Simple Sweet Strawberry Cupcakes! Happy Birthday Nevaeh!

      It's a beautiful sunny Monday morning and I'm up with coffee in tow baking cupcakes for my little cousin Nevaeh! She's turning 3 and theme for today "Princess and the Frog Party" with a little bit of Dora and Tinkerbell thrown in there! So I've decided to make little mini bites of simple strawberry cake with a strawberry filling and sweet vanilla, strawberry buttercream frosting piped on top. These actually will be intended more for the adults seeing that Nevaeh already has a cake adorned with "Princess and the Frog" trinkets and cupcakes to match via Publix bakery! Of course she will get to enjoy a strawberry mini bite as well, it's her birthday after all! So enough jibber jabber and on to the food!

        I start with my handy base recipe for cupcakes, which can be found on my previous post titled "Month of Dave", and just add a strawberry like jam that I concocted from frozen strawberries. I add them to a sauce pan on med heat with a cup of sugar , a tsp of vanilla extract, 1/4 tsp of lemon zest, and a bit of lemon juice. The citric acid from the  lemon will help draw out the natural juices of the berries. After it all comes to a boil, I lower the heat and let it reduce and thicken, mashing up some of the bigger chunks. After it reaches the desired consistency, I divided half of my strawberry mixture and add one half  to the 1/2 of milk added at the end of making my batter. This will help cool the berries down and make it easier to work into the batter, distributing that yummy strawberry taste throughout! Once my batter is complete, I'm ready to spoon into my mini muffin tin with mini cupcake liners! "In the oven you go" I say and carry on to my butter cream! 

     Now for my sweet vanilla and strawberry buttercream, I have already taken out 1/2 c of butter to let soften. I'm using a basic buttercream recipe and splitting it in half since I won't need much. The 1/2 c of butter goes into the mixture on low speed, along with 1 1/4 c of powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract, and 1 Tbs of heavy cream. I increase the speed for 1 minute after adding the cream until it's a smooth creamy consistency. Over mixing will cause your buttercream to curdle and break up and at that point its kind of hard to save it, trust me I've done the leg work, so try to make sure your butter is soft and room temp, and keep a watchful eye on your mix. Once my buttercream is complete, I fold in the remaining cooled strawberries, trying not to over work the buttercream but making sure its fully incorporated. 

   My cupcakes are complete!I was able to get two pans full of mini cupcakes out of the batter, the more the merrier I say! I place them all on my cake stand to cool, core out some and add what strawberry mix I have left over. The rest I leave plain and then begin to pipe on some delicious sweet vanilla and strawberry buttercream. MMMMMM, yep these will be perfect little bite-size treats, I smile to myself and pack them up before managing to gobble up one or two. On to the party! 

'The Month of DAVE" birthday cupcakes part 1!

    Good morning world! I've been up since 5 a.m.! With the help of some much needed coffee of course, I am fulfilling a request via Mr. Dave Cunningham a.k.a "My Boss", to produce some cupcakes celebrating his birthday June 30th ! Actually, he has deemed it the "Month of DAVE", and has requested that I conjure up some sweet treats including strawberries, bananas, chocolate, and vanilla! Of course I had to talk him into splitting up the request and bring him one batch for pre-celebration and the second for his actual birthday! So to the good stuff! I've decided to do a light and fluffy vanilla cake topped with a rich chocolate ganache frosting with a surprise bananas fosters center! MMMMMM, yes my kitchen smells divine, and the coffee has kicked in full force!

         To start, I took two eggs that I stored at room temperature, this helps incorporate ingredients better, I separate the egg whites from the yolks. I take my egg whites and beat them to stiff peaks and save for later. I creamed 1/2 c of softened unsalted butter with a cup of sugar (by the way all of my ingredients listed are organic but you can use regular if you like!). Continuing, I add one egg yolk at a time, making sure they are mixed in well , I add 2 tsp of vanilla extract. In a separate container, I sift 1 1/2 cup of flour and 1 3/4 tsp of baking powder together in a bowl. I add this to my wet mixture on medium speed. Once all is mixed in, I add 1/2 cup of Almond milk (again you can use regular milk), till moist and to help the batter remain light and fluffy, I fold in my egg whites a little at a time. This is done by dividing your egg whites into thirds, taking a silicon spatula and making a line through your cake batter. Add a third of your whites to the center line and fold the batter over the whites. Sip more coffee & repeat this step until whites are fully incorporated. (Try not to over whip to prevent your whites from deflating to much!) Then once batter is ready, I spoon it into a green and orange stripe liner hand-picked for Dave, seeing that is was more manly than pink with glitter! Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 min!
      Now for the filling, take about 2-3 Tbs of butter and add to a medium size sauce pan. Set temp on med-low to brown, once I  hear the sizzle noises I know its ready! I take about 1-2 Tbs of light brown sugar, to chopped bananas, a dash of cinnamon, and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper , and saute in the browned butter! Once I get the consistency I want, I add a little light rum, you can use dark rum or no rum at all, to the mixture to kick it up a bit! And VIOLA, bananas foster! I set that to the side and start on my ganache!
  

