Airy Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse

This week my friend passed his PhD preliminary exam in Molecular Plant Sciences! With the completion of such an incredible accomplishment I believed that the occasion required an incredible dessert. And since he belongs to the philosophy of "it isn't dessert if it isn't chocolate" I decided to bake up soft chocolate cupcakes with a chocolate peanut butter mousse and dark chocolate drizzle. So good. Here is how I did it. 

Airy Chocolate Cake:
(Makes 24 cupcakes or 2 9" round cakes)

1/2 cup + 3 T unsweetened cocoa 
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup + 2 T buttermilk
3 large eggs
2 1/4 t vanilla
2 1/4 cup sifted cake flour
1 1/2 c sugar
1 T baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 c softened unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 350F. This recipe takes a lot of bowls but it is so worth it! Alright- in a small bowl whisk the water and cocoa powder together. This will form a thick paste. Set aside and allow to cool. In another bowl, combine the eggs, one-quarter of the cocoa paste, buttermilk and vanilla. In yet another bowl...combine the dry ingredients. Mix the dry ingredients for 30 seconds just to make sure that they are well incorporated. Now add the butter and the remaining cocoa mixture. Mix on low until the ingredients are moistened. Add the egg mixture in increments, scraping down the bowl between each addition. Finally, once all ingredients are mixed together, continue to mix for an additional minute or so to fully aerate the batter. Spoon 1/8 cup batter into each cupcake paper. Cook at 350 for 10 minutes. Set out to cool before frosting. 

As this cake is very light and fluffy but it will not keep its texture for more than a day or two. I think that it tastes best within one day of baking.


Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse:
(Makes approximately 6 cups of frosting)

5 T flour

1/2 cup milk

1 1/4 cup butter, soften

1/3 cup Peanut Butter

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup baker's sugar (super fine)

2 t vanilla 

1/4 t salt

Blend 5 T four and ½ cup milk over low heat until it get thick. (It will look like very thick, old time, school paste. Basically a blob) Set aside to cool. I am not very patient, so I spread the blob over wax paper to cool quicker.

Cream the butter, sugar and peanut butter. Add the vanilla. Sift the cocoa powder over and mix in. Add thickened flour mixture and beat well. The frosting should be light and fluffy. Set aside. this can be made ahead of time and stored covered on the counter for up to 2 days. 

To garnish, melt some dark chocolate chips and use as a drizzle. The best way that I like to do this is to put some baking chips into a sandwich bag and dunk the bag into a mug of hot (not boiling) water. Gently massage the bag to make sure that it has all melted. Then, use the sandwich bag as the piping bag by snipping a little tip off a corner and drizzle over the frosted cupcake. This is a wonderful trick that works 100 percent of the time! 

Thank you for visiting! I hope that you have a wonderful weekend filled with chocolate bliss and delicious desserts. 

Until next time, Happy Eating.

 

Things I found in Pennsylvania

Well, I suppose that it is now obvious that I have been on a blogging hiatis. Over the past two weeks I have traveled from Pullman to Puyallup to Portland to Pennsylvania back to Pullman. I don't know why exactly I gravitate towards cities that begin with a "P" but I enjoyed every visit that I shared with my family and friends.

This past weekend I met my brother Brady and his fiancee Heather in Pennsylvania. The goal of the weekend was to veg out as much as possible while eating incredible food. While enjoying a spectacular time with Brady and Heather I happened to run across two incredible culinary finds that I just had to share with you. The first being fresh raw milk from local grass fed Jersey cows! In case you did not know- raw milk is illegal in many states - so I snatched it up and made a batch of ricotta cheese with it. It was so rich and creamy- unlike any other milk that I have ever tried. Here is a picture that documents that I actually purchased it!

Another awesome find was my 5" x 2" round cake pans at a wonderful kitchen store in the Italian Market in downtown Philadelphia. Since moving out to the Palouse, I have realized that it is nearly impossible for Matt and myself to eat an entire 9" three layer cake- nor should we try! So with this spectacular find I am sure that my layered cake making will increase exponentially!

Thank you again for visiting my blog. Although I haven't posted in a while I have been baking up a storm. Hopefully soon I will be able to get my act together and create some more posts!

Until then, Happy Eating!

Sunday Brunch with Katie

This past weekend my best friend Katie came and visited me and my husband. I was so thrilled that when she and her fiance rolled into the parking lot I started to cry and, of course, I didn't want to stop hugging her. It has been especially hard being away from someone that I have been near to since second grade! After a weekend of good eating, Farkle, and some fine microbrews from my favorite city, I wanted to send them off to Sonoma Valley with a good meal in their tummies. For Sunday brunch we shared ricotta pancakes topped with fried bananas and a fresh blackberry compote and a dollop of whipped cream. Here are the recipes from this weekend's brunch. I hope that this weekend or the next you can create some wonderful memories with the people that you love, perhaps over some fine fluffy pancakes, and a great cup of coffee.

Ricotta Pancakes

2 cups all purpose flour

1 T sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs, separated

2 cups of milk

1/2 cup ricotta

Mix all dry ingredients through a sifter onto a piece of wax paper or a plate. In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry. In a large bowl mix the egg yolks, milk, and ricotta until it is well blended. Add the flour mixture gently with a large spoon. Stir in a spoonful of whites into the batter to lighten it up, then fold the remaining mixture. At this point, be sure not to over mix, this will ensure that the pancakes will cook up light and fluffy. Cook on a pan (I prefer nonstick) over medium low heat until desired colored is achieved.

Fried Bananas

3 under ripe bananas cut into 1/2 inch pieces

4 T butter

A little whiskey if you like

In a large sauce pan melt the butter over medium heat. Once the butter is bubbling a little bit, gently place the bananas into the pan. I like to make sure that the bananas aren't too crowded- giving them a little bit of room allows them to brown evenly. When the bottoms are nice and brown, flip the slices over and fry the other side. If you are feeling especially celebratory, you can splash some whiskey into the pan when it is all said and done. These are truly buttery, sweet and surprisingly crunchy!

Blackberry Compote

6 oz fresh Blackberries

1 T sugar

1/8 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

Heat over medium low heat until the berries juice themselves. Squish the berries against the side of the pan to achieve the desired consistency of the sauce.

The wonderful thing about being with someone that has known you since childhood is that funny memories come up in conversation. Over this meal, Katie reminded me about the time when we managed to catch pancakes on fire! We were about eight and of course at my house, where a bit more culinary freedom was permitted! I guess we got distracted and went off to watch cartoons. After our culinary mishap, we didn't try to recreate the scenario and decided to stick to Bill's famous mickey mouse pancakes instead. Luckily we didn't catch the house on fire, we didn't get grounded, and we both figured out how to make delicious pancakes after the fact.

Thank you again for visiting my blog. Until next time, Happy Eating food friends!