Full of Chocolatey Goodness!

I was going to tell you about this giveaway last week, when I debuted my new blog makeover. But I couldn’t decide which recipe to show you. I fought and argued with myself all week, trying to pick my favorite chocolatey recipe. But I’ve been on a chocolate kick lately and I couldn’t decide on which one, so prepare yourself to be inundated with chocolate goodies!

You’ve probably heard celebrity chefs and cookbook authors say that you should always buy the best ingredients you can afford and that is the secret to great cooking/baking, right? They’re not kidding. And I have one ingredient for you that will change every single recipe you use it in from ‘mmm, that’s good’ to something more like, ‘HOLY MOSES! That is AMAZING! You MADE this????’ That’s not hyperbole, its the truth. And I think you can handle the truth.

You know that can of cocoa powder you have in your cupboard? Stand up, go to the cupboard, grab that tin and throw it in the garbage. Really. Now. Go. I promise you’ll thank me later. Now, go to King Arthur Flour and purchase this, Bensdorp Cocoa Powder. It’s absolutely amazing. My sister-in-law’s mother-in-law (you follow? good.) gave me a pound of this stuff last year and it’s changed my life, people!!! And really, it only costs three dollars more per pound than that tin you just tossed, the one that you can get in every grocery store in America. The one that starts with an ‘H’. And ends with an ‘ershey’. You don’t want that stuff in your house. You want this. . . . .

 

I mean, look at it!!! It’s almost red. It is noticeably richer. When you open the package it smells deep and chocolatey and almost earthy. If you were to smell the box of the stuff you already threw away (but you can’t because you trusted me when I told you to hock it, right???), it smells sugary sweet. Like candy, almost. This Bensdorp cocoa smells like ooey gooey brownies. Or devils’ food chocolate cake. Really, it’s the difference between a chocolate bar of, well, one that rhymes with Schmerchey, and a bar of Valrhona, or Ghirardelli or Scharffen Berger. They all make cocoa powders too, but I think this one is the best. (P.S. Please don’t tell my hubby that I’ve tried all those or how much they cost. He’ll blow a gasket. Thanks.)

Now, one of you will get the chance to try some for yourself! King Arthur Flour has generously offered a bag of their Bensdorp cocoa powder to one of my readers!

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post!

I’ll pick a winner on Friday and that person’s life will never be the same! You’ll shudder when you see that box of drab, flavorless stuff sitting there on the baking aisle, telling shoppers that it will make their chocolatey dreams come true. It’s a liar! Or at least, deluded.

But, that is not all. Oh, no! That is not all! (Name that children's book.) King Arthur Flour is also offering a box of their unbleached cake flour for our giveaway! I’d show you a side by side comparison of that too, but I don’t want to buy a box of the bleached stuff just for a photo op. (I only had a tin of the Schmerchey stuff because it was down in my basement pantry from when we moved in and I had forgotten that it even existed.) But when I tried out the King Arthur’s cake flour I got to see it next to a dab that I had left of some other brand I’d gotten at the grocery. I was sort of expecting the unbleached to be a lot darker. It wasn’t. The bleached stuff was stark white, and the KA cake flour was nice and creamy colored. And it made a wonderful cake! As light and fluffy as you could wish for! I am DEFINITELY making the switch to this stuff. I noticed that my grocery store is carrying it now, how convenient!

So, this is the recipe I finally decided on. For Day One anyway! When I got the box of cake flour from King Arthur I was sort of in a quandary. I had been wanting to make a spice cake, but then there was this really great looking chocolate cake recipe on the back of the box. So, I decided to just combine them, since the quantities were so similar to my spice cake recipe. Oh. My. Gosh. It made SUCH a wonderful cake!!! And my house smelled absolutely incredible while it was baking. I made a simple ganache scented with cardamom to drizzle over it, which I did while the cake was still warm, so it soaked into the cake a bit and made it absolutely scrumptious!

