Mocha Guinness Cupcakes

These cupcakes are really delicious.  The batter with Guinness and cocoa in it has a depth of flavor that is unlike any cupcake I’ve ever had.  There is just an edge of bitterness from the beer and coffee but also a nutty/earthy essence that is somehow more grown-up then most cupcakes.  They bake up into marvelous, moist little cakes which are filled with a luscious semisweet chocolate ganache and topped with coffee buttercream frosting that entwines all the flavors together into a wonderfully balanced confection.

I found the original recipe at Smitten Kitchen and it was a doozy with whiskey in the filling and Baileys in the frosting.    Rem was taking them to his bocce league and we were looking for something a little less potent.   Since the alcohol in the Guinness gets mostly baked out, I decided to try the cake part of the recipe but skip the other hard stuff.

The first batch I made was quite good and very well-received but the bittersweet chocolate used in the ganache was too dark for my taste and the buttercream too sweet.  (Photos, by the way, are from both batches.) Changing the chocolate to semi-sweet  was an easy fix for the filling.  I remembered a chocolate cake my mom used to make that had coffee frosting and decided to try adding instant coffee to the buttercream.  I also used salted butter instead of unsalted and added some vanilla to round out the flavor and this combination really made all the difference.  The decision to use instant espresso instead of instant coffee was made because I wanted to buy the smallest jar at the grocery store!  I encourage you to try it with the instant espresso because these really turned out to be, as one friend said, “the best cupcakes” she’d ever had.

If you are looking for scrumptious cupcakes, give these a try.  I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Mocha Guinness Cupcakes

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Makes 20 to 24 cupcakes

You will need a 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer to cut out the centers of the cupcakes and a piping bag or plastic bag with the corner cut off for piping the filling.

Cupcake Ingredients:

1 cup Guinness (or other stout)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 large eggs

2/3  cup sour cream

Chocolate Ganache Filling Ingredients:

8 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

2/3 cup heavy cream

Espresso-Vanilla Buttercream Ingredients:

2 Tbsp.  instant espresso (I used Medaglia d’Oro)

2-3 Tbsp. heavy cream

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, at room temperature

4-5 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

For the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 35o degrees. Put cupcake papers in 24 cupcake cups.  (We have two muffin tins that each hold 6 muffins, so I had to bake these in two batches).

Bring  the Guinness with the two sticks of butter to a simmer in a heavy saucepan.  Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool while you continue.

Stir together flour, sugar and baking soda in a large bowl.  In another large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together eggs and sour cream.  Add the Guinness-cocoa mixture to the egg mixture and beat to combine.

Add the flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed.  Using a rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined.

Divide batter among cupcake papers, filling about 2/3 full.  I used a 1/4 cup measure to scoop out the batter from the bowl.  Bake cupcakes until toothpick comes out clean, about 18 minutes.  Cool cupcakes on a rack.

For the filling: Put the chocolate chips into a heatproof bowl  Heat cream to a simmer in a heavy saucepan (cream can froth up and boil over easily, so keep an eye on it) and pour over the chocolate.

Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth.   Let the ganache cool until thick enough to be piped.  I put it in the fridge, taking it out every 10 minutes to stir it until it was thick but soft enough to still be piped.

While ganache is cooling use your 1-inch round cookie cutter or apple corer to cut a plug out of the center of each cupcake.  If you go all the way through to the bottom, pinch a bit off of one of the cores you’ve removed and push it back down in the hole.  Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip or a plastic bag and cut off the corner and fill the holes in the cupcakes to the top.  Put the cupcakes in the fridge so ganache sets up.

For the frosting:  Put espresso powder in a small bowl and stir in 2 Tbsp. heavy cream, set aside.  Whip the butter in a bowl using an electric mixer until it is light and fluffy.  Slowly add the powdered sugar, about 1/4 cup at a time.

When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, add vanilla and the espresso-cream mixture and beat until combined.  I used 4 cups of sugar.   If frosting seems too thick, add remaining 1 Tbsp. heavy cream, if it is too thin beat in a little more of the powdered sugar. Frost the cupcakes – I used a piping bag with a star tip but it can also be spread on.

Let me know if you make these cupcakes.  Thank you for stopping by!

Day 17: Friday Photos in San Francisco

Rem and I picked up celebrating his birthday month with a wonderful, relaxed meander through the North Beach neighborhoods of San Francisco.  My creation for Day 17: photos from our day.

