Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes with Swiss Meringue Buttercream

The best cupcakes you will have ever tasted, Part I.

(Not even exaggerating)

It was my friend Jiamin's birthday this weekend. So of course, me being me, I made cupcakes.

This is part one of a two part entry titled, "The Best Cupcakes You Will Have Ever Tasted." I went on a cupcake making rampage this weekend and tried my hand at two new cupcakes. Read on and stayed tuned to find out what goes into making the best cupcakes ever!

I was tired of the same old cupcakes and was searching for something new and exciting. I knew I wanted something unique that you can't get at your average bakery. Recently, Kevin took me to Cupcake Royale where I purchased a Chocolate Salted Caramel cupcake. Although the cupcake was too sweet, the flavor combination of chocolate and salted caramel was insanely delicious.

Thinking that this cupcake would be perfect for the occasion, I went in search (as I always do), of the perfect recipe. Hours of researching later, I came upon another blogger's site: Crispy Waffle. The thing that hooked me (and not the other dozen or so recipes that I had read and discarded), was the fact that she used an out-of-the-ordinary buttercream. She built upon a Swiss Meringue Buttercream base to make the salted caramel frosting. (Amazingly enough, the author of this blog comments on the same cupcake & cupcake store that I had previously mentioned... and her assessment is the same as mine!)

I digress: quite frankly, I dislike American Buttercream, which is the run-of-the-mill, super sweet frosting that you get on most cupcakes and cakes. It's a mixture of butter and powdered sugar. A lot of powdered sugar. It gives you the feeling that you're spooning sugar straight into your mouth. Also, if it sits out for too long, it dries out and gets crusty edges! Eww. I usually end up scraping off all the frosting. It's super rare for me to find a cake where I actually like the frosting.

I've known about this Swiss Meringue Buttercream for some time, and had been meaning to try it. But because it's such a pain to make (you'll see why later), I had been putting it off. But since it was Jiamin's birthday, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally try it out.

Step 1: The Cupcakes

On Crispy Waffle's blog, she makes these cupcakes with a vanilla cake. I, however, ever the chocolate fiend, opted for a chocolate cake. I always use this recipe from Williams Sonoma when making these.

It calls for semi sweet chocolate, chopped and melted. That's how you know it's gonna be a good cupcake! These cupcakes will turn out moist and fluffy if you make sure not to over mix. Stop mixing as soon as all the flour is incorporated, or you'll get a super dense and dry cupcake.

It's so important to bake these from scratch, however tempting that box of cake mix may be. There's just something different about home-made ones that give it the extra deliciousness that you can't ever get from boxed cake mix. Plus, the super high quality buttercream you're about to make deserves an equally fantastic cupcake. =)

Step 2: The Caramel

Oh boy, not even try to cover this one up: I failed at this twice before I finally got it right. lol. (Refer to Crispy Waffle's site for the recipe.) Caramel is basically sugar syrup boiled until it's amber. Simple, right? You'd think it would be. But for me, a first timer, it was definitely a challenge. I will try to meticulously document everything that went wrong so that you can learn from my mistakes. =)

So what you do is put sugar and water on the stove to dissolve. Then when it boils, put a lid on it for 2 minutes. Afterward, with the lid off, swirl the pan around until it turns amber. Ok so, my first problem was that instead of "swirling the pan," like indicated in the recipe, I stirred it with my spatula, which made it turn back into solid chunks of sugar! Seriously, swirl the pan when the woman tells you to swirl! And also, I was confused because I expected it to turn amber immediately. But no, it very slowly changed color over a 10 minute period. And all the while, you have to be patient and swirl.

When it's done, it will be a deep amber color (picture on the left). Pretty! On my second attempt, I was super excited because I got it to this stage. However, I made the mistake of pouring it into a pyrex bowl before adding the heavy whipping cream. This cooled it down significantly and didn't allow for incorporation of the cream. Basically what I had was chunks of cooled down caramel floating in cream. What you need to do is leave it in the pot itself and slowly pour in the cream while using an electronic mixer. This makes it so that you get everything incorporated before the caramel cools and sets (pictured on the right). Do it quickly and immediately after you take it off the heat.

