Barefoot Contessa's Chocolate Cupcakes (Altitude Adjusted) with Swiss Meringue Buttercream

I haven't been posting much lately. September has been a crazy month. I've been out of town three times in the last month. I hate airports =(

The recipe below is the result of about two and a half months of experimenting. I've been tinkering with this since July. The last batch I made was on September 18. I'm finally satisfied with the results. I'll probably try it as a cake this coming weekend and use it for my final project for my final cake decorating class. (Don't tell the instructor that I'm not using her doctored cake mix recipe.)

It is my favorite cupcake recipe at the moment. Cake recipes with buttermilk always give me the most trouble but I was able to make it work. The texture is not quite as pudding-like as the original recipe but it makes beautiful slightly domed cupcakes. Top it with swiss meringue buttercream and it is cupcake heaven.

Barefoot Contessa Chocolate Cupcake (Adjusted for Altitude)

Ingredients:
2 ½ cups minus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 ¾ cups sugar
¾ cups dutch cocoa powder (Valrhona, Guittard Cocoa Rouge or Droste)
2 teaspoons baking soda
scant teaspoon baking powder
scant teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
½ cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake tins with paper liners. Fill each well halfway with batter. Makes approximately 36 cupcakes.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.


Swiss Meringue Buttercream for Cupcakes

Makes about 9 cups, enough for about 28 cupcakes (The recipe says 28 cupcakes but I was able to frost all 36 cupcakes with extra. Maybe I'm a little stingy with my frosting.)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 10 large egg whites
• 4 cups (8 sticks or 2 pounds) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Place sugar and egg whites in the heat-proof bowl of an electric mixer. Set bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, and whisk until sugar has dissolved and egg whites are hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. Test by rubbing the mixture between your fingers; it should feel completely smooth.

Transfer bowl to mixer stand. Using the whisk attachment, beat on high speed until mixture has cooled completely and formed stiff and glossy peaks, about 10 minutes.

Add the butter, one piece at a time, and beat until incorporated after each addition. Don't worry if the buttercream appears curdled after all the butter has been added; it will become smooth again with continued beating. Add vanilla, and beat just until combined.

Switch to the paddle attachment, and beat on the lowest speed to eliminate any air pockets, about 5 minutes. If using buttercream within several hours, cover bowl with plastic wrap, and set aside at room temperature in a cool environment. Or transfer to an airtight container, and store in the refrigerator, up to 3 days. Before using, bring buttercream to room temperature, and beat on the lowest speed with the paddle attachment until smooth, about 5 minutes.

Original recipe - creates a moist, pudding-like cake with sunken centers.

Adjusted recipe but too much flour - It has great flavor and the texture was not bad but not as moist as the original recipe. The crackled tops indicate too much flour.

Perfected recipe - This is the recipe posted. The crowns are perfect and the cake is moist.

Frosting the Cupcakes - I experimented with two different tips. The huge 16" bag on the left holds a ton of frosting. I am also using a 12" disposal bag. I like to use cups to hold my bags when I fill them. These Rockies souveneir cups are perfect.

Tips: Wilton 1M (Open Star (it's bent so it looks more like a closed star)), Wilton 2D (Drop Flower), and Ateco 847 (Closed Star). For the cupcakes, I used the Wilton 2D and the Ateco 847.

This was frosted with an Ateco 847. The large closed star tip produced large soft serve swirls.

My favorite tip for frosting cupcakes is the Wilton 2D. It produces nice ruffled swirls.

Ingredient/Equipment Notes:

Cocoa: I like the darker dutch processed cocoa for this cupcake. I tried the recipe with Valrhona, Guittard Cocoa Rouge, and Droste. I think they all worked really well. Use your favorite premium dutch cocoa.

Buttermilk: I tried both reduced fat and full fat cultured buttermilk and it did not make a difference.

Eggs: This is a Barefoot Contessa recipe. She likes to bake using extra large instead of the typical large egg. I'm not sure when she made the switch but I read her notes in one of her cookbooks.

Coffee: I brew Lion Coffee's Toasted Coconut coffee but I'm sure any brand will do. I just happen to drink Lion brand at home.

