(Adapted from Martha Stewart)

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened slightly
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 cup milk

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line twenty-four muffin cups (standard size) with paper or foil liners, and set aside. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl, and set aside.

2. Combine the butter and sugar in a large bowl (or bowl of a stand mixer). Beat until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition, then add the lemon zest. Mix in the flour mixture and milk in three alternating batches, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. After each addition, beat until just combined, scraping down sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary.

3. Fill the prepared muffin cups with about 1/4 cup batter. Bake, rotating the pans once, until the cupcakes are just golden brown and spring back to the touch, 18 to 20 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool in the tins, about 5 minutes, then remove them to wire racks. Repeat with any remaining batter. Let cool completely before frosting. (See recipe below.) Makes about 24 cupcakes.



Double Chocolate Cupcakes
(Adapted from Gourmet)

3 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate
1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee
3 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line thirty-six muffin cups (standard size) with paper or foil liners, and set aside.

2. Finely chop the chocolate and combine with the hot coffee in a medium bowl. Let the mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

3. In a large bowl sift together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl use an electric (or stand) mixer to beat the eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand-held mixer). Slowly add the oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to the eggs, beating until well combined. Add the sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined.

4. Fill the prepared muffin cups with about 1/4 cup batter. (If you are only making 2 dozen cupcakes, fill a 9-inch round cake pan with the leftover batter.) Bake, rotating the pans once, until a cake tester inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.

5. Let the cupcakes cool completely in the tins, then remove them to wire racks to frost. (See recipe below.) The cupcakes can be made 1 day ahead and kept, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature. Makes about 36 cupcakes (or 24 cupcakes plus one 9-inch cake).



Cream Cheese Frosting

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 pounds (about 6 cups) confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Beat the butter and cream cheese with a mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce the speed to low. Add the sugar, about 1 cup at a time, and then add the vanilla. Mix until smooth. Makes about 6 cups.

NOTE: This should be enough for both batches of cupcakes, but it depends on your frosting to cupcake ratio! If you need a little more, I sometimes make cream cheese frosting by this simple ratio: 1 stick butter, 1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, 1 box (16 oz) powdered sugar. Dash vanilla. Mix. It's a little sweeter but doesn't require any measuring.