One thing that I freaked out about: you might get the amber caramel mixture splashed on something...and the second it cools, it turns rock hard. You try to pry it off with your fingers and it won't budge. I thought I had ruined my pyrex! But don't panic like I did, because apparently it dissolves quite easily if you put it in water for like 5 minutes.

When your caramel is done, set it aside and start on your buttercream.

Step 3: Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Ok so, here's the painful part. For American buttercreams, you put powdered sugar and butter into a bowl, whip it up and you're good to go. But it's also disgusting. lol. This Swiss Buttercream might be a pain, but it's totally worth it. You gotta try making it at least once in your life to see for yourself just how delicious it is. (Refer to Crispy Waffle's site for the recipe.)

Start by combining egg whites, cream of tartar and sugar into your stainless steel stand mixer bowl. (I need to mention that on Crispy Waffle's site, she says to also add water to this, but on the ingredients list, it doesn't call for water. Must be a typo. I ignored it, didn't add any water, and it still turned out great). Submerge your bowl in simmering water and mix with a hand held mixer until the temperature on your candy thermometer reaches 140 degrees.

If you don't have a thermometer, just watch it carefully. It should look foamy when it reaches the right temp- kinda like the foam on a latte. (I didn't have one either, but I went out and bought one for $9, so they're not a super expensive investment.)

After it reaches the proper temperature, transfer it to your stand mixer and beat it on medium speed (I used 6), for about 5 minutes, until stiff & glossy peaks form.

Your stiff peaks should look like this when ready.

Scoop 2/3 of it out into a separate bowl. It should be puffy like marshmallows and be able to hold its form.

Take turns spooning in the butter and extra meringue. It will look scary and curdled at the beginning, but don't worry. It'll smooth out after 5 minutes or so of whipping.

It will look like this when done! Super silky and creamy!

Now add in the caramel from earlier. It will have darkened in color and be more viscous. Mix until well combined.

Step 4: Frost The Cupcakes!

I recently got a giant, jumbo-sized icing tip that I was dying to try out!

It worked really well. The best icing tip I've had thus far. It gave me these beautiful soft serve type swirls!

When you're done frosting, line them up...

...and add a sprinkle of sea salt!

Jiamin later told me that these were the best cupcakes she's ever tasted, which gave me the idea for this post. =) Truthfully, they really were. In fact, they were the best anyone had tasted, out of all who tried them. I think the secret is in the Swiss Meringue frosting. It was so silky and creamy, and subtly sweet. It wasn't over powering, and it didn't mask the flavor of the cake...it complemented perfectly. It was light, yet flavorful on the palate.

So perfect.

This is the only buttercream I will ever use for my cupcakes from here on out. It seriously takes your cupcakes to a whole new level. It tastes fancy and gourmet. I doubt many people have tasted a cupcake like this before. And dare I say, it was 10 times better than the one I had at Cupcake Royal. This was the first time in my adult life where I felt compelled to spoon frosting out of the bowl and into my mouth. I might have consumed a spoonful...or ten.

Excited about my new buttercream discovery, I set out to make a different variety to see if it would be just as good...stayed tuned for "The best cupcakes you will have ever tasted, Part II."



Note: for best results, serve immediately after frosting. If they've been in the fridge, have them sit at room temp for 20-30 minutes before serving. It needs to have enough time for the butter in the frosting to soften.


Please click HERE for the recipes shown in this entry.

Chicken Pot Pie

A while ago, I talked about splurging on a $50 Emile Henry pie dish. I didn't get what all the hype was about and had to see for myself. Utterly amazed by its magical pie baking qualities, I was instantly won over by Emile Henry's line of bake ware. I mean, c'mon, if you had a magical pie dish that gave you a perfectly even & golden bottom crust every single time, wouldn't you splurge for one too?? A domestic goddess wouldn't be caught dead without one of these in her kitchen...or five, in my case.