We started with pastries at Victoria Pastry and progressed on to pizza and chicory salad for me, calamari friti and meatballs for Rem at Tony’s Pizza Napoletana, with Rem picking up a chocolate truffle at Z. Cioccolato in between to keep up his strength.  We continued right on to amazing gelato at Naia Gelato (mine: tiramisu and canoli, his: chocolate mortale and canoli), a stop at Molinari Deli for fresh mozzarella, salami and bread (to eat later) and a final purchase of tri tip from Little City Selected Meats.

It was a beautiful day with interesting and beautiful sights at every turn, sunny weather, landmarks to admire and people to watch. But we weren’t finished.  We left North Beach and went to Flax art & design where creative people shop.

It is just an amazing place and delightful to visit.  I could have spent much more time and money but luckily I’d made a careful shopping list and we had limits on both our time and budget.  I stuck pretty closely to the list and enjoyed the store very much.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little visit to North Beach and Flax.  The photos were:

Thanks for stopping by!

Day 8: Ice Cream Sandwiches

Two kinds of ice cream sandwiches: both made with homemade chocolate ice cream on graham crackers.  One: s’mores with melted marshmallow, one with crunchy peanut butter.  I wish you could taste either of them, you wouldn’t care that it only took a modicum of creative energy to make ’em.

In addition to being Day 8 of 30 Days of Creativity, it is also, of course, still Rem’s birthday month.  He mixed up a batch of chocolate ice cream base last night and stuck it in the fridge so we could freeze and eat some tonight.  It is best if the mixture is really chilled well before processing in the ice cream maker.    My big contribution: pouring it into the machine!

This “Simple Chocolate Ice Cream” recipe, right out of the Cuisinart recipe booklet that came with our little Cuisinart Ice 21 Ice Cream Cream Maker, is a winner.  It freezes up beautifully and is chocolaty, rich and delicious. You just want to keep eating it. I thought if I put a little bit between two graham crackers it would be using portion control. Chocolate ice cream and graham cracker…I was 2/3 of the way to a s’more!  And we had mini-marshmallows in the cupboard, so I put about 6 on one cracker square and microwaved it for 20 seconds or so.  They puffed up dramatically and then deflated.  Not the same as roasting marshmallows over a campfire, but still nice.

What I didn’t think about is how cold ice cream would work with soft, gooey melted marshmallow.  I scooped some fresh chocolate ice cream onto the marshmallow, sandwiched it with another cracker and put it in the freezer on a plate to firm up.   When the ice cream comes out of the ice cream machine, it has the consistency of soft serve.  I think if I could have waited until tomorrow, the crackers would have softened up a bit and it would have worked better.  But I couldn’t wait.  The flavor of the graham cracker and chocolate is great but this concept would be more successful with marshmallow fluff from a jar, slightly firmer ice cream (the homemade stuff melts fast) and slightly softer crackers.

A second sandwich seemed like a good idea (so much for portion control) and I went with the classic combination of peanut butter (Trader Joe’s unsalted, crunchy) and chocolate.  Graham cracker spread with PB and topped with a scooplet of ice cream, popped into the freezer.  This was better than the first one, but still had the too-crisp cracker with the too-soft ice cream problem.

If you want to try this chocolate ice cream at home, your best bet is probably to have it with a spoon!  Enjoy it soft and melty out of the ice cream maker or firmer after freezing. Skip the whole sandwich idea and simply enjoy your ice cream.

Simple Chocolate Ice Cream

from Cuisinart

Makes about 5 cups (10 1/2 cup servings)

3/4 C cocoa powder, sifted

1/2 C granulated sugar

1/3 C packed dark brown sugar

a pinch of salt

1 C whole milk

2 C heavy cream

1/2 Tbsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugars and salt. Add the milk and using a hand mixer on low speed, or a whisk, beat to combine until the cocoa, sugars and salt are dissolved.  Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate one to two hours or overnight.

2. Turn the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker on; pour the mixture into the frozen freezer bowl and let mix until thickened, about 15 to 20 minutes. The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture.  If a firmer consistency is desired, transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and place in freezer for about 2 hours.  Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving.

Thank you and good night.  I hope you stop by to see what I create tomorrow.

Checkerboard Cake

Scratch & Sniff Stamping

As promised, here it is: Scratch & Sniff Stamping!  This is a fun way to add scent to your cards which brings an additional component to your design.  It is fairly easy to do with a few supplies you might already have on hand or can pick up at the grocery store. Beate at Splitcoaststampers has a tutorial here.

The basic idea is to use a powder, such as sugar-free drink mix or cinnamon, and combine it with embossing powder, stamp your image, sprinkle on this enhanced embossing powder and set it with a heat tool.  You want to be sure to use a sugar-free mix because if you used sugar it would caramelize and turn brown when you heated it.  I’ve read about using sugar-free gelatin for this technique, but I haven’t tried it yet.

