Tiramisu Cupcake with Mascarpone Frosting

So Mr. W had brought the Salted Caramel Mocha Cupcake to his office and they willingly ate them all.  It got a little bit dried while in the fridge overnight but the reviews were still good!  Aimee said it is "PMS heaven."  I am so happy that they ate it all, but that means I didn't get to have another one!  After he brought them to work, I was slightly craving for them...  which leads me to a new cupcake!  Tiramisu Cupcake with Mascarpone Frosting!!! 

I got the inspiration to do this after spending a lovely time with Virginia in NYC.  She took me to a "Little Cupcake Shop"... that is literally the name of the shop (and they named their cupcake "Mott St.") Virginia said she is taking me to a little cupcake shop...I thought she was describing it and didn't think it was the name!!!  It was an okay cupcake in that, the flavors are all there but the cake was little dry and the frosting was a little dry.  I think I can do a better job... and here is the results!

This time I brought it to MY office, first time for my office to try my baking.  I think they like it... here are a few comments...

-John tries one and goes around the office announcing to everyone that they NEED to try it (at the end of the day he had 3 cupcakes)  He also said he wanted to shoot me because he is using a lot of will power not to take one everytime he goes into the kitchen.

-Joe giggled and said "i just wet myself from how good this is" and "is Mr. W the size of an orca whale from your baking?" (nope!)

-Jeremy said not to bake so much or else everyone will be fat.

I am my own worst critic, but this is gooooddddd.... no lie- it melts in the mouth.  The cake and frosting was so smooth and so soft, once you put it into your mouth it just melted.  The crumbs were so small and soft....  One change I would do is to add one more squirt of coffee into the cake- make that flavor more evenly distributed and prominent.     

Easiest Basic Vanilla Cake

As I mentioned in the last post, I like to weight my ingredients rather than measuring them volumetrically (using cups and tea/table spoons)... (is" volumetrically" even a word?)  When I made my sister's wedding cake I measured out the small ingredients (baking powder, salt, and extract) in tea/ table spoons just because they were easier.  This time I started to weigh them and as I weighted them I thought "THERE IS NO WAY THIS IS 2 TABLESPOONS OF BAKING POWDER!! when I weighed them out, it seemed a LOT more than just 2 tablespoons.  Also, I used the same spoon to "measure" salt and baking powder and I thought it was really different in terms of how much it weighs. I started to question myself...

Then I thought it out... you can't really convert volume into weight because different ingredients have different masses (ahhh... the engine-nerd inside of me...) therefore I am still doing the right thing and adding the right amount of ingredients.  I'm converted now, if you weight your ingredients, weigh all of them!  Although there is really no difference in terms of outcome between weighing or using volume for the baking powder, salt, or extract.  To make it easier for everyone, I'll just post things with volumetric measurements.

Basic Vanilla Cake (2-9in cakes)
4 1/2 egg white
1 cup milk
2 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups of flour
1 1/2 cup of sugar
2 tablespoon of baking powder
3/4 teaspoon of salt
12 tablespoon of unsalted butter

Bake at 350F.

1- Mix dry ingredients together in mixer bowl.
2- in a small bowl, mix the egg white, milk and vanilla together.
3- pour 1/4 of the egg mixture and all butter into the dry ingredients and beat until light and fluffy.
4- add the remaining egg mixture in 3 batches, mixing well after each addition.

it is easy as that!

Sweet and Salty..who knew??? Starbucks did...

Even though the name of my blog is "sweet and savory", tonight I went down the sweet and salty road of life.

For those who haven't tried it, Starbucks have a seasonal drink "Salted Caramel Mocha" and it is delicious!  The first time I tried it was based on the cashier's recommendation.  I am so glad I took her recommendation because it is now one of my favorite seasonal drink from Starbucks!!!  My first impression when I drank it was "hrmmm... not as sweet as the caramel macchiato.. what is this?!?! I can taste the mocha flavor! yummm. oh there is the caramel sweetness... OMG the hint of salt to balance the caramel sweetness.  THIS IS DELICIOUS!"  Cheers to Starbucks!

So with this wonderful fall flavor in mind, I made a cupcake with the same concept- mocha chocolate cake with caramel frosting with a sprinkle of sea salt.  

