Food Weekend Post #2

After the delicious meal in my last post, we stopped by a cupcake place around the corner--Love At First Bite.

Love At First Bite
1510 Walnut Street, Suite G
Berkeley, CA 94709
510-848-5727

Mmm, I've never had a strawberry cupcake before and it was so good! I prefer my cupcakes to be a bit more cakey--dense and moist--and this was a tad too light, airy and dry for my taste but it was still well made and had a delicious favor. The chunks of real strawberry in the frosting really added something.

This flavor was SO good! Again, it was a little too fluffy and dry for me, but the flavors were outstanding. The cake was so lemony and not too sickeningly sweet while the pistachio balanced the lemon perfectly. I could eat these every day.

Though the cake wasn't the texture that I prefer, I really enjoyed the cupcakes from this shop. It was a really quaint little place and you could see the employees in the kitchen, frosting the cupcakes, while the delicious smell of cake and buttercream wafted out front. A perfect end to a day full of food.

Happy Saint Patty's Day!

I really love Saint Patrick's Day. I have so many memories of celebrating it as a kid. I remember all of these movies about leprechauns that I would watch with my family (and I faintly recall being terrified of this one movie that involved a leprechaun and a banshee).

Every Saint Patrick's Eve, my brother and I would construct leprechaun traps in our kitchen. We would prop up bowls and pots and pans with wooden spoons and spatulas, in the hopes of catching a leprechaun. We would lure the leprechaun in with a bits of food and if we caught him, he would grant us a wish, but if we didn't, leprechauns are nice so they'd always leave us chocolate coins. When I moved into my dorm last year, I was shocked to learn that my roommate, Caitlin, also followed this tradition with her family. Needless to say, the two of us still build leprechaun traps.

Every Saint Patrick's Day morning, my brother's, dad's and my milk/soy milk would turn green when it was poured "because we had Irish blood in us", while my mom's would remain white. Our eggs and toast also turned bright green.

This year, I wanted to try and make cupcakes involving classic Irish beverages--Guinness and Bailey's Irish Cream. I was so excited when I came across this recipe from one of my favorite blogs. The Guinness in the cupcakes should bake out, but the Bailey's in the Ganache and Buttercream are fresh. If want to leave out the Bailey's, I would just replace it with milk or cream in the Buttercream Frosting.

Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with Irish Whiskey Chocolate Ganache and Bailey's Buttercream Frosting.
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:
For the Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes:
1/2 Cup Guinness
1/2 Cup unsalted butter
3/8 Cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Cup all purpose flour
1 Cup sugar
3/4 Teaspoon baking soda
3/8 Teaspoon salt
1 Large egg
1/3 Cup Greek Yogurt (yogurt or sour cream would work as well)
For the Irish Whiskey Ganache Filling:
4 Ounces bittersweet chocolate
1/3 Cup heavy cream
1 Tablespoons butter, room temperature
1/2-1 Tablespoon Irish whiskey (optional)
For the Bailey's Frosting:
2 Cups confections sugar (approximately)
1/2 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 Tablespoons Bailey's (homemade is best!)
A few drops of food coloring if desired. (I struggled with this because I don't normally like using food coloring and the color of the frosting was already a really nice cream color, but I finally gave in. Hey, it's Saint Patrick's day!)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 cupcake cup with liners. Melt the butter at medium on the stove and add in the Guinness. Bring to a simmer. Add the cocoa powder and whisk until smooth. Take off the heat and let cool, slightly.
Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl. In a large bowl, blend the eggs and sour cream together with an electric mixer. Add the chocolate mixture and beat to combine. Using a spatula, fold in the flour mixture to form a batter. Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 of the way full with the matter. Bake approximately 17 minutes, until a tester can be inserted and come out clean. Cool the cupcakes on a rack.
Chop the chocolate and place it in a glass or ceramic bowl. Heat the cream to a simmer, on medium-low, and then pour over the chocolate. Let sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. Add the butter and the Irish Whiskey and stir until combined. Let the ganache cool until it thickens. This process can be sped up in the fridge.
If you have a biskmarck piping attachment, you can fill the cupcakes with the ganache with that. If not, cut out a small, 1//2 inch round whole, halfway down into the cupcake and fill it with the ganache with a piping bag and a wide tip.
Whip the butter for the frosting until fluffy. Blend in the Bailey's and food coloring and then slowly add the powdered sugar until it is thick enough. Ice the cupcakes however you please.

These are so tasty! I love the way that Guinness and chocolate go together so well. The chocolate ganache is very tasty, but if you're rushed for time, this is the part that I'd leave out. It adds something, but it's not necessary and the cupcake would still be delicious without it. The Bailey's Buttercream Frosting was outstanding! Mmm, it was so smooth and had a hint of Irish Whiskey without being too overbearing. Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

And You Thought The Cupcake Craze Was Over

Yes, I went back. Are you surprised? My previous post about Let Them Eat Cake was certainly not my last.

