Honeybee Cupcakes

I made these last summer for a friend's bridal shower (sorry for the delay...).  I wanted to do something different, and I'd never had honey flavored cake.  Plus, the bees!  I couldn't resist.  They were really yummy - they reminded me of carrot cake, somehow (which is a good thing, in my opinion!).  The buttercream is silky and rich and buttery, which is good since it uses a WHOLE POUND of butter!

The marzipan bees are a little trickier than the instructions in the book make them seem.  Their little heads kept falling off, and the almond wings didn't want to stay on, either.  But I made extra, and could choose the best of the bunch, so it worked out fine.  And since the shower guests weren't looking at the pictures of Martha's perfect little honeybees and comparing them with mine, they were appropriately wowed.

From Martha Stewart's Cupcakes
Makes 20

Cupcakes:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp coarse salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp good-quality honey
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest

1. Preheat oven to 325°. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat eggs and sugars on high speed until pale and thick. In a separate bowl, whisk together honey, milk, oil, and zest. On low speed, mix honey mixture into egg mixture. Add flour mixture in two batches, mixing until just combined.

3. Divide batter among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until golden brown and a tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 15 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely.


Frosting:

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

5 large egg whites
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar
pinch of salt
1 pound unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, room temperature
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Combine egg whites, sugar, and salt in the heatproof bowl of a standing mixer set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk constantly by hand until mixture is warm to the touch and sugar has dissolved (the mixture should feel completely smooth when rubbed between your fingertips).

2. Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Starting on low and gradually increasing to medium-high speed, whisk until stiff (but not dry) peaks form. continue mixing until the mixture is fluffy and glossy, and completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl), about 10 minutes.

3. With mixer on medium-low speed, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time, mixing well after each addition. (It may look curdled; don't worry, just keep mixing! It will come together.) Once all butter has been added, whisk in vanilla. Switch to the paddle attachment, and continue beating on low speed until all air bubbles are eliminated, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl with a flexible spatula, and continue beating until the frosting is completely smooth. Keep buttercream at room temperature if using the same day, or transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 1 month. Before using, bring to room temperature and beat with paddle attachment on low speed until smooth again, about 5 minutes.

Pumpkin Pancakes

It's pumpkin season! I love pumpkin. I mean, not as an actual vegetable, but as an element to baked goods. I've already made a couple of batches of pumpkin bread: one for the parents of a new baby, and one that was intended as a gift but I didn't get it shipped in time, so we had to eat it (...darn.).

Saturday morning, I wanted something other than cereal for breakfast, so I thought I'd make pancakes. Then, I decided to try to improvise some pumpkin pancakes - and it worked! These are so yummy - not too spiced, and sweet enough that you don't need toppings (but not so sweet that putting syrup on will make your teeth ache). My 2-year-old likes them, and I love them! I made another batch this morning, mainly to have for dessert. They are a lovely little snack.

Pumpkin Pancakes
makes 15 3-inch pancakes, give or take a few (it's hard to count when you're eating them as you cook them)

1 cup Bob's Red Mill 10-Grain Pancake Mix (your favorite pancake mix will probably work here, as long as it requires you to add more than just water)
3 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
approx. 1/4 tsp freshly-grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
1 egg
approx. 3/4 cup milk (you can add more or less depending on your preference)
1/3 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp oil or melted butter
1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1. Mix all the ingredients together, being careful not to overmix. A few lumps are okay!

2. Heat a heavy non-stick skillet over medium heat. Melt some butter in it or spray with cooking spray. Let the batter rest while the skillet heats up.

3. Drop the batter onto the hot skillet about 2-3 Tbsp at a time. This batter won't make the traditional holes, letting you know to turn it, so you'll have to play with it a little. But it puffs very nicely to make up for it.

4. Turn the pancakes over to let them finish cooking. Then eat them. Yum!

Deconstructed Summer Berry Dessert

I don't have any photos of the finished dish because I took it to a work party and it disappeared too quickly, but this is one of my all-time favorite desserts. It sounds a little weird, but you'll just have to trust me!

Part of what makes it so great is that it's terribly, terribly easy, and endlessly customizable. This makes it perfect for a party, especially if you're trying to please dieters and non-dieters; everyone ends up loving this.

So, here we go: it's not so much a recipe as a guideline. You're going to end up with chunks of frozen graham-cracker crust, some whipped cream, and berries (or other fruit, as you wish). You (and your guests/friends/family) get to assemble them as you choose.

To make the crust, you'll need:

1 packet of graham crackers
3/4 (6 Tbsp) stick of butter, melted
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Turn the graham crackers into crumbs. A food processor works great for this, or you can put the crackers in a zip-top bag and bash them with something heavy. I used a rolling pin before I got my food processor. You want to get the crumbs relatively fine, without turning too many of them into dust, but it's really not critical.

Put the crumbs into a pie tin. (NOTE: an old-fashioned metal, beat-up-able pie tin works best here. Pyrex works, of course, but it will be a LOT harder to get the crust out.) With a fork, mix in the sugar and cinnamon. Pour the melted butter over and dampen all the crumbs with it. Then, start pressing the crumb mixture into the pan and up its sides. Use a flat-bottomed glass or measuring cup to get it smooth-ish and nicely compressed. Put the crust in the freezer for at least 2 hours.

