TWD : Gooey Chocolate Cakes

Is it legal to elope with cake? Do you have to have written permission from the cookbook authoress? Y’all, I ain’t got a clue what I did wrong but these never did gooey centers for me. The cakes were so good neither D or me really cared, but I wanted lava cakes. The obvious suspect is my oven, it ain’t working right at all and might have changed the temp a few times to be pissy.

 They’re so cute in their little tin!

Y’all can see the chocolate is on top like it’s supposed to be, but this next pic shows what happened to it. Didn’t sink a bit, stayed right up on top and got gooey there. Next time I wanna try pushing it down a little, the cupcake tines were very shallow and it’s likely I chopped the chocolate too fine. Do y’all think it would work with dark chocolate chips instead of chopped? These were so goo that if I have to bake them a few thousand moe times to get it right, D and me ain’t planning on objecting to it.

                                                            

What to do when they ain’t gooey on the inside? Pour some chocolate over the outside! They came out like a really fudgey brownie, and I can’t tell y’all how happy that makes me. They’re as good the next day at room temp! They don’t even upset your tummy if you end up devouring one for breakfast because they’re irresistible all cute and small.

This is the chicken stew so good it’s worth eating before dessert.

Gooey Chocolate Cake
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon salt
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate,
 4 ounces coarsely chopped,
 1 ounce very finely chopped
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
6 tablespoons of sugar
Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. butter (or spray – it’s easier) 6 cups of a regular-size muffin pan, preferably a disposable aluminum foil pan, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. Put the muffin pan on a baking sheet.
 Sift the flour, cocoa and salt together.
 Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, put the coarsely chopped chocolate and the butter in the bowl and stir occasionally over the simmering water just until they are melted – you don’t want them to get so hot that the butter separates. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.
 In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and yolk until homogeneous. Add the sugar and whisk until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add the dry ingredients and, still using the whisk, stir (don’t beat) them into the eggs. Little by little, and using a light hand, stir in the melted chocolate and butter. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle the finely chopped chocolate over the batter.
 Bake the cakes for 13 minutes. Transfer them, still on the baking sheet, to a rack to cool for 3 minutes. (There is no way to test that these cakes are properly baked, because the inside remains liquid.)
 Line a cutting board with a silicone baking mat or parchment or wax paper, and, after the 3-minute rest, unmold the cakes onto the board. Use a wide metal spatula to lift the cakes onto dessert plates.

Things That Make You Go Ugh

The lovely and talented Nikki has declared this month’s Master Bakertheme to be Easter Candy. Y’all, this is painful to admit but I ain’t what one would call a professional baker. There’s a lot I don’t know about baking, and of of those things is what happens when you stick various things in cupcakes! Why not find out on a day I pretended to have nothing better to do?

No hating the cake mix, I knew that most of these cupcakes wouldn’t come out well and i didn’t want to waste the ingredients making it from scratch. A dollar for a box seemed like a good way to get this experiment going without crying over the cupcakes that didn’t work.

Ain’t the bunnies cute? Poor CB is cringing at this moment at the one that’s a torn off head. There are some various bits of candy in these, peanut butter eggs and mini cadbury cream eggs and Peeps and marshmallows and malt ball eggs and a pat of cream cheese (don’t ask).

Yeah. That’s what I said. The question is, are these as bad to eat as they look? Could they really be that awful?

These ain’t any better. One of them is a Peep on top of the cupcake after baking for a few, and the lumpy ones are an attempt to mix rice krispies and marshmallows in the dough. Don’t ever do that, ew.

Peeps are cute no matter what.

The peanut butter egg ended up like the other eggs, I pushed them too far in and they sank to the bottom. They were icky, a little hard disc of inedible candy.

To add insult to injury, the cupcakes got too big and the tops fell off. That was ok, since not a one was worth eating.

Y’all can thank me for educating you on what not to do for this month’s Master Baker. Y’all are all wonderfully sweet and understanding of my incompetence (except Nikki who’s laughing at me right now, hussy).

The Best Valentine’s Day Ever

A thick steak seared and hissed as it went on to a hot broiler pan, the corn on the cob boiled in a sauce pan on the stove. It was a simplistic meal, the steak was only salt and pepper seasoned, the salad had Asagio Ranch. He’d given me a new cook book and I looked through it while I waited for dinner to cook, he messed around on his computer. The DVD I got him was waiting to be played, 3:10 To Yuma.

He held me and told me that he loved me, and how every argument and bit of trouble we’d ever had was all worth it. There was kissing, and bad jokes and chuckling.

He snuck up behind me as I was doing the cupcakes. You wouldn’t think a man that tall could sneak up on you, but he’s very good at it.

He’s the perfect man for me. Happy Valentine’s Day D.

