Dunkin’ to pay donut tribute to royal wedding

Dunkin’ to pay donut tribute to royal wedding

Cupcake crazy

It’s that time of year again. Christmas is over but my love of baking is ever present – what better time to give my ovens a work-out than Valentine’s Day? Every year my company hosts a charity store – either Valentines or Easter, and we sell anything from homemade jewelry to sweets and goodies. It’s a chance to put my baking skills to the test.

To say I go overboard is an understatement. This year I’m trying to limit myself to keep my sanity. It’s down to 3 flavors – Chocolate cake with an Irish cream frosting, vanilla cake with raspberry frosting and vanilla cake with lemon curd topping and a toasted Italian meringue frosting.



The goal was 200 cupcakes and I made just nearly that. One of the hits every year was the chocolate cake filled with a Baily’s Irish cream frosting then dipped in chocolate ganache and topped again with more frosting.



I loved doing it, but back wasn’t so kind. Standing up so long and running around the kitchen just hurts when you’re use to a desk job all day. Luckily we made a bunch of money for charity, so it was all worth it.




Chocolate Cupcakes
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups cold water

Directions
Sift flour, sugar, salt, soda, and cocoa together into a large bowl. Make three wells. Pour oil into one well, vinegar into second, and vanilla into third well. Pour cold water over all, and stir well with fork. Fill cupcake liners ¾ full and bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes until top of cake is springy.

Let cool and make Buttercream (below) With a decorators tip and piping bag, pipe about a Tbls worth of frosting into the center of all the cupcakes. Combine the ingredients for the ganache and microwave until melted. Dip the top of each cake into the ganache and let cool. Pipe more frosting on top.

Vanilla/Baileys Buttercream
2 sticks butter (no substitutes), softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk (1 tbls at a time) OR you can substitute a couple TBls of Baileys with more milk

In a mixing bowl, cream butter. Beat in sugar and vanilla. Add milk/Baily's until frosting reaches desired consistency - whip it fast so it's nice and airy.

Chocolate ganache
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons heavy cream

Here's some more from the same cupcake-palooza:




...and of course the baking frenzy wouldnt be complete without cookies:

Holy Cannoli

This past Thanksgiving, we went non-traditional with the food in my house and did lasagna with the works. In keeping with the Italian theme, I attempted my first ever cannoli from scratch using the recipe that was on the box of the cannoli shells. What a giant disappointment! My ricotta cream was a soupy mess. I couldn't understand what I did wrong given I followed the recipe to the letter. My dad then asked me if I drained the ricotta. I replied no, as the recipe didn't say to do that. He looked at me as if I'd attempted to bake a cake without turning on the oven. Naturally, one must drain the ricotta.

This next go round, I did drain the ricotta and it was far better than the previous version. Also, I like candied oranges in my cannoli and post fruitcake season, they can be hard to find. Plus, the ones in the grocery are loaded with additives and junk. I instead mixed in chocolate covered orange peel and it was just as good. I would have preferred the large cannoli shells but could only find these mini ones--and ironically these were found in the cookie section of my grocery alongside the lady fingers--not in the Italian section. Nevertheless, I was pleased with the results.



Holy Cannoli
Cannoli shells*
16 oz ricotta
3 T, rounded, of powdered sugar
1/2 t of orange extract
1/2 t of cinnamon
1/4 c, chocolate covered orange peel, finely chopped
1/2 c, mini semi sweet chocolate morsels, plus more for dipping ends

Yield: about 12 mini cannoli, two each is six servings

The night before assembly, put ricotta in a mesh strainer above a deep bowl and place in fridge overnight. (In the morning, I had almost a 1/2 cup of liquid drained off. WOW!) Then mix or beat in the sugar, extract and cinnamon. Again, put the ricotta mixture in a strainer above a bowl in the fridge and allow the flavors to blend another three hours or so. When ready to serve, add the orange peel and the mini chips. Pipe the ricotta mixture into the cannoli shells (or if you don't want to pipe you can use a small offset spatula and spread it inside generously). Dip ends in the chocolate chips. Serve. Ideally, store the ricotta mixture seperate from the shells and wait to fill until prior to serving. Otherwise, they can become soggy if refridgerated in tact. That doesn't bother me but a traditional cannoli has a nice crunchy shell.

