Sprinkles Cupcakes' Strawberry Cupcakes

What a crazy morning!! My MOMS Club has a monthly birthday brunch party to celebrate the mommies having birthdays that month. My friend Laura coordinates it and asked if I'd host May's because two of my friends, Michelle and Cindy were both having birthdays. So I said sure. I forget how much I hate hosting events at my house until the morning of them. Really I just hate the running around getting my house ready for company. But it kind of pays off because now I have time to update my blog since my house is already clean. So I guess I can't complain too much.

Anyway, Laura asked if I could make some cupcakes for the party. The birthday girls--there was another one, too, Carissa who owns our fabulous local ice cream shop--wanted Funfetti and strawberry. I offered to make strawberry. I'm not big on mixes and ready made frosting because of all the gross stuff that can be in them (have you ever read the ingredients on a cake mix or tub of frosting?), so I did some searching for a recipe I could make. My Googling lead me to Oprah's website and a recipe for Sprinkles Cupcakes' Strawberry Cupcakes. I've heard of Sprinkles but never actually consumed one of their cupcakes, but since I know it's a popular place I figured this would be a good recipe to try.

Sprinkles Cupcakes' Strawberry Cupcakes
Source: Oprah.com

2/3 cup fresh or frozen whole strawberries (thawed if frozen)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. coarse salt
1/4 cup whole milk, room temperature
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
2 large egg whites, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners; set aside.

Place strawberries in a small food processor; process until pureed. You should have about 1/3 cup of puree. Add a few more strawberries if necessary, or save any extra puree for frosting; set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, mix together milk, vanilla and strawberry puree; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.

With the mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add the milk mixture; mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture, scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary, until just blended.

Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Transfer muffin tin to oven and bake until tops are just dry to the touch, 22 to 25 minutes. Transfer muffin tin to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool completely in tin before icing.

Sprinkles Cupcakes' Strawberry Frosting
Source: Oprah.com

1/2 cup frozen whole strawberries, thawed
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, firm and slightly cold
Pinch coarse salt
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners' sugar; beat until well combined. Add vanilla and 3 tablespoons strawberry puree (save any remaining strawberry puree for another use); mix until just blended. Do not overmix, or frosting will incorporate too much air. Frosting consistency should be dense and creamy, like ice cream.

*****

I needed more than one dozen cupcakes, so I doubled the recipe for the cupcakes but I left the frosting recipe as is. I can only deduce that Sprinkles Cupcakes must have a TON of frosting because I was able to frost 22 cupcakes (two little scoundrels each took a cupcake yesterday while I was upstairs getting dressed, so I had less than my original 24) with the single batch and had some left over. Even if I'd frosted 24 cupcakes I think I'd still have some left.

These were pretty freakin' fantastic. The husband had one last night after they were frosted and said it may be the best cupcake he'd ever eaten. The frosting was AMAZING--and I loved that it tasted like real strawberries, not strawberry flavoring and Red #40. The cupcakes themselves had a mild strawberry flavor, but the frosting really made it pop. The cupcakes were really dense which was so good. The only change I made was to use almond milk instead of whole milk. We don't drink whole milk, and I wasn't about to buy a container of it for just this recipe. I didn't think skim milk would be a good substitution, but I did have almond milk in the fridge that I thought would work.

Even as much as I don't like to bake, these were pretty easy to make. The end product is definitely worth making again!!

Strawberry Pancake Topping

I guess this doesn't have to be a pancake topping, but the title "strawberry topping" just seemed weird. We're having it on pancakes, but I imagine it would work for waffles, ice cream, crepes...you name it. I was looking through the breakfast recipes in my cookbook for the week, America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook, and thought about making a multigrain pancake recipe I saw, but it would have required me purchasing a lot of ingredients that probably wouldn't get used a whole lot. Okay, really just "no-sugar-added muesli" and I wasn't sure how often I'd use that again or even if any of the stores around me would have it. I mean, I couldn't find leeks the other day...what are my chances of finding "no sugar added muesli?!" I remembered I had a Trader Joe's multigrain pancake mix in my pantry, so I figured there was no point reinventing the wheel when I could just use that. I had already seen the strawberry topping recipe, so I figured I'd make that to go with the pancakes from the mix. we're going to have scrambled eggs and bacon to go along with the pancakes.

Strawberry Topping
Source: The America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook, Copyright 2010

4 cups strawberries (about 20 ounces), hulled and sliced thin
1/4 cup sugar
Pinch salt
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Toss 2 cups of the strawberries, the sugar, and salt together in a large bowl and let sit, stirring occasionally, until the strawberries have released their juice and the sugar has dissolved, about 30 minutes. Transfer the mixture, including all of the liquid, to a small saucepan and stir in the remaining strawberries. Cook over medium heat until the juice has thickened into a sauce, about 6 minutes. Off the heat, stir in the lemon juice. Let cool 1 hour before serving.