Once it's frozen, use a fork to pry it out of the tin and break it into chunks (no bigger than bite-size). You can do this in advance and keep the chunks in a zip-top bag in the freezer (I don't know exactly how long it will keep in there, but I've kept it in there for months.)


To make the whipped cream, you'll need:

Some whipping cream (very cold)
Some sugar
Some vanilla

(I'm being vague with the quantities here because you can just whip enough cream for one serving for yourself (see above, why I keep the crust chunks for months in my freezer) or for a whole party. And the ratios are not all that important with this recipe, anyway - if the cream is unsweetened, the berries and the crust will pretty much cover it up. For 1 cup of whipping cream I would probably use up to 2 Tbsp sugar and up to 1 tsp vanilla, which would probably serve 4-6 people with this dessert.)

In a cold bowl, with cold beaters (not strictly necessary, but it makes everything go faster), mix the cream, sugar, and vanilla on low speed until combined (about 5 seconds). Turn the speed up to medium-high, and beat until soft peaks form. Refrigerate until you're ready to use (don't wait too long or the whipped cream will deflate).

For the berries, you will need:

An assortment (or not, as you choose) of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries (or any other berries you want to add!). For 4-6 people, a pint of each would suffice, probably.

Wash the berries and make sure you get rid of any that are moldy or otherwise gross. Cut any big strawberries into halves or quarters, so they are roughly bite-size. Set them out in separate bowls. (If the strawberries are too tart, you can toss them with a couple of tablespoons of sugar and let them sit a half-hour or so - they'll get nice and juicy.)


Now, here's the fun part: let your guests assemble their own! Put out each component in its own bowl and let people take as much as they choose of each. If I know I have serious dieters in the crowd, I will also put out a bowl of reduced-fat Cool Whip so they don't have to undo the work they've done just for a treat.

The crust is also great by itself, or with just the whipped cream. It's a nice, cool dessert if you're in the mood for something other than ice cream.

Enjoy!

Striped Baby Hat

My wonderful, wonderful boss is having a baby boy next month, so of course I had to knit him a little something. I'm trying to be on a yarn diet -- with fair-to-middling success -- and baby hats don't use a whole lot of yarn, so I decided to make this one a stash-buster. I'm so glad I did, because this might be my favorite baby hat ever! I just love the different blues and the pop of red. There's a good chance I'll make one for my own son, if my friends and family stop having babies long enough!




I didn't really use a pattern, per se - it's just a simple roll-brim hat. This is approximately what I did:

Using 12" size 6 or so circular needles, and DK-ish yarn (you may adjust this, of course, depending on the yarn you have, the needles you have, and how tightly you knit):

Cast on 64 stitches. Join and knit in the round, changing the yarn color as you wish, until the hat is about 5 inches long.
Place 1 marker every 8 stitches.

Begin decrease, switching to DPNs when you need to:
*K6, K2tog* all the way around. (56 sts rem)
Knit the next row.
*K5, K2tog* all the way around. (48 sts rem)
Knit the next row.
*K4, K2tog* all the way around. (40 sts rem)
Knit the next row.
*K3, K2tog* all the way around. (32 sts rem)
Knit the next row.
*K2, K2tog* all the way around. (24 sts rem)
Knit the next row.
*K1, K2tog* all the way around. (16 sts rem)
Knit the next row.
*K2tog* all the way around. (8 sts rem)
Knit the next row.
*K2tog* all the way around. (4 sts rem)
Move the remaining stitches to one needle, and knit 2-3 rows of I-cord.
Bind off by running the yarn tail through the stitches and pulling tight. Weave in all your ends and you're done!

Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Whipped Cream

My best friend from college is having a baby girl this fall, and she was in town for her baby shower a few weeks ago. I got to make the cupcakes, which was a lot of fun! The theme was cowgirl - thus the little pink cowgirl hat you see in the picture - and of course I decided they had to be pink!



The cupcakes are the Snickerdoodle cupcakes from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book, but without the cinnamon. They were lovely and light, and yummy. I think I baked them a little too long, but no one else seemed to notice! The frosting is just whipped cream with sugar, and then some strawberry puree folded in. So simple, and nice and fresh for a summer shower!



I had lots of fun playing with the decorations. I'd wanted to do little cowboy boots, but my local cake decorating store was out of candy molds for them. So I went with hats and fondant flowers. It's been too long since I played with fondant for a relatively low-pressure event -- I usually use it to cover wedding cakes. So it was a lot of fun to make these easy little flowers, and then dust them with luster dust to make them sparkle.



Vanilla Cupcakes
adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes
makes 28

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups cake flour, sifted
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1-3/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/4 cups milk

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together both flours, baking powder, and salt (or whisk them together, which is what I did).

2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bwol as needed. Beat in vanila. reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternting with two additions of milk, andbeating until combined after each.

3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until a cake tester insterted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer pans to wire rack to cool completely before removing cupcakes.


Strawberry Whipped Cream

about 2 cups whipping cream, very cold
about 2 Tbsp sugar
about 1 cup strawberries

Puree the strawberries in a food processor. Strain the puree through a fine-mesh sieve to get the seeds out.

Using an electric mixer (or just a whisk!), whip the cream and sugar together until stiff-ish peaks form (or however you like it). Fold in the strawberry puree (as much or as little as you like). Pipe onto the cupcakes and enjoy!