 

Chocolate Spice Cake

Adapted from King Arthur

2 cups King Arthur Unbleached Cake Flour Blend

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground clove

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

3/4 cup cocoa powder (use the good stuff, not that Schmershey stuff)

1 3/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup milk

1/2 cup water

4 eggs

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 2 round 9” pans with baking spray and set aside.

Place a strainer over you mixer’s bowl and sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, spices, cocoa and sugar.

Add the butter and mix at low speed for a minute. While the mixer is running, add the oil and continue mixing until the mixture looks like sand.

Combine the vanilla, milk and water and add all at once. Mix for a minute at low speed, then scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl well and mix another 30 seconds until all the dry ingredients are well incorporated.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well at medium-high speed between additions. The batter will be thin.

Pour into prepared pans and bake 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and cool on a rack.

While the cakes are cooling make the ganache.

P.S. We had a lot of treats around when I baked these, so I only served one layer. After the second layer was COMPLETELY cooled I wrapped it well with cling wrap and stashed it in the freezer.

 

Ganache Glaze

4 ounces dark chocolate (I used Ghirardelli 60% cacao chips)

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons water

a scant 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom (optional)

 

Put the chips in a heat-proof bowl and set aside.

In a small saucepan, bring the cream, sugar, water and cardamom to a full boil.

Pour over the chocolate. Let it sit for 30 seconds, then gently stir the chocolate together. It should take 3-4 minutes before you get a gorgeous, shiny glaze.

Pour the glaze over your still warm cake and spread it around to coat the sides.

Makes enough glaze for one 9'” cake. 

 

So, to enter the giveaway, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post!

I’ll pick a winner on Friday, so get your entry in by 11:59pm Thursday!

Good luck!

Wilton Review, Gorgeous Buttercream, and a Winner!!!

Along with the cupcake kit giveaway, Wilton generously let me pick a few things to review! I was smitten with these cupcake liners, I looooove cupcake liners! Pretty ones like these sort of take the pressure off of you to do something tremendous with the decorating, you know? You wouldn’t want to detract from the pretty liner, now would you? I loved these ruffled cups! So girlie and sweet! They are nice and thick too, and they come off of the cupcake beautifully!

I also picked these liners. I really loved them, with all the ingredients printed on the sides! They really dressed up the muffins I made in them. Unfortunately, I used them all on a test run of a new recipe. Dumb idea. The muffins didn’t turn out at all well (they were chewy! Muffins should NOT be chewy!!! Ew.) and bubbled up and out of the pretty muffin cups. I was so disappointed, I didn’t even take a picture of them. So, recipe fail. Sorry.

So, here is the recipe for the buttercream I used on the cupcakes. The cupcakes themselves are from this chocolate cake recipe. I usually use American buttercream when frosting cakes and cupcakes, but decided to tackle a fancy one again. I had a run of bad luck with Italian buttercreams a while back (the kind made with a sugar syrup) and had shied away from them and their Swiss cousins. But this recipe really was easy and the softness and delicateness (is that a word?) of this buttercream has made me a believer again! I might even get brave and tackle another evil sugar-syrup Italian version again. Or the French variety made with whole eggs! Who knows? I might also climb Mt. Everest or swim across the Atlantic! Just kidding ;) Anyhow, they’re a nice, grown-up alternative to sugary sweet American buttercreams.

Beautiful Swiss Buttercream

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours

1 cup sugar

4 large egg whites

3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

pinch of salt

flavoring of your choice: a squeeze of lemon, 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla, or 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Optional: food coloring

 

Set a pan of water to boil on the stove. Turn it down to a simmer.

In your mixer’s bowl, combine the sugar and egg whites.

Set this over the simmering water and, using a hand mixer, whisk constantly, until the mixture becomes hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. (The sugar will be dissolved and the mixture will be nice and shiny.)

Remove the bowl from heat and attach it to your mixer. Using the whisk attachment, beat the meringue at medium speed for about 5 minutes, until it has cooled.

