Extra cream cheese frosting? Use it up!

So a friend of mine used the red velvet recipe I posted last time but made cupcakes instead of a cake and had extra frosting left over. I suggest making something carrot, zucchini or pumpkin to use up the extra cream cheese frosting. 

Here's a wonderful pumpkin cupcake recipe that is so light and fluffy it offsets the dense and tart cream cheese frosting so nicely!

PUMPKIN CUPCAKES

Yield: 18 cupcakes

2 c all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp all spice

1 c brown sugar

1 c granulated sugar

1 c unsalted butter, melted and cooled

4 eggs

15 oz pumpkin puree

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease muffin tins. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and all spice in a bowl. Set aside.

2. In another bowl mix butter, sugars and eggs until combined. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture and mix just until incorporated. Fold in pumpkin puree.

3. Distribute batter into muffin tins, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool on rack.

4. Once completely cool, pipe on cream cheese frosting with a large round tip or spread with a small metal spatula.

Now I had made mini-cupcakes and piped dollops of cream cheese frosting on each one. To pipe the dollops, use a large round tip and, holding the piping bag and tip straight up, squeeze gently until the desired amount is on the cupcake, stop squeezing and pull up. The closer the tip is the cupcake, the flatter the dollop will be. And remember, practice makes perfect.

red.cake.yum

So I made a red velvet cake the other day for a birthday and naturally got a lot of questions about it. Yes, it is a recent fad, stemming from the red velvet cupcakes that are oh-so-popular nowadays but it actually had quite some history.

The cake has been around since before the 1920s. While it's exact origins are hard to track down, it was made popular as a signature dessert of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. 
This moist and deliciously rich red cake has a flavor somewhere in between chocolate and vanilla. Ingredients vary but usually have buttermilk, butter or shortening, flour, cocoa powder, red food coloring, and vinegar. 
Briefly during WWII boiled beets were used to enhance the color of the cake but this was only for a short period of time. The red color (other than when enhanced with beets or food coloring) is actually a reaction of the vinegar and buttermilk revealing red anthocyanin in the cocoa. Nowadays though with the widely spread "Dutch Processed" cocoa that is more alkaline, the red color is not as pronounced, hence the addition of food coloring
A common misconception, one that I subscribed to until I looked it up, is that the red velvet cake traditionally is made with cream cheese frosting. The typical frosting actually used to be a butter roux, or cooked flour frosting. However nowadays its usually seen with cream cheese (the tartness of the frosting offsets the richness of the cake so well!) or buttercream.

RED VELVET CAKE

Yield: One 8" cake

1 1/2 c vegetable oil

1 c buttermilk

2 eggs, at room temp

2 Tbsp red food coloring

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp vinegar, white distilled

1 1/2 c granulated sugar

1/4 c cocoa powder

3 1/8 c all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and flour (or your preferred method of greasing pans) three 8" round cake pans.

2. In a mixer on low combine oil, buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, food coloring, and vinegar.

3. In a separate bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

4. Add drys to wet in two parts mixing on low. Increase speed to medium and mix until batter is smooth and shiny.

5. Distribute batter evenly between pans. Bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool completely.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

1 lb cream cheese, cubed at room temp

1 c unsalted butter, cubed at room temp

1 tsp vanilla extract

5 c powdered sugar, sifted

1. Mix butter until smooth, add cream cheese. Make sure there are no lumps in the butter-cream cheese mixture!

2. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time until all incorporated. Then add vanilla extract.
Assembly:
1. Once the cakes are completely cool, trim excess (cutting off the rounded tops of cakes makes it's much easier to make a flat cake) and brush off crumbs.
2. Spread a thin layer of frosting between each layer of cake (I recommend keeping this thin so that the frosting doesn't overpower the red velvet flavor).
3. Finish off the top and sides of cake and decorate as you see fit. Can pipe shells, dots, stars or use red velvet crumbs.

Grad show pictures... finally!

The spread...

Chocolate work

Plated dessert - white chocolate mousse with crunchy and passionfruit glaze

Apricot tart

Chocolate macaroons

Foccacia

White choc passionfruit

Palmiers, bowties, william tells

Sacher

Croissants - regular and chocolate

The End.

So we're coming up on our grad show... I have three days left of exams and then I'm done with culinary school!! eeks, man.
But for part of our grad show we made wedding cakes for display.


My three wedding cakes!


This one is by far my favorite (and my first!). It was inspired by a fence in Balboa Park.



Number 2. Inspired by a wedding dress in a magazine.


And Number 3: A Taiwanese wedding cake. Flower pattern designed by my sister, Aileen Cheng.

I promise better pictures and more from the grad show. Stay tuned.

The Ultimate (and super easy!) Molten Lava Chocolate Cake

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter, plus more to butter the molds
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons flour, plus more for dusting
Yield: 4 individual cakes
Method
1. In the top of a double boiler set over simmering water, heat the butter and chocolate together until the chocolate is almost completely melted. While that's heating, beat together the eggs, yolks, and sugar with a whisk or electric beater until light and thick, ribbon stage.

2. Pour the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture; mix until well combined. Then mix in the flour, just until combined.