My large dish was such a hit that I couldn't resist when I saw these individual 5 inch ones! They're just so beautiful. I saw them and thought: this would be an awesome way to serve individual chicken pot pies!

I love pies. I love to bake them, I love to eat them. But I've only ever made fruit pies and have always wanted to find a good chicken pot pie recipe. I was browsing the internet for one when I stumbled upon this- a recipe that got rated 5 stars by 2,140 reviewers! I need to try this recipe immediately to see what all of these people were raving about. (Please see below for modified recipe.)

Start by using this crust recipe that I swear by. Trust me, it's the best and the only one you'll ever need. I didn't lay out the steps of making the pie dough in this blog entry because I've already featured it before in a Blueberry Pie posting. Please refer to it to see how the crust was made. One thing that I did differently, though, is to divide the pie dough into 8 pieces (instead of two) before putting it into the fridge (four top crusts, and four bottom ones).

Start the filling by chopping up chicken, carrots, celery, and carrots. Add peas.

Boil the chicken and veggies in chicken stock. The original recipe said to boil all of it at once for 15 minutes, which is what I did. However, I found some of the chicken pieces to be a bit tough and chewy, so I modified the recipe slightly. Boil the veggies first, then put the chicken in at the last minute. Keep an eye on it. Remove from heat and drain as soon as the chicken turns white.


Now make the sauce. It's basically sauteed onions, with seasoning, milk, and chicken stock. Super quick and easy to make.


Roll out the bottom crusts, press them into the mini pie plates, and brush with egg whites. This makes it so that the crust doesn't turn soggy from the filling.

First, scoop your chicken and veggie mixture into the pies.

Cover the chicken and veggies with sauce. Make sure to spoon in a generous amount, and that it seeps all the way to the bottom. You don't want your pie to come out dry.

Put the top pie crust on.


Make slits to allow steam to escape.


Bake at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown.

They turned out really well! It was delicious! Although, I have a suspicion that they turned out great because I had to modify the recipe quite a bit from the original. lol. So I'm not entirely sure if the recipe ratings were accurate. Anyway, most importantly, my pie dishes were amazing! They were not only beautiful to serve, but the crust turned out perfectly, as usual: golden and flaky! And we all know that the crust is the best part of any pie, regardless of whether it's sweet or savory. Mmmm...carbs. =)


Here is my modified recipe:

• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
• 1 cup sliced carrots
• 1 cup frozen green peas
• 1/2 cup sliced celery
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 ¼ cups chicken broth
• 1 ¼ cup milk
• Crust recipe

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2. In a saucepan, combine carrots, peas, and celery. Add chicken stock to cover and boil for 10 minutes. Add chicken and boil for another 5 minutes, or until the chicken turns white. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.
3. In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, pepper, and garlic salt. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Brush egg white on bottom crust.
5. Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Banana Muffins with Mascarpone Frosting

I'm super weird about bananas. I hate the way they taste and the smell makes me gag. No joke. Whenever I get the slightest whiff of them, my gag reflex kicks in on over drive and I start dry heaving (the ripened ones are the worst because they have a stronger, more repulsive scent). It's a weird involuntary reflex that I can't control- it just happens.

It's so embarrassing when you're in the middle of the grocery store and you accidentally walk by the bananas: instant dry heaving. You look like a cat trying to cough up a mean hairball. People think you're crazy. Or they wanna run over and give you the Heimlich.

Once this became common knowledge at school, I got teased big time for it. People wouldn't let me live it down. I was constantly running down the hall or out of the classroom, out of fear of having a banana stuffed in my face. People used to run after me with them, taunting me, threatening to peel one in front of me. Some would purposefully sit next to me and pull out a banana, non-nonchalantly, and place it next to me in the middle of class, so that I couldn't run out. Sometimes, when I least expected it, a banana peel would get shoved in my face, and before I even knew what was happening, I would be doubled over, and gagging like crazy. Then the whole class would laugh at me. It was all a rather traumatic experience! Kids in grad school can be so mean!