Boondocks Cupcakes With Creamcheese And Yogurt Frosting

 

These cupcakes really seemed to need cream cheese frosting, but it was too same ol’ for the roll I was on. A package of of Neufchâtel, a half cup of low fat plain yogurt, and a half cup of confectioners sugar whipped up into a cream that isn’t as firm as usual frosting. The chocolate is a half bar of semi sweet, softened and whipped into the cream. There was no shortage of approval from Himself. The best part was the cake in his judging, and he was very happy that the texture was right for the cupcake to not stick to the wrapper. Losing any cake to the paper is a pet peeve of his.

Boondocks Cupcakes

Always been a coward when it comes to trying to make up my own baking recipes, this is the first time I’ve tried. *chases cowardice out the door* 

 When D and I move, we’re planning to go out in the country where we both feel more comfortable. A lot of what we’re working towards is self sustainability, and a more rustic lifestyle. Healthier living is also our goal, and the two together got me to thinking about cupcakes and what sort of things I might be making. This recipe requires no gadgets at all, the coffee is grounds dumped into a pot and boiled, then strained to get the grounds out. It’s very strong, which is what you wnt it to be for this recipe. The sugar is less because I was looking for something that wasn’t super sweet, I get sick of all the sweet after a few bites. The whole wheat is needed because I’ll eventually be grinding my own, and the buttermilk really gives it a sugar cutting kick and tender crumb. To be honest, I was taken aback by how fluffy and moist they are! The eggs that I used are powdered whole eggs, very convenient for storing and cost effective when you don’t have your own chickens. They ain’t frosted yet, I’m working on what an appropriately rural and health conscious option would be.

The pics are to show the crumb.

If you’re a fan of a more bittersweet chocolate experience, give this little hicks a try!

Boondocks Cupcakes

1 c. white sugar

3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 c. whole wheat pastry flour (whole wheat flour is fine)

1  cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 c. buttermilk 

1/2 c. canola oil

1 c. boiling coffee

Mix the dry ingrediants together, then dump in the eggs, buttermilk, and oil. Whisk together, then pour in the cup of hot coffee. Whisk until smooth, the batter will be on the thin side. Pour into prepared cake pans, or cupcake pans. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes.

  

Cupcake Place Mat And B-Day Card

This is my attempt today at making place mats for the kitchen table.  The place mat was simple to make, all I did was cut two rectangles out of white muslin vloth and lay one rectangles of cotton batting between them. The edges were tucked under about 1/4 inch and sewn down. The back looks very rough, the next time I’d fold the edges under twice to make the hem. The dots up top aren’t spaced well, but it was my first attempts. Impulsiveness is good in creativity, but I really need to take more time to measure things.

The card is for D’s sister, and is made out of unbleached muslin and brown paper lunch bags that I cut into rectangles and sewed together on the sewing machine. Brown paper sews together very nice.

TWD And The Sweetest Man Ever

Tuesdays with Dorie is a great little baking group, started by the wonderful Laurie over at Quirky Cupcake. I’ve admired their baking skills, read along with their adventures, and longed to join up to add in my messy baking skills. So eager was I to join, that yesterday I begged for an invite quite hastily… without stopping to think I needed the book. After the welcomes were given, after the enthusiastic hellos from the great girls of the group, my common sense decided to show up late to the party and mention that I didn’t *have* the book. How embarrassing it was! They were all very nice to me, and welcomed me to hurry back as soon as I got it, but I didn’t really have much hope that would be anytime soon due to our tight budget.

Today Fed Ex came to the door, and carelessly dropped a package on the door mat without even bothering to knock. Everything we’d ordered for Christmas had already come, there wasn’t anything expected, and yet a package from amazon.com sat staring up ta me with my name on it. It was with much confusion that I opened the package, and smiling up at me was Dorie Greenspan’s book. Baking, From My Home To Yours. My beloved man, after hearing my story of my mess up and joining me in some chuckling over my typically impulsive behaviour, had the book over nighted to me. In spite of our tight budget. In spite of me telling him everything was fine and I didn’t mind waiting. I won’t lie, I teared right up and got my glasses all streaky wet. The words aren’t there to tell y’all how I feel right now, all I can say is it’s good.

D, you truly are my knight in shining armour. I love you so much.

Carrot Cupcakes With Lemony Cream Cheese Frosting

They’re so good, you’ve never know they’re kinda healthy!

 There was only so long I could pose with it before taking a bite.

Be Kind…

These are some of my first attempts at baked goods art. The cookie one is a fabric print design. Hope y’all like it ok, please feel free to criticize. It’s the first time I’ve tried painting on fabric. trying to get the courage to put it up in public.

While leaving a rambling essay in Tempered Woman’s blog, I managed to tip my cupcake over onto my tummy. D (also known as pscyclone from Lythos and Lythosants) took this pic. Look Ma, I’m a cupcake treat!

Cupcake Wallpaper

This is the first bit of cupcake art I’m trying. Gonna try more, wanted to put this tiny little bit up. It ain’t anything impressive, but its mine! Y’all are welcome to use it if you want, credit would be appreciated. Speaking of mentioning things, if anybody reads this boring little blog, would you comment and let me know? Love meeting new people so much!