3. Butter and lightly flour four 4-ounce molds, custard cups, or ramekins. Tap out the excess flour, then butter and flour them again. Divide the batter among the molds. (At this point you can refrigerate the desserts until you are ready to eat, for up to several hours; bring them back to room temperature before baking.)

4. Bake the molds at 450°F (230°C) on a tray for 6 to 7 minutes; the center will still be quite soft, but the sides will be set.

5. Invert each mold onto a plate and let sit for about 10 seconds. Unmold by lifting up one corner of the mold; the cake will fall out onto the plate. Serve immediately.

What's left of my plate after Chef's critique...

Cakes galore to celebrate every day

Vertigo
Pistachio sponge topped with raspberry jelly and mousse


Tutti Frutti
Sponge topped with fruit and Bavarian cream


Succés
Almond meringue like layers topped with chocolate mousse and crunchy hazelnut praline


Sacher
Chocolate sponge with apricot marmalade topped with chocolate mousse


Petit Basset
Hazelnut sponge with praline hazelnut cream decorated with nougatine (almond caramel) pieces


Gianduja Coconut
Sponge topped with a layer of Gianduja (hazelnut chocolate) mousse then a layer of coconut mousse sprinkled with flambéed pineapple and mango


Carrot Cake
Carrot cake with a white chocolate cream cheese icing


Cacao Barry Chocolate Cake
Chocolate sponge layered with white chocolate mousse


Buttercream


Mocha Buttercream

A few recipes from the visual diary

Lemon Buttermilk Cake
yield one 8" cake

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cup bread flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 tsp salt
10 Tbsp butter, softened
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
zest of 1 lemon
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
juice of 1 lemon

Method:
1. Grease the cake pan, Preheat oven at 350 degrees F.
2. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt.
3. Cream the butter, sugar, and lemon zest together on medium speed with the paddle attachment, scraping down the bowl as needed, until the mixture is smooth and light in color, about 5 minutes.
4. Blend the eggs and add in three additions, mixing until fully incorporated after each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed.
5. Add the sifted dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk in three additions, mixing on low speed until just incorporated. Add the lemon juice and blend
6. Pour batter into prepared pan.
7. Bake at 350 degrees F until cakes spring back when lightly touched and a skewer inserted near the center comes out clean, about 60 minutes.
8. Cool the cakes in the pans for a few minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.


Scones
yields 10 scones

Ingredients:
4 1/4 cup bread flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
1 3/4 cup heavy cream, chilled
1 cup raisins, dried cherries, or your choice of fruit
coarse sugar, as needed
milk, as needed

Method:
1. Combine the bread flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and mix on medium speed with a paddle attachment until well blended, about 5 minutes. Add the cream and mix until just combined.
2. Pat dough by hand into a cake pan or ring (10" diameter). Remove the dough from the ring, place on parchment-lined sheet pan and freeze thoroughly.
3. Cut disk into 10 equal wedges and place the individual wedges on parchment-lined sheet pans. Brush with the milk and sprinkle with the coarse sugar.
4. Bake at 350 until golden brown, 20-25 minutes.
5. Cool the scones on the pans for a few minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.


Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
yields 1 dozen muffins

Ingredients:
3 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 sticks butter
1/2 cup creme fraiche or sour cream
5 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
juice of 1 lemon
zest of 3 lemons
1 Tbsp poppy seeds
1/2 tsp salt

Method:
1. Grease muffin tins and preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Sift together the flour and baking powder.
3. Cream together sugar, butter, and salt on medium speed using the paddle attachment, scraping down the bowl periodically, until the mixture is smooth and light in color, about 5 minutes. Blend in the creme fraiche or sour cream.
4. Whisk the eggs, oil, and lemon juice together. Add to the butter-sugar mixture in three additions, mixing until fully incorporated after each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed. Blend in the lemon zest and poppy seeds.
5. Add the sifted dry ingredients and mix on low speed until evenly moistened.
6. Fill muffin tins three-quarters full. Gently tap the filled tins to release any air bubbles.
7. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted near the center of a muffin comes out clean.
8. Cool the muffins in the tins for a few minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.


Marble Chocolate Pound Cake
yields two loaves

Ingredients:
2 1/4 sticks (18 Tbsp) butter
1/2 tsp salt
8 whole eggs
1 cup powdered sugar
3+ cup cake flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup milk

Method:
1. Cream the butter and powdered sugar together.
2. Add the eggs and vanilla
3. Sift flour, baking powder and salt, then add it to your butter mixture.
4. Mix together cocoa powder and milk, add 13 oz. of batter.
5. Layer alternating the vanilla batter with the chocolate batter.
6. Bake 350 degrees F for 45 minutes.

A Visual Diary

Here are images from my past two weeks in the bakeshop (feel free to ask me for recipes for anything if you see something you like!):


Baguettes

Breadsticks

Pound Cake

Bagels

Zucchini Bread

Apple Turnover

Pinwheel

Raisin Scone

Lemon Buttermilk Cake

Langue de Belle-Mere (Mother in Law's Tongue)

Morning Glory Muffins

Marble Chocolate Pound Cake

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Roulade (Jelly Roll)

Palmiers