Cupcake pans: Buy the heaviest pans you can afford. I usually use heavy aluminum for my cakes but since I line my cupcake pans, I bought the cheaper heavy nonstick at Sur la Table.

Cupcake liners: I like cute cupcake liners and have a whole collection of them but most of the time (and especially for dark cupcakes), I reach for the plain unbleached grease-proof liners.

Half or 2/3 full? I used to fill my cupcake tins 2/3 full but found that I get much better results filling them half full.

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Lo Mai Gai or Nuo Mi Ji (Chicken and Glutinous Rice in Lotus Leaf)

I’m happy to announce that my cake phase is over…for now. I'm taking a break from baking cakes at least until I start my cake decorating classes in a few weeks. I've move on to the food in parcels phase.  To start off this phase, I made Lo Mai Gai or Nuo Mi Ji.  I think food wrapped in leaves deserve their own little category. 

I don’t usually get to eat Lo Mai Gai except for when we go out for dim sum. If I had to choose only one item to eat at dim sum, this is it. I can sit there and eat an entire parcel all by myself. I usually do not because I always feel bad about eating the entire thing.  That's why we always order two or three.

A few years ago, I went to dim sum with a bunch of girls. We then went to the Asian grocery store near the dim sum restaurant. My friend asked me if I could help her find all of the ingredients to make Lo Mai Gai at home. Asian food is complicated in the sense that most Westerners do not possess the necessary equipment or ingredients at home. This dish requires at least one if not two different types of steamers. I’ve been able to get away with just one steamer but it took some experimenting to successfully cook sticky rice without a sticky rice steamer.

I prefer a higher proportion of rice to meat so if you like more meat than rice, decrease the amount of rice to two cups and the broth to one cup. I prefer my rice to not be mushy so I use less broth than other recipes I've seen. You can also change the proportion of types of protein. I like using boneless chicken thighs without any char sui because I never really have Chinese barbecued pork around the house. I think the best part of the filling is the Chinese sausage so I use a little more than what is usually found inside your typical dim sum parcel. You can also add diced shrimp if you’re feeling it. I don’t like the smell of shiitake mushrooms so I rinse them really well and use a measly four mushrooms for the 8 packets. Use more if shitakes are your thing.  Asian food is very forgiving.  Adjust the proportions to your tastes. 

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Spring Fling Cake from The Market in Larimer Square

This is a recipe for the Spring Fling cake sold at The Market at Larimer Square.  It is a very unusual zucchini-based cake frosted with a whipped cream and cream cheese icing and topped with an abundance of fresh fruit.  The first time I had the cake was for a celebration at work.  I didn’t realize the cake cost $150 for the full sheet.  This recipe is for the 10 inch round that retails for $50.  When I lived in Lodo, I frequently walked over to The Market to buy a slice.  A slice cost just under $7.  I think it’s worth every penny.

The cake itself is not hard to make.  It just requires gathering many ingredients together.  The Market usually tops their cake with strawberries, mango, kiwi, black grapes and mandarin oranges. I omitted the blueberries listed in the recipe because I don’t ever recall having blueberries on my cake.  I consulted the picture on The Market's website and I didn't spot a single blueberry.  I also subbed blackberries for the black grapes because I was feeling it.

The recipe below was published by the Rocky Mountain News.   It calls for a 10 inch round cake pan.  I didn’t have a 10 inch round so I used a 10 inch scalloped pan instead.  I’ve also successfully used this recipe for cupcakes by filling the pan about three quarters full.

EDIT: December 2017 

I've been having trouble baking this cake since I moved from Denver to San Diego.  Initially, I blamed it on the oven but other cakes and breads come out fine. I then moved from baking it in my 10 inch Fat Daddios aluminum cake pan to two 8 inch Fat Daddios aluminum pan and finally to two 9 inch Calphalon nonstick pans.  Nothing made a difference.  The cake tasted fine but the texture was gummy and almost uncooked. 

I read and reread the recipe, trying to figure it out why the cake failed.  From the comments below, it looks like others ran into the same problem. It is not a particularly fragile cake so it's shouldn't be so finicky. Then it clicked! The amount of leavening for 3 1/4 cups of flour seems really low. The paltry amount of leavening worked fine at 5,280 feet above sea level but was not enough for sea level.  I tested it out by making half the recipe and doubling the baking powder and soda and it worked! I probably need to tinker with the recipe a bit more but for now, it works.