      I take a small sauce pan and place on low heat! Ghirardelli is my baking chocolate of choice! Using a mixture if bitter dark and semi-sweet chocolate with a little bit of french pressed coffee and a splash of almond milk, I melt it all down! The coffee helps add depth to the chocolate bringing out a silky richness no one can resist! Once my ganache is fully melted, I add 1 Tbs of cubed frozen butter(you can use room temp) to the chocolate, this helps thicken the ganache just a tad and creates more of a frosting like consistency versus a thin layer. I set it in the fridge to set up a bit more before piping onto the cupcakes.
 



          "DING", the timer has sounded off and my cupcakes are ready! I let them cool before coring out the centers. Saving the tops and the middle in a separate container. I spoon in the banana mixture, replace the tops, and decorate! Wheww! Sneak on off the plate and test, quality control is my excuse, and cross my fingers that he enjoys! Time to jump and the shower and shuffle off to work before I"M LATE! And if you thought this was good just wait for part 2......

Ok so I'm pretty new at this....

     Hello "BLOG WORLD" ! So, o k I'm pretty new at this blog thing and trying to figure out what topic to choose for my first post is a little intimidating! And I figure the best thing to write about, to make that good "first impression", is to share something very near and dear to my heart! My inspiration for cooking.I would say my first memory of learning and loving to cook stemmed from my childhood years. The two major players in that role were my dad and granny Betty. 

       I first got my culinary training at the GBCI or the "Granny Betty Culinary Institute". We'd visit for holidays or just because,I'd stand mindlessly in the kitchen observing,taste testing and cutting up with my mom and aunts. As far as the holidays go, granny Betty had her mini repertoire of goods that she'd whip up! Such as her addicting sweet potatoes with marshmallow topping and her "top secret" recipe for cornbread dressing. As well as her buttery homemade yeast rolls, with at least one pan burnt from lack of paying attention ,but the rest were always amazing. We've excepted it now as a yearly tradition, holidays wouldn't be right without it. 

     At the end of the day we'd settle in for the sweet treats. When it came to desserts, her most praised recipe was a delicious layered yellow cake dressed in homemade caramel frosting! Now I know what you're probably thinking,"everyone has a grandma with a great caramel cake recipe" and blah blah blah but no one, not even the most professional pastry chef or baker in the world, can top my granny Betty's caramel cake. It's so simple yet the flavors of the caramel are so complex. Light, fluffy, yellow cake with oooey gooey rich caramel spread in between each layer and poured on top. Of course the caramel frosting took forever in the day to make, with all the mixing, boiling, stirring, and then some, but the reward was well worth the wait. It wasn't until I got older, that I truly appreciated the time that went into making the caramel, did I mention upper body strength too?I finally got to make the prized frosting with a slight twist of my own(lavender) for my mother's birthday cupcakes. They turned out just as delectable as I would have imagined! 

     Guess I never realized the enormous impact she has made on me in the foodie world, not only with the enjoyment of food but the preparation and skill it takes to create really GREAT food. Time, effort, and LOVE for what you do! That's it! Those are the key ingredients you need! I was inspired at a young age and thus my skills have developed overtime! And so I figure the only way I'll truly be able to measure success, is if I can inspire others. Inspire them like my granny and dad have inspired me. To seek, develop, and grow in the natural talents that you've been given or find something out there that you at least want to try and maybe you can be an inspiration to others! Now I see that my first blog is a little "lengthy" and I promise to cut it a little short for the next one! But in the mean time here's a little reward for giving me your undivided attention!
                 
                                Granny Betty's Caramel Frosting 

-1 stick of butter

-2 cups of sugar

-1 cup of milk

-1/4 tsp of baking soda

-3 Tbsp of corn syrup

-1 Tbsp of vanilla

-pinch of salt (if using unsalted butter)

Add all in one large pot at medium-high heat until it comes to a boil

reduce to medium heat

Stir with a wooden spoon until your arm feels like its about to detach itself from the 

rest of your body or for about 10-15 min

Let cool briefly for 1-2 min then spread immediately

ENJOY!

(And for my Lavender Caramel, just  add 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup dried lavender buds

into milk and steep for 5 minutes and strain into rest of mixture)