Side story:  My friend loves to laugh at me for saying that "if my engineering gig doesn't work out, I'll be a food scientist!"  Reason is- I am really interested in learning how to bake and cook based on food science... how ingredients relate to one another.. why certain foods pair with each other so well, why certain ingredients have to be cooked first (based on how they break down as they cook)... the perfect ratio of ingredients for the perfect cake.. etc.  To ensure I am learning about the balance, I measure everything out when it comes to baking a cake- and I measure in grams.  But I know that not everyone is like me, so I've converted my recipe into volumetric measurements.

Mocha Chocolate Cake

Salted Caramel Mocha Cake

1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

1 cup boiling water

3 large eggs

2 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 package of Starbucks Via

2 sticks unsalted butter (softened)

Frosting

1 1/2 stick of unsalted butter (softened)

2 cups of powder sugar

3 tablespoons of milk/ cream

1 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

1/2 cup of caramel sauce (or as desired)

medium coarse sea salt (do not use regular table salt)

Preheat oven to 350F (recipe is for (2)- 9in pans or 24 regular cupcake size pan)

For the cake:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the coca and hot water until smooth- cool to room temperature.
2. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, 1/4 of chocolate mixture, and vanilla.
3. In the mixing bowl, combine the rest of the dry ingredients and mix on low speed for 30 secs to blend.  Add butter and the remaining cocoa mixture and mix on low speed until everything is moistened.  Increase to medium speed to aerate the batter.
4. Add the egg mixture in 3 batches, blending for 20 secs after each batch.  Scrape down the bowl after each addition.
5. Beat for 30 secs more to aerate.

Scrape the batter into the chosen pan and bake for 30 mins (in the 9in pan) or 15 mins in the cupcake pans.  

For the frosting,

1. Beat the powder sugar, butter, milk, and vanilla together until white, light and fluffy.  If too runny, add more sugar, conversely, if to stiff- add more milk (each 1 teaspoon at a time)

Delicious!!!

To assemble,

Take the cooled cake and frost it any way you like.  Drizzle the caramel sauce on top as desired and sprinkle lightly with sea salt.

This tasted so good and so tummy warming!  The cake was nice and moist, not gummy or fudge-y.  It literally melted in my mouth.  It has the texture of a white cake, but the deep flavors of the chocolate cake.  It has a wonderful soft and small crumb!  The caramel adds the perfect amount of sweetness to the cake.  There is the delightful crunch from the sea salt and balances the caramel perfectly.

Mr. W said "it is a chocolaty caramel heaven..."  of course, he might be a little biased so why don't you try it and tell me what you think? 

YAYYYY!!!!!!! TOFU FA!!!!- UPDATED

I am SUPERRRR excited about this post because I wanted to make it for so long!!! I looked up, again and again, on the internet how to make it but I could never find Gypsum Powder. I asked my uncle, a chef, how to make it and he said I shouldn't try it but I really wanted to!  I was very worried about using gypsum powder because it is also used to form dry-wall, but rest assure this is FOOD GRADE gypsum powder.  =] every where online, said that you can buy the powder in the asian markets, and I couldn't find it!

funny story-  My Dearest and I was at the asian market looking for the powder but couldn't find it, we looked at every single powder they had.  I didn't know how to say it in canto, nor would the people understand me... so I found a picture of a gypsum powder bag with the chinese name on it, brought it to the store and ask a worker if they knew canto; I showed him the picture and said "I don't know how to say this or know what this is...do you?" hahhaha he said yes and that they had it, so he found it for me.  This is what I get for never learning how to read/write chinese. ahahhahaha

YUMMY Tofu Fa!

So now that I have the final ingredient, it is time for me to make the tofu fa.  My first attempt failed because I stirred it a few times after the coagulate process started. This time my Dearest helped me and poured the coagulate mixture while I poured the hot soymilk.  I started the process right after I finished cooking dinner, so I forced myself not to mix the mixture and let it coagulate =] I'm very impatient thehehehe.

I am so proud that I made FRESH Tofu Fa from fresh soymilk.  The syrup used to add a touch of sweetness is a ginger syrup.  It was sooo yummyyyyyyyyyyy. Hint of the ginger and sweetness ontop of fresf tofu fa. YUM! I am so happy that it was a success.

Here is a side sweet moment of my life- there is this feeling inside of me, I just love my Dearest more and more each day.  Even though I pretty much spend 24/7 with him, I still love seeing him and I just want to find more time to be with him.  He brings so much happiness into my life- happiness that is just so pure. 
Sorry everyone, but I want to tell the world how much he means to me.