Supplies:

VersaMark watermark ink pad

VersaMarker pen

colored markers

pigment ink (optional)

clear embossing powder

sugar-free drink mix (or cinnamon or cocoa powder)

small container for mixing embossing powder with drink mix

measuring spoon

heat tool

tweezers (optional)

rubber stamp (fairly solid designs work best)

card stock

Directions Using Drink Mix:

Note: Although I try to match flavor/scent with color, I didn’t buy every drink mix flavor possible.  Lemon works fine, in my opinion, for any citrus fruit and red punch is equally good for cherries, strawberries, raspberries, etc.

In a small container combine 1 part drink mix (I use about 1/2 tsp.) with 1 1/2 parts embossing powder.  And to be honest, I don’t measure precisely – I eyeball it. I tried with with ultra thick embossing powder but I prefer the regular kind.

The method that I’ve had the most success with is to color my stamp with colored markers, stamp it onto the card stock, than to draw carefully over the stamped image with a VersaMarker pen.  This ink is a bit sticky and is slow to dry, so the embossing powder/drink mix combination will stick to it.

• If you have a VersaMark ink pad but don’t have a VersaMarker pen, you can ink your stamp on the VersaMark ink pad then color your stamp with the colored markers.  This wasn’t as satisfactory for me, but it will work. If you have a portion of your design that you don’t want to be embossed with the drink mix (for example, the stem on the cherry stamp), be sure to either wipe of the VersaMark ink or carefully ink only the cherry part of the stamp with the VersaMark ink.

• If you have pigment ink in the color you want your finished image, you can use that instead of the marker pens and VersaMarker Pen combination.  Pigment ink is also slow to dry.

Sprinkle the embossing powder/drink mix over your stamped image and  tap off excess powder.

To protect yourself from scorching your fingertips, hold the card stock with tweezers and aim your heat tool at the back of the paper, moving it back and forth a few inches away from the paper.  As it heats, the embossing powder melts and and gets shiny. I found that when I started by aiming the heat tool at the front of the paper, directly at the image,  the embossing powder/drink mix blows away.

Finish by aiming your heat tool directly at the embossed image for a few more seconds so it is completely melted.

Let cool off then complete your card. The embossed image is kind of grainy which I think adds a nice texture to the finished project.  Scratching the stamped image will release the scent of the drink mix.

This is a really cute card for showing off a scratch & sniff lemon slice: it has a cup made from vellum popping right off the front of the card! This tutorial at Splitcoaststampers will show you how to do it, step-by-step.  The piece of vellum is cut at an angle, a 1/4 inch edge is scored and folded on each side.  You sponge colored ink on the inside of the piece of vellum and attach with the other side of the vellum facing out.

When you adhere it to the front of your card, bring the edges in a bit to form the curve of the cup.  A bendy straw is a great addition (I didn’t have a paper umbrella) and that tangy, scratch & sniff lemon slice garnish really finishes the card.

Directions Using Cinnamon or Cocoa Powder:

For the cinnamon scratch and sniff Scotty Dog I stamped the image with VersaMark ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder.  Moving quickly I sprinkled cinnamon over the image, tapped off excess and heated it from the back with heat tool.

I found the cinnamon didn’t adhere to the full image but after heating again I sprinkled more cinnamon, tapped off excess and heated a bit more and it worked out.

The finished card is blue card stock with a piece of blue and white striped paper.  The Scotty Dog, with a striped paper collar and a bit of silver ink on his dog tag has been matted with blue patterned paper and a brown button is a nice embellishment.

If you had a little gingerbread man stamp like this one, this would  be pretty cute for a Christmas card!  The cinnamon is fragrant and festive and just the right color for gingerbread without any colored ink.

Using the cocoa powder was a little frustrating but worth persevering because who doesn’t like chocolate?  OK, I know not everyone loves chocolate but those who do love it would be very happy to receive a handmade card that smells delicious and chocolate-y.  It is more subtle than the cinnamon but still carries the aroma of the cocoa.

I tried sprinkling cocoa powder over the warm embossing powder but that wasn’t very successful so I used the same method as with the drink mix: combine embossing powder with cocoa powder.  This worked fairly well.   Here is a chocolate lab I stamped:

For the card at the start of this post, I drew an oval with brown marker and filled it in, than inked over the whole oval using my VersaMarker pen.  Next I coated it with the mixture of embossing powder and cocoa powder, tapping off the excess powder and finally I heat set it, starting with the back of the paper and finishing it from the front.  I cut out this oval for my cupcake.  (It doesn’t look like much yet, but it sure smells good.)