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Taco Shop Shredded Chicken Filling

San Diego taco shops usually have at least two different chicken burritos on their menus: a shredded chicken burrito and a grilled chicken burrito. The grilled chicken or pollo asado is usually seasoned diced chicken; grilled on a flat top and stuffed inside a ginormous flour tortilla with pico de gallo and guacamole while the regular chicken burrito is simply filled with stewed and shredded chicken. I enjoy both versions but I find the shredded chicken easier to replicate at home than the pollo asado. 

Growing up in San Diego, these taco shops have a special place in my heart.  They are unique to San Diego.  The style is very different from Mexican restaurants found in other parts of the country.  I think it is a regional development due to San Diego's proximity to Tijuana (TJ). Where else can you find carne asada fries?  Most of the shops are independently owned (with a few chains thrown into the mix) but they taste very similar. (Of course there are standouts but you can pretty much walk into any taco shop in San Diego and walk out pretty happy.) 

Looking for a great taco shop in San Diego? Below are a few of my favorites.

JV’s in Linda Vista/Morena: 1112 Morena Boulevard http://www.jvsmexicanfood.com/menu.htm
El Cuervo in Hillcrest: 110 West Washington Street
El Cotixan in Clairemont: 4676 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard

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Coconut Pineapple Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This is the only way I make my carrot cake.  To me carrot cake should be fully-loaded with raisins, pineapple, coconut, nuts, and carrots. 


Coconut Pineapple Carrot Cake

1 cup raisins, plumped by soaking in hot water (I usually use golden raisins but I didn't have enough golden raisins so a mix of golden and dark raisins went into the cake.)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon allspice
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 ¼ canola oil
2 ½ cups coarsely grated carrots
1 8 ounce can pineapple, drained and chopped
1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1 cup walnuts, chopped
½ cup toasted coconut flakes for decorating (optional)

1.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line two 9” round cake pans.
2.    Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice in a medium bowl.  Set aside.
3.    Beat eggs until foamy, continue to beat while adding vanilla and sugar.  When mixture is thick, add oil.  Mix well.
4.    Add flour mixture and mix just until moistened.
5.    Fold in raisins, carrots, pineapple, coconut and walnuts.
6.    Divide batter between pans and bake about 50 minutes or until wooden skewer inserted in center comes out clean.
7.    Cool completely and level cake before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 pound powdered sugar
8 ounces (1 brick) cream cheese, cold

In the bowl of an electric mixture, cream together butter vanila and almond extract. Add powdered sugar and continue creaming until mixed. Add cream cheese and mix until light and fluffy.

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Stir-Fried Water Spinach

I learned how to make this dish from my friend Kellie. Her secret (or her mom's secret) is the lime juice.

Stir-Fried Water Spinach

1 bunch water spinach (about 1.5 pounds)
2 tablespoons oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound chicken breast, thinly sliced
2 Thai chilies, sliced
MSG, to taste
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
Juice from ½ lime

1. Prep the water spinach by cutting into 4 inch segments. Split the stalkier stems into halves or quarters. Wash and set aside.

2. Heat a large wok or saute pan over high heat. Add oil, minced garlic and chicken breast. Saute until chicken is cooked.

3. Add water spinach, chilies, MSG, fish sauce and oyster sauce. Quickly stir-fry until water spinach is wilted. Remove from heat and finish with lime juice. Serve with steamed rice.

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High Altitude Red Velvet (and Aqua Velvet) Cupcakes

Red velvet are the most problematic cakes for me. I can't get them just right at this altitude. I think it's a combination of leavening issues, flour structure issues, and weird chemical reactions of the acidic ingredients (vinegar, buttermilk and even natural cocoa powder) with the baking soda. I've been experimenting with a high altitude red velvet cupcake recipe and although I am not completely satisfied, it works (sort of) and tastes delicious. The cupcakes need additional experimenting but the cream cheese frosting is perfect.