Anyway, the weirder thing is that I love bananas when it's an ingredient in something. For instance, I love strawberry banana smoothies and at times, I even crave banana bread. I could have it everyday and not get sick of it. I think it's because once the banana is mixed in with something, you can't smell it anymore...and it's the smell that makes me gag. Yeah, I'm a strange one. =)

I was super excited when I saw Giada's recipe for Banana Muffins. It's topped with a creamy mascarpone frosting and walnuts! Yum! I just had to try them.


Ok, one tiiiny problem: it calls for four ripened bananas AND to make matters worse, you have to mash them. Can you imagine me having to sit there for ten minutes, mashing up all those repulsively smelling ripe bananas? I was doomed. I thought about giving up...


...but at the last minute, I had a great idea! I'll just hold my breath, shove them into a food processor and pulse the hell out of them. It worked out great! You'll need three bowls: (1) dry ingredients mixture, (2) the wet ingredients mixture, and (3) the mashed bananas (or in my case, pureed).


Mix the banana mixture with the wet ingredients first. Again, I held my breath and did this quickly. Once you mix it together, you can't really smell the bananas anymore! yay!

Next, fold in the dry ingredients...


...until smooth and blended.

Scoop into a muffin pan and bake at 325 for 25 minutes.

While they're baking, prepare the frosting. It's a mixture of mascarpone, cream cheese, butter, and honey. Super creamy and delicious!

The recipe called for regular walnuts, but I got some candied ones instead! Trust me, these are ten times better!

Place on a wire rack to cool before adding the frosting.


Aren't they pretty? I added one walnut each for a cute garnish...


...but this is really how I like to eat them!

These were fantastic, even without the frosting! They were super moist and delicious...some of the best banana bread I've had. Go Giada! There's a reason why this recipe got rated five stars, out of 324 reviews! Give these a try, even if you hate bananas, like I do. =)


Giada's Banana Muffins With Mascarpone Frosting
Click HERE for the recipe.

Fried Green Tomatoes

Most people in the Pacific Northwest have never had fried green tomatoes. It's a southern thing.


I remember it from my childhood, when the tomatoes in our backyard were plentiful and juicy! I haven't had it in over a decade and thought about it out-of-the-blue last week. Since then, I had been craving it like crazy and went about scouring the grocery stores for them. Ok, so...apparently, since people here in WA don't eat them on a regular basis, they aren't available for purchase. Anywhere.

My last resort was to go to the farmer's market down the street. I went around asking every veggie vendor if they had them and got turned down, one by one. Alas, feeling disappointed, I made my way over to the last vendor and quickly glanced over their selection of tomatoes. They had beautiful heirlooms of all colors, but nothing green! I explained my situation to the lady at the stand, and to my surprise, she said that she would pick some for me, no problem! What service!


True to her word, there they were when I returned the following week! Aren't they gorgeous?? (Just to clarify, these are green because they are young and have not yet turned red. There is a such thing as a green heirloom tomato, which is not what we're talking about here. The heirloom is green when it's fully ripened. We want the unripened version of a regular tomato.)

Most people just batter them, fry them up and eat them as is. But just to make things interesting, here's my ramped-up version!


First, slice the tomatoes about 1/4 inch thick. You should be able to get 4 slices from each tomato.


Next, prepare two plates: one with flour, and one with a breadcrumb/cornmeal/seasoning mixture. You'll also need a little bowl of egg wash.


Make an assembly station with the tomatoes, the two batter mixes, the egg wash, and a clean plate.

Start by coating the tomato in flour.

Next, dip it in the egg wash.


Then coat it with the breadcrumb/cornmeal mixture.


Set aside on a clean plate until you're ready to fry.


Usually they're deep fried, but for simplicity, I pan fried mine.


Set on a wire rack while