Switch to the paddle attachment, mix in a pinch of salt, and add the butter, a few tablespoons at a time, beating until smooth.

Once all the butter has been added, beat the buttercream on medium-high unitl it is thick and very smooth, about 6-10 minutes.

Turn the speed to low and add the flavoring and coloring if you’re using it.

Scoop into a pastry bag and pipe onto your cupcakes!

Make enough for a dozen cupcakes, more if you’re more frugal with your buttercream than I am ;)

P.S. Don’t panic if your buttercream falls apart and/or looks curdled when you add the butter. Turn the mixer up to high and keep whipping it, it will come back together! Don’t be scared!

 

And now for transportation of your beautiful treats . . . . . . . 

Wilton also let me try out their adorable cupcake boxes! I really like to keep a stash of cake boxes around, then I can take goodies to someone on the spur of the moment without the worry of how to transport them safely! I keep a few square cake boxes and a few of the long, rectangular ones, along with cake boards for each. The rectangular ones are great because you can carry a sheet cake or a few dozen cupcakes in them. Just don’t forget the cake board to go on the bottom or you’ll end up with cupcakes dancing all over inside the box! When I can’t get a hold of the cupcake holding inserts, I just dab a little dot of royal icing to the board, then set the cupcake on top of it. It works like glue to hold the cupcake in place and when you want to take them out of the box, the ‘glue’ comes right off again. Easy!

Anyway, I am definitely going to be keeping a stash of these around! They come with the little inserts to keep the cupcakes in place! And they’re perfect when you just want to take a few cupcakes to a friend. They have solid white ones, fun prints and seasonal boxes too. It would be nice to have a selection on hand!

Thank you, Wilton, for sponsoring this review and giveaway! I really enjoyed playing with some new products and loved hosting your giveaway!!!

Speaking of giveaway. . . . . we picked a winner! Amelia and her herd of ponies helped me out! Click the video to see who won the cupcake kit!

Trophy Cupcakes

We went to Seattle over the weekend for a birthday party. While we were there my friend and I were talking cupcakes. She had mentioned Trophy Cupcakes to me before, but I had never actually gone to check it out. This time when she suggested I try them something clicked in my head and I remembered reading that Trophy Cupcakes had been featured on Martha Stewart. We decided to stop there on the way home from the kids' party. (And when I say 'we decided' I really mean I told Jay that we had to stop there 'as research for my blog'. And he totally fell for it. Awesome! Oh, Hi Honey. Didn't see you there. Um, don't mind me. I'll just, uh, get back to my story now.)

The kids were tired at this point so I jumped out of the car to make a quick dash for some cupcakes. Trophy Cupcakes is located on the top floor of the cutest little 'mini-mall' ever. It's in a renovated schoolhouse, and it looks like a shop out of a child's dream. It was so cute that I felt like a mean ole mom not letting my kids experience it for themselves. So, back out to the car I went to get everyone! We let them pick their own cupcakes and some flotsam to go on top. They both picked Chocolate with Chocolate Buttercream which surprised me. There was a beautiful purple frosted cupcake, glittering with purple sugar and sporting an adorable little ballerina on top. I was really surprised that Lia was so adamant about getting the (somewhat plainer) chocolate one!

The cupcakes were delicious! Light, fluffy and so flavorful, and the frosting was to die for. (Yes, I'm a little obsessed with frosting right now.) I ordered a Red Velvet one to see what all the fuss is over. I had wondered if I was missing something, maybe the red velvet cakes I'd had in the past were faulty or something. I just don't get the slavish attraction to red velvet and I'm a little freaked out by all the food coloring. It tasted fine, but personally I'd rather have regular chocolate! The bite I had of Lia's (when she was all done) was wooooooonderful!

So, if you're in Seattle (Wallingford District) you must stop by! $3 per cupcake and I think $3 for a mocha, plus there is some really fun stuff in their gift shop!