I've been a lousy blogger lately, I'm afraid. It's been over a month since I last had the time to write up a post. Even this post will probably be shorter than I would normally prefer, but something, anything, is better than nothing. Before school was let out for winter vacation I promised my roommate and her boyfriend cupcakes for his birthday once we met again in January. This was the perfect opportunity to use my brand new kitchen aid stand mixer, which is a beautiful dark gray shade, just like the new '09 Honda Civic I got in early December. It was also a good time to use my new, much more convenient and portable, digital camera. As much as I love my semi-pro looking Fujifilm, it's just not something I can carry around with me everywhere I go. So, in order to capture the unexpected, I bought a new compact Panasonic digital camera.

School work aside, another reason I've been so preoccupied is that I finally got a job! My first job ever at the California Pizza Kitchen in the Corte Madera Towne Center. This is as much as I have time to update everyone with for now. Until the next time, enjoy the recipe...my friends and I definitely did!

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cupcakes (adapted from Cupcake Bakeshop)
makes 8 regular cupcakes

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, room temp
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg, room temp
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup high quality unsweetened cocoa powder like Valrhona brand
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
1. Beat butter until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
2 Add egg and beat until well combined.
3. Measure the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder into a small sized bowl and whisk to combine.
4. Measure out the milk and vanilla and stir to combine
5. Add about a third of the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar and beat to combine. Add about a half of the milk/vanilla and beat to combine. Continue adding, alternating between dry and wet and finishing with the dry.
6. Scoop batter into cupcake cups about 2/3’s full. Bake cupcakes for about 22-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Strawberry Ganache Filling and Ganache Glaze

4.5 ounces (128 grams) Valrhona 85% cacao (or any bittersweet chocolate)
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
pinch salt
1/3 cup strawberries, diced

1. Chop chocolate and transfer into a heat proof bowl.
2. Heat cream until bubbles form around the edge of the pan, pour cream over the chocolate.
3. Let sit for 1 minute then stir until combined.
4. Add vanilla and salt. Stir until combined.
5. Divide the ganache in two approximate equal portions. In the first portion, mix in the chopped strawberries. Transfer to the refrigerator to chill.
6. Leave the second portion on the counter to cool down. You want the filling to thicken up before the glaze. Once the filling is think, fill the cupcakes with it. Then glaze with the glaze. See assembly instructions below.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-3 cups powdered sugar

1. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy.
2. Add the milk, vanilla extract, and 2 cups of powdered sugar and beat at low speed, occasionally stopping to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, until light and fluffy. Add more powdered sugar to arrive at the consistency and sweetness you like.

Assemble.
1. Fill the cupcakes with the strawberry ganache filling using the cone method.
2. Spoon a tablespoon of glaze on each filled cupcake and smooth.
3. Top with buttercream frosting and a strawberry.

I took my sister out today to Berkeley to photograph a couple of pieces from her clothing line whoabot:vestures you can click here to check out her Etsy store. My photographic services today were free and I promised to follow her anywhere no matter how far or strange as long as she sustained me. So all our food today was on her...for once.



Before Berekeley we couldn't help but stop at Emeryville's Teacake Bakeshop and were set on getting the Coconut Cupcakes and Chocolate with Dulce de Leche Buttercream that we had yet to try when our plans were ruined by a sign announcing the arrival of the new seasonal autumn flavors: Pumpkin and Apple Crumb. Well, we couldn't really justify getting the pumpkin cupcake, seeing as I just made pumpkin bread the day before. So I got the apple crumb and my sister got...a pumpkin cookie. I guess I couldn't really stop her if she wanted pumpkin that bad, but at least it was in a different form than was offered at home.

Both were delicious, of course. My cupcake was flecked with juicy little bits of cinnamony-apple and I adored the crumb topping, crumb toppings are one of my favorite parts of certain desserts. The coconut and chocolate ducle de leche cupcakes can wait, for a second day in a row I have chosen to honor the coming of autumn.

A few posts ago I lamented leaving Sur La Table empty handed, however, I was not able to stop myself from indulging in a little instant gratification at the adorable Miette Patisserie also housed in San Francisco's Ferry Building Marketplace. The owners of Miette have maximized the very few square feet it occupies for ultimate adorablility. Gorgeous glass jars are filled to the brim with various macarons, caramels, meringues, and candies. A table displaying a multi-tiered cakestand is laden with towers of homemade graham crackers, shortbreads, sables and cookies. Their glass case showcases their many gourmet cakes, including the decadent Princess as well as the irresistible Tomboy. Also on display are petite pots de creme, opera cakes, brownies, scones, and cupcake versions of their signature cakes.

Because a visit to Miette was what drove me to request a trip to the Ferry Building in the first place, I knew I couldn't leave without taking advantage of the treats it had to offer. I purchased one of their pots de creme baked into a miniature jar (which could be bought back for a dollar-but the jar was the whole reason I chose it anyway, so there's no way they're getting it back, hehe). I also selected a miniature cupcake version of their most popular Gingerbread Cake with Sweet Cream Cheese Frosting as well as miniature version of their Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake with Boiled Icing. While the cashier was ringing me up I did the best that I could to ignore the macarons that were displayed right at eye level, but I inevitably gave in and asked her to add one vanilla macaron to my purchase and I nibbled on it happily as we strolled through the rest of the vendors.

I used to abhore cupcakes. Ever since elementary school. A classmates mother would bring in a giant box of generic supermarket cupcakes and all the kids would jump up and down. I was indifferent. I hated the frosting the most. The thick, tasteless blob that I would wipe off with a napkin and offer to my eager friends. I would never go out of my way for a cupcake.

Then I had a life changing experience. A few years ago the Teacake Bakeshop opened up the shopping center of Bay Street Emeryville. The bakery was adorable, with it's pink candy-striped interior to it's glass case of delicious cookies. My first few visits I ordered a cookie, I never paid much attention to the cupcakes. Then one day while standing in a ridiculously long line for a few sugary treats I gazed over at the variety of cupcakes displayed on dainty glass cake stands. The array of pastel frosting, tiny pearl decorations, and fondant daisies enchanted me and after years of trauma I voluntarily tried a cupcake.

I started simple, a Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Cupcake with Vanilla Buttercream. One bite and I was sold. The moist cake was delicious and the once-feared frosting quickly became my new favorite part. Light and creamy and flavorful. This was the beginning of a beautiful romance and I haven't ordered a cookie from there since.

What started out as a simple taste-experimentation of a gourmet vanilla cupcake quickly advanced into a quest for more mouth-watering flavors: Pink Velvet Cupcakes, daily specials like Coconut and Carrot Cake, and seasonal flavors like Pumpkin with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting.

Soon one bakeshop wasn't enough and I eagerly sought out new potentials. From the Fleur de Sel and Passion Fruit filled cupcakes at Kara's Cupcakes in San Francisco's Ghiradelli Square to the Matcha Green Tea and Pretty In Pink strawberry cupcakes at the Love At First Bite Bakery tucked away in secluded corner of Berkeley.

I have yet to bother baking my own batch and really am just waiting for an occasion to do so. It would be safest for me to have them, say, consumed by friends at a birthday party, rather than sitting enticingly in my glass cake stand in plain sight from the living room couch, with myself as their only captive audience.

Maybe I will attempt a scaled-down recipe that could yield only six cupcakes without sacrificing flavor or texture due to the reductions. But then again I wouldn't even know where to start. Which flavor? Paired with which frosting?

For now, cupcakes will remain the one thing I am contented to seek out at a bakery before my own kitchen. For now.