* You might want to buy two boxes of shells. I did and by the time I discarded the broken ones, I netted 12 between the two boxes.

Lagniappe: Taking Tea at Fortnum & Mason

At long last, we're back!

Today's subject will be the pleasure of taking afternoon tea...in London no doubt, at the lovely Fortnum & Mason Department Store, St. James' restaurant. I'd been wanting to go there for a long time, but on the last trip to London did not make a reservation. And they just won't seat you without one, so I missed out. On this trip, I was certain to make a reservation and I arrived promptly dressed "smart casual" as the website suggested.

The dining room itself is nothing special. Low ceilings, worn carpet and furniture...but it's an old department store and I wasn't expecting anything chic or particularly over the top fancy but it still lends itself to an atmosphere of quiet conversation and exceptional table manners. You check your coat and then are seated at a table completely set with silverware and starched white linens. A pianist plays love songs & show tunes in the background. You're provided with a menu so that you can select your choice of teas...I go for what I'm most used to, English Breakfast to start and then a pot of Royal Blend later. Yes, two pots when it was all said and done. Whew!

Out comes the pot in the signature F&M china pattern (Tiffany blue and you all know that's my favorite color!) along with the strainer, sugar cubes and milk. It was by far, the best cup of hot tea I've ever had in my life--from what I understand it's 210 degrees to brew the perfect cup but whatever it is, it is clearly their core competency as it was perfect. Not too hot to burn the tongue, but hot enough to soothe and relax. Not too strong, nor too weak. I loved the sugar cube touch--I'm one of those people that keeps these in the house "for company." I kept repeating in my head "one lump or two."

Next come three small canapes...A savory cheese like tart and a couple of items I didn't eat as they looked like liver or fish--two things I just can't do.

Then the three tiered server comes out (I'm not sure I know what these are called, I should look it up). Bottom tier: Finger sandwiches. Chicken Salad, Salmon and the ubiquitous tea sandwich staple - Cucumber. I skip the salmon but the chicken salad was exceptional as it was served on a hearty grain sort of bread. Then the scones! This was the part I had most been longing to experience. One plain scone, one dotted with dried fruits complete with clotted cream and two jams--apricot and strawberry. I enjoyed every morsel. And then started to think how incredibly relaxing and enjoyable this event was. I was alone, so I didn't have to entertain conversation. I literally felt stress melt away. Also, the service by American standards was incredibly slow. It seemingly took forever and I was there almost two hours. The longer the better. I felt myself soaking in the atmosphere wondering why on earth I can't seem to recreate this same experience back home? Oh yeah, the three year old.

Now to the desserts. After the scones which I slathered with so much clotted cream and jam, the desserts were just not that interesting to me. After all, this is a lot of food that was originally concepted to be a pre-dinner snack. The plate consisted of a Madeline (delicious!), a ginger cake (not to my taste), a fudge tart and a linzer tart (both good) and a raspberry/lemon type cake (too tart).

Around me, there were all sorts of people. Two men that appeared to be a couple, another table of men that appeared to be tourists and not coupled at all, an English woman and her young daughter, husbands and wives, etc. And one person like me, experiencing it all alone. She was Asian. I was wondering if she was savoring the serenity of this experience like I was.

The cost was 34 pounds (about $50 US) but it's a lot of food and they even offered seconds which shocked me. I did note that the table of men who appeared to be tourists did take advantage of seconds. I was about to pop and just couldn't imagine more carbs although I did entertain the thought of stuffing a few extra scones in my purse. (Don't worry, I didn't.)

My guide in London said that the Ritz was "the" place to really take tea and a local mentioned the Savoy. Next time. Cheers!

We're Still Alive & Kickin'

Yes! Rox and I are still committed to our beloved website here but we've been beyond busy with work and I don't know some wedding Roxane is planning (grins). We figure we might want to ensure that the paycheck remains steady as a priority before we elaborate on this hobby short term. Be patient with us, we'll be back soon and more engaging than ever!