Next I put a piece of pink card stock through my paper crimper.  I used a scalloped oval punch to cut a half-oval from one edge of the crimped paper and than cut the angled cupcake base shape, giving the look of a fluted cupcake paper.

I punched a small circle from deep pink card stock, inked it with VersaMark ink and embossed it with cherry drink mix/embossing powder to garnish the cupcake.  I finished the card by adhering the scratch & sniff chocolate cupcake with pop-up dots to white card stock stamped with  Happy Birthday, topped off with the scratch & sniff cherry with a green paper stem.  This was matted with green card stock and attached to a deep pink card layered with patterned paper and green ribbon.  Chocolate and cherry…doesn’t it look good enough to eat? Yum!

Please do let me know if you use this technique for one of your own projects.  Thanks for stopping by!

Banana Nice Dream

Making healthier choices in my life means eating differently. Ice cream has been a staple and this recipe gives me something to enjoy that is still sweet, cold and creamy but is not as loaded with sugar and fat, even when I add the optional peanut butter.

It is hardly a recipe and it isn’t ice cream.  But it really is yummy and if nothing else answers the occasional question “what am I going to do with all of these ripe bananas?”   Yes, you can freeze them for banana bread (and I do) but this give you another option. It is also a fun recipe because it seems to involve just a pinch of magic.  The bananas are sliced, frozen and then whirled in a food processor or blender and they  transform from an icy slurry of banana to a pale, creamy frozen dessert.

I found the recipe at the kitchen and decided to call it Banana Nice Dream because it is like ice cream even though it has no dairy and you don’t use an ice cream maker to make it.  In fact, the basic recipe is just ONE ingredient.  If you are vegan or know someone who is or someone who is avoiding sugar or can’t tolerate lactose, give this a try.  Or even if you are just trying to make some healthier choices, this recipe is worth knowing about.

Banana Nice Dream

Ingredients

3 to 5 really ripe bananas (if the bananas aren’t spotty and even over-ripe, your Nice Dream won’t be so nice and may taste a little green)

(really, that’s it!)

Optional Ingredients

Peanut Butter

Honey

Cocoa Powder (unsweetened)

Instructions

1. Peel and slice bananas into chunks.
2. Put on a plate or tray covered with parchment paper or plastic wrap and freeze uncovered for 1.5 to 2 hours.
3. Put frozen banana  chunks into bowl of food processor (or into blender)* and process until smooth and creamy. Stop and scrape down sides of bowl as needed.  This will take about 2 or 3 minutes.
4. If desired, add some or all optional ingredients.  It depends on how many bananas you start with but for 5 bananas I use about 2 rounded tablespoons of peanut butter, a drizzle of honey and 2 tablespoons cocoa powder.

*Note: Sorry, I didn’t test it in the blender and the comment from my mom said when she tried it, it didn’t work, so I can’t recommend it.  I saw other online recipes that suggested using the blender but for now I suggest using a processor.

You can eat it freshly made and soft or scrape it into a container, freeze it and scoop it like ice cream later.

The basic recipe is good and I buy extra bananas to have ripe ones on hand for making a batch.  It wasn’t a hit with Rem but he likes the chocolate-peanut butter version.   I hope you give it a try!

Brownie in a Mug

One mug, one brownie

Sometimes nothing hits the spot like chocolate. A warm, freshly-baked brownie right out of the oven is hard to resist. But having a whole pan of brownies in the kitchen can be too much of a good thing (and really tempting). I’d seen several links for “Brownie in a Mug” but hadn’t tried one until last week. It was a cold night and the idea of a warm, chocolaty brownie was just the comfort food that I wanted.

I looked at several recipes and liked this one I saw on Chow I didn’t change the recipe much, but I did simplify the instructions, switch out one tablespoon of vegetable oil for a tablespoon of egg white and reduce the sugar to lighten it up a bit. It isn’t exactly health food, but making just one brownie means I don’t have the whole pan left to eat and it really satisfies that desire for chocolate.

This also makes a nice treat for your Valentine and it’s ready in no time at all. Mine thought it was yummy, especially topped with ice cream.

Brownie in a Mug

Adapted from “Adirao” on Chow

Ingredients

For each serving:

2 Tbs unsweetened cocoa powder

2 Tbs sugar

2 Tbs all purpose flour

A dash salt

2 Tbs water

1 Tbs vegetable oil

1Tbs egg white

Few drops vanilla extract

Instructions

1. In a large coffee mug, stir together dry ingredients with a fork.
2. Add water, oil, egg white and vanilla and stir until well combined.
3. Microwave for 60-75 seconds: 60 seconds for a more moist brownie, 75 for more uniformly done.
4. Enjoy with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a spoon.

Yummy!