I made a batch using my adjusted recipe from last year and then I made a batch subbing all purpose flour for cake flour. I had to remind myself why I wanted to make cake flour work at high altitude. The crumb is much better. The recipe below will still result in subtly sunken middles, but the trade off in texture is worth it. I'll experiment with mixing cake and all purpose flours next time. I cannot look at another red (or aqua) velvet cupcake at the moment.

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Best Cocoa Brownies and the Quest for the Best Cocoa Powder

How many batches of brownies can I bake over the course of a week? A lot. I've been testing different brands of cocoa powders.

Cocoa powder is something I have in my pantry but rarely give it a second thought. I buy the Ghirardelli because it’s the fanciest-looking cocoa powder on the grocery store shelf. Cocoa is (was) not something I would drive out of my way for.

When I was working on my icing for black and white cookies, the recipe specified Dutch processed cocoa. Interesting. That’s the Hershey’s stuff that I used to buy, right? I haven’t bought Hershey’s cocoa in ages but I remember it being Dutch processed. I found it strange when I saw a post on a cooking discussion board asking about where to buy Dutch processed cocoa. I thought Dutch processed was the common stuff.

After stopping by my local spice shop, to pick up some black onyx cocoa, I walked over to the grocery store to read the Hershey’s label. It was not Dutch processed! When did Hershey’s switch from Dutched to natural? I did find a Special Dark version next to the regular version. The Special Dark is a blend of natural and Dutched cocoas. I haven’t tried it but I hear it’s terrible.

So is natural better than Dutched? Some people seem to think so but in a blind taste test conducted by Cooks Illustrated, Dutched won in every single category. I found this pretty interesting. Apparently, by Dutch processing the cocoa, the cocoa tastes more “chocolatey.” The process neutralizes some acidic flavor notes and also produces a darker cocoa.

So in the taste test, Dutching was good but over-Dutching was bad. I read this after using the super-Dutched cocoa for my icing. I was very disappointed. I don’t know how to describe the flavor. It was flat, stale and burnt. I loved the color so my plan was to mix the black onyx with some Dutched cocoa. I bought a few different brands to test out.

I tested the cocoas using a cocoa brownie recipe by Alice Medrich.

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macarons on my mind

I’ve been meaning to make and blog about French macarons for quite a while now but as with most of my cooking, I really have to be in the mood in order to do it well. How do I feel about making them after spending two days in the kitchen? They are not hard but can be a little finicky. I actually feel that macarons, like croissants and other laminated dough products, are one of those things that are worth buying. You make it once or twice to say that you can make your own. (And there’s a satisfaction about not letting the macaron get the best of you. Macaron, I’ll show you who’s the boss.)

Macarons can be made using endless “biscuit” and filling combinations. I think the most famous is probably the ispahan flavor by Pierre Hermé. It is a masterful and ingenious combination of three complementary flavors: rose, raspberry and lychee. (I’ll do a separate post dissecting and Americanizing the ispahan macaron recipe.)

I did a lot of reading and went with Not So Humble Pie’s very detailed instructions. She spent over 80 hours in the kitchen mastering the macaron and used a scatter plot to compare the various recipes before posting her technique. I really like the way she works. The macaron is about technique so her recipe may not work for you. I repeated the recipe several times and I got something a little different each time. I'm not perfect after all =(

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Black & White Cookie Project Part I

I’m working on perfecting the famous Black and White cookie. The first recipe I'm trying out is for the NYC version. This is not the upstate new York version. The upstate New York version is called the half moon (sometimes also called black and white) and I will blog about it at a later time. They are two distinctly different versions and each have their own dedicated fans. I’ve had both versions and since I am not from New York, I cannot say I have any loyalty to either version. I like them both.

I'm starting off with a recipe from Glaser’s Bake Shop. The recipe was published in the May 13, 1998 issue of the New York Times. Glaser's is a small family-own bakery and the recipe has been passed down for generations. I followed Glaser's recipe for the cookie base but I adapted the icing from Gourmet because my coworker wanted me to troubleshoot the Gourmet magazine recipe she has been using. She wanted me to help her “fix” the weird flavor. She said the lemon flavor was off and the icing tasted chalky. I found many of the icing recipes on the internet very similar to each other. They consisted of powdered sugar, water and light corn syrup. Variations included lemon juice and/or vanilla. Some recipes used cocoa powder and others used baking chocolate.

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