Let Them Eat Cake
423 L Street - Suite B
Davis, CA 95616
530-750-CAKE

Amy-Winehouse: "Boozy orange cake with a beehive of dark chocolate-orange buttercream." Chocolate and orange! So delicious. This wasn't the best flavor I've had from there, but it was tasty. Seriously Aggies, go check this place out!

Cupcake Craze

A new bakery opened up in Davis this year, called Let Them Eat Cake. Every time I took the bus to or from campus, I would see a sign advertising their shop. One day, there was a write-up about this bakery in The Aggie. It turns out that the shop is owned by two UC Davis students and their mother. The two girls split their time between classes, studying and running the shop. I was a little jealous. Opening up a restaurant/bakery/cafe has always been one of my dreams. Finally, one day last fall, I decided to stop in with some friends. I was completely floored by how delicious their cupcakes were! They have three cupcakes that they serve every day and then they rotate the rest of their flavors. Since I got back to Davis, this quarter, my roommate and I have been saying we wanted to stop back in and today, we finally did.

Let Them Eat Cake
423 L Street - Suite B
Davis, CA 95616
530-750-CAKE

Illegally Blonde: This is a Vanilla Cupcake with Vanilla Frosting! Sweet and simple and one of their Daily Flavors

Scarlett: This cupcake is one of their Daily Flavors. It is a Red Velvet Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Cheeky-Monkey: A Bananas Foster Cupcake with Rum Infused Cream Cheese Frosting!

Doodlebug: Get-a-load of this one! It is a Honey Cupcake with Lavender Infused Cream Cheese Frosting. Do I need to explain how heavenly it is?

Dubliner: This is another Daily Flavor, for good reason! Guinness Stout Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting...perfection.



If you live in Davis, I highly recommend stopping by. It may be a little out of the way, since it's not downtown, but it's highly worth it! Check out their menu so you know what day they will be serving your favorites. And if you don't live in Davis, come visit me and I'll treat you to a cupcake!

Another Successful Adventure in Baking

Every Christmas morning, my family has some sort of baked good for breakfast. Since I’ve been working on my baking skills, I decided to try out Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes. I made them the night before and let them rise over-night so they would be ready to bake and frost in the morning.

Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes
Adapted from Pink Parsley, from Beantown Baker, originally from La Fuji Mama

Ingredients:
For the Dough:
1 Packet dry active yeast
1/2 Cup granulated sugar, divided
1 Cup warm milk (approximately 110 degrees)
2 Eggs, room temperature
1/3 Cup butter, melted
1 Teaspoon salt
4 1/2 Cups bread flour
For the Cinnamon Inside:
1 Cup brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/3 Cup butter softened and spreadable
For the Frosting:
8 Ounce cream cheese, softened
2/3 Cup butter, softened
1 Cup powdered sugar

Directions:
Heat the milk. Dissolve the yeast and 1/4 cup sugar in the warm milk. Let stand for 10 minutes, until foamy.
Mix in the eggs, butter, salt, and the remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Add the flour and mix well, until it forms a ball of dough. Lightly flour a flat surface and knead the dough 5-10 times. Place the dough into an oiled bowl and cover. Let rise in a warm place until the dough doubles in size. This will take anywhere from an hour to 2 hours. Be patient.
After the dough has doubled, turn it out of the bowl, onto a lightly floured surface and let it rest for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Line your cupcake pans with cupcake liners. If you have cooking spray, lightly spray over the top of the liners. My family doesn’t use cooking spray, so I didn't use any and the cupcakes stuck to the cupcake liners a bit but it wasn’t too horrible.
Roll out the dough into a 12x22 inch rectangle. Spread the butter over the dough, making sure it completely covers it. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture over the entire rectangle. Roll up the dough. Cut the roll into 24 rolls. Do this carefully without smashing the roll.
To put the rolls into the cupcake liners, you may have to unroll them and re-roll them so they fit better. Don’t worry, it doesn’t make a mess because the sugar is already stuck to the butter.
Cover and let rise. The goal is to have them double again, but mine didn’t and they still rose just fine in the oven. I let mine sit in the refrigerator over night and it worked out just fine.
Meanwhile, cream the cream cheese and butter together and then slowly add the powdered sugar. You can add more powdered sugar if you like your frosting sweeter, but I thought that 1 cup was perfect.
When you are ready to bake the rolls, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake the rolls until golden brown. This will take 8-12 minutes. Let them cool completely and then frost them.

I was very happy with the outcome of these cupcakes. I’m still very intimidated by baking, but I liked this recipe a lot because the dough was very bread-like and I’m very comfortable with making bread. It was a fairly easy recipe and I definitely recommend it! Enjoy.