UPDATE (FYI)- I know it sounds scary that i used gypsum powder in making this dessert, but so you know that gypsum powder is calcium sulfate, it most used coagulate to make tofu. so next time you buy tofu take a look at the ingredients and most likely it would have calcium sulfate in there.  It is what makes it from soymilk to tofu.  It is also the ingredient that adds the calcium in the tofu.  so it is safe. 

Week 5- Dessert Souffle!

Dark Chocolate Souffle

Hi Ya'll! I've been sooooo busy and I haven't had time to post my recent memories.  Now I have no time to make a dress out of dessert so I made the quickfire challenge dessert souffle.  I never made a souffle before nor have I ever tasted one =] so this is all new to me.  At the end, based on the recipe and advice from Cooks Illustrated, I over cooked the bottom of the souffle and the top of the souffle was fine...but unfortunately it didn't souffle.  It poofed up in the oven but it de-poofed while it was in the oven =[.  All in all it was yummy, it might put me in bottom 3 but oh well.  There is always a first, I'm no Dessert Princess from Master Chef.

The souffle is made with dark chocolate and dusted with powder sugar.  It was yummy but too bad it didn't souffle =] especially when it is paired with chocolate.

Also, I have made my own malted hot chocolate aka Ovaltine!

Week 4- Outrageous/ Showy Desserts (Failed)

Hi everyone! I had a wonderful time with my friends this weekend =] thanks for coming and eating the food I made.  Before they left, they were able to try my week 4 dessert- which I had said was a "cheesecake bombe flambe" but I changed it- Sorry =].  Week 4 on the TCJD was hard for me to decide what to make- I couldn't make a showcase! so I decided to just do the flaming dessert.

Instead I made Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie.  This weekend I used the fresh pumpkin puree I made two weekends ago to make Pumpkin Ice Cream.  I really did want to make a bombe but decided to make an ice cream pie- instead of baking the filling I froze it and put it on a graham cracker crust.  To be my harshest critic, I thought the ice cream was a little grainy/fiber-y (did not strain/ puree it smooth enough) but I really liked it because it had great pumpkin taste and not too sweet.  I topped it with chocolate drizzle....DELISH!!!! pumpkin + chocolate is a yummmmmmmmyyyyyyyy couple =] So here how is looks like.  FYI- Saturday 10/16/10 was "The Sweetest Day" and so I made the dessert heart shaped... and not because I couldn't find my circle cookie cutter..;)

Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie

I failed in making the dessert flame... I had soaked sugar cubes in Brandy and light it on fire, but the fire wasn't large or showy enough... thus, I failed the flames.  Well, everyone got there moments...

PS:  I know i haven't done week 3 yet, but that is little more time consuming= more planning.  And another change... instead of having a bake sale, I'm doing the wedding cake =]

Just Desserts Week 2- Cocktail Inspired

I am so behind on this challenge! =] I didn't want to make a dessert if it was only me enjoying it... so I had to wait until My Dearest came home from road trips.  

I have a little rant... TCJD (Top Chef Just Desserts) has so much DRAMA!!!! geez.. so much more drama than just Top Chef.  But I loveeee that one guy.. I forgot his name.. but he has the funniest phrases.  For instance in the first episode something like- being a pastry chef is like giving birth, you work really hard to make it put a lot of effort and love and then are not sure how it will [grow/end] up to be =] IT IS SOOOO TRUE! I love that line. 

Week 2 challenge is to make a dessert that is inspired by a cocktail.  My favorite cocktails are Ginger Ale w/ Whiskey, Kahlua Sunset, "Chocolate Milk", and Lemon Strawberry Mojito- the last being my inspiration.  The idea was to make a Lemon Panna Cotta with Sprite infused Mint and Strawberry syrup.  The finished product is a nice creamy lemony custard with a kick of tartness from the strawberry.  The lemon flavor was there without the sourness or the >.< looking faces.  The custard was a little too heavy/ dense for my taste but the strawberry tartness balanced it out very well.  The syrup also had a nice subtle mint and lemon flavor from (of course) mint and a splash of Bacardi Limon.  The changes I would make next time I make this is to use less cream or use more serving bowls so I'm not eating a large serving of Panna Cotta. Lesson learned and remembered. 

There is no recipe for the syrup since I come up with it and was trying it out...but the Lemon Panna Cotta recipe can be found at http://www.cooksillustrated.com 

Coming up for week 3 and 4 challenge is Mini Apple and Pumpkin Pie "Bake Sale" and "Cheesecake Flambe Bombe"