*****

This strawberry sauce was really good. It wasn't super sweet which I really liked. It tasted like strawberries, not syrupy sweet strawberries. I didn't let it cool for an hour because I forgot to factor in that time when I started making it. I figured it didn't need to be cool, though, since we were having it on pancakes. We all really liked it. Actually it made me think of my dad. Growing up when we'd have breakfast for dinner it was a big treat for my dad to make waffles and then we'd have strawberries and whipped cream on them. The strawberry sauce on the pancakes reminded me of that. I'd definitely make this again. There's still some left in my fridge...I kind of wish I had some vanilla ice cream to go with it.

Tiramisu Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Wow are things dusty around here from lack of use! I can't believe it's been so long since I updated my blog. Although, in my quest to use up the massive amount of items I had in my freezers, I wasn't making a whole lot of new stuff. And we were on vacation for a week. While we were on vacation--hobnobbing with Mickey Mouse and playing at the beach--I realized how much I miss my blog and need to get back in the groove of updating and trying new recipes. I miss my cookbook project, too.

I was just going through pictures on my computer to move stuff to my "cooking blog" pictures folder and saw the pictures of this amazing cake. I'm embarrassed to say that it was the middle of February when I made it, but I just never got around to posting it. Actually I've posted it before, but this time I remembered to take pictures as I was going. Two of my friends and I decided awhile back to do a supper club. This was back in November I think. We tried to plan it for December, but it fell through. i don't remember if we tried for January. It was originally going to be husbands and kids, too, but my husband didn't really want to go and it turned out another husband was out of town, so we decided to just have it be the girls. I was glad it worked out that way, it was so fun! It was at my friend Jenn's house, and she made a delicious roasted chicken with green beans and amazing fingerling potatoes. Oh my gosh, the potatoes! They were so tasty. Jen brought a really good feta dip as an appetizer, and I was in charge of dessert. I really had no idea what to take, and then I remembered this dessert. It's so rich and decadent and time-consuming, but I love it and wanted an excuse to make it.

Tiramisu Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cake
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
5 large eggs
1 1/3 cups whipping cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter and flour 2 9-inch round cake pans. Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in another large bowl to blend. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in cream and vanilla. Stir flour mixture into butter mixture. Divide batter equally among pans. Bake until tester inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool completely.

Frosting / Filling
3 1/2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
2 1/3 cups powdered sugar
1 cup chilled whipping cream
1 1/4 tablespoons vanilla extract

Using electric mixer beat cream cheese in large bowl until light. Gradually add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add cream and vanilla and beat until well blended. Cover refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Soaking Syrup
1 1/3 cups Kahlúa or other coffee liqueur
1/2 cups water
1/8 cup instant espresso powder or coffee powder

Combine.

Assembly
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 9-inch-diameter cardboard cake round
2 cups assorted berries (such as raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and strawberries)

Finely grind chopped chocolate in processor (do not over process or chocolate will clump together). After cakes have cooled completely, take about half a cup of frosting and spread it on a cardboard round or what ever you will be placing the cake on.

Cut the cakes in half horizontally. Place bottom of one cake on cardboard round, cut side up. Brush with 1/3 of syrup. Spread out about 1 cup of frosting and then sprinkle with 1/3 of the chocolate. Place top of cake on top - repeat syrup, frosting, chocolate. Place bottom of 2nd cake on top, cut side up - repeat with the remains of the syrup, 1 cup of frosting and remains of the chocolate.

Now, to tidy it up - take a serrated knife and cut around the cake to make it even all around, this made it very easy to frost the cake.

Frost the entire outside of cake. Decorate with berries, icing or chocolate.

This cake is best when allowed to sit for a day or so.

*****

I'm currently doing Phase One of the South Beach Diet again and just thinking about this cake is adding pounds back on to my body, I'm pretty sure. It's really, really, really time consuming, but it's so worth it. Be very generous when using the soaking syrup. The cake is really dense, so you want to use as much of the syrup as you can so it soaks through and makes the cake layers moist and flavorful. And definitely let it sit as long as possible so the cake has more time to absorb the syrup.

This is hands down one of my favorite cakes ever.

Cake batter...I told you it's a dense cake!


Layer of cake with syrup...really brush it on there!


Syrup with chopped chocolate in the background


Mmmmm...cream cheese frosting...


Cake in progress


Frosting cakes is not one of my strong suits, but I'm okay with it since I rarely do it. It tasted awesome, and that's what really counts.

Michele's Kale Smoothie

Are you saying to yourself, "Kale in a smoothie?! Seriously?!" I did when my friends Michele mentioned it. I assumed it had to be gross and green. Not gross, necessarily, because I do like kale, but it just didn't seem right in a fruity smoothie. I put it in the back of my brain and then remembered it when I was at the farmers' market this past weekend and saw gorgeous, full bunches of kale. I grabbed some, figuring I'd either give Michele's smoothie a try or make kale chips or some kind of soup that included kale. I texted Michele asking her to email me the recipe when she got a chance, and she ended up sending me what was probably the longest chain of text messages I've ever received! that girl must be speedy when it comes to typing on a phone! When my dinner tonight totally failed (more on that in another post), I made grilled cheese sandwiches for my kiddos and figured I'd offer up smoothies as well. I distracted them with some strawberries while I added the kale to the blender.

I should mention that Michele is an AMAZING photographer. She's taken maternity pictures of me, pictures of my kids...I've loved all of them! I tried to shadow her a bit when she did one year pics of the baby (who really isn't a baby anymore), but I ended up being too busy chasing and corraling him to really learn a whole lot. Maybe another time! If you're in the Phoenix area, definitely check out her website, Michele Stange Photography.

Michele's Kale Smoothies
Adapted from my friend Michele

1 cup almond milk
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 cup strawberries
2 large handfuls kale
1 banana, in chunks
1 cup ice
1 tsp honey

Combine ingredients in a blender, blend until ice is crushed and ingredients are combined.

*****

You can see Michele's recipe from the link above. The one she texted me was slightly different, so I kind of did a combo of the two. I couldn't remember the amount of kale, and I wanted to get it in there while my kids weren't looking (not that they're bad about veggies, but I figured they'd question the addition of a green leafy thing to their smoothie), so mine was probably more like one small handful. I think I also overdid it on the blueberries. I did less than a cup at first, but I thought it needed more fruit flavor, so I poured in what was left of a frozen bag of Trader Joe's blueberries, and I think it was too much. Not too much, per se, but I could have used less and still had a yummy smoothie. Oh well, just extra antioxidants for us I guess.

My kids LOVED THESE. I texted Michele while we were drinking them to let her know how good they were. The baby had two! The boy only had one because he wanted to make sure there was some left for later. They had no idea there was a vegetable in them which was awesome. Michele said she's used other kinds of greens, too, with good luck--both taste-wise and without her girls knowing what was hidden in them.

Kale smoothies, you will become a regular at our house!



My baby loved it!!

Strawberry Pie

In a moment of weakness I bought four pounds of strawberries at Costco this week. Okay, it wasn't really a moment of weakness...the boy and I love strawberries, and the per pound price worked out to be way cheaper than buying them at the grocery store. In one of my many cookbooks, I had recently seen a recipe for a strawberry pie. And of course I couldn't find it for the life of me once I actually had strawberries to use. :(

(The first part of this may seem like a tangent but really it's not...stick with me here.) The husband is from Louisiana...don't know if I've shared that. Probably I have. Anyway, the first time we went to visit we drove from Phoenix to New Orleans (which we quickly vowed we would never, EVER do again...Texas is just too damn big to drive across). Somewhere in Louisiana, he pointed out that we were in the strawberry capital of the south, or something like that. So as I was wracking my brain to figure out where that freakin' pie recipe had been, I saw my "Best of the Best Louisiana" cookbook and checked it. This wasn't where I had seen the recipe as I hadn't looked at that cookbook in quite some time, but there was a strawberry pie recipe in there, so I jumped all over it.

Strawberry Pie
1 quart fresh strawberries
3/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp corn starch
1 cup whipped cream
1 9-inch pastry shell (baked)

Place all but one cup berries in the bottom of baked pastry shell. Spread out well and set aside. In a saucepan, simmer the other cup of berries in 3/4 cup water for 5 minutes. Add sugar and blend well. Add corn starch. After mixture thickens, add lemon juice. Cook until clear. Pour sauce over berries in shell. Chill in fridge and top with whipped cream.

*****

I think I used more strawberries than called for. I put one quart less one cup into the pie crust (oh, I halved the strawberries by the way) and it didn't look like enough, so I cut up a few more. I also don't think I had the stove hot enough for simmering. After I put in the sugar and corn starch, it wasn't getting thick at all so I turned up the heat a bit, and that did the trick. The strawberries started to fall apart a bit, too, which is what I had expected in the first place. And mine didn't turn clear like the recipe says, it was a nice reddish-pink color.

I of course had to sample a piece last night, and it was really yummy. I didn't have any whipped cream, but I thought it was fine without. This was pretty easy to make, too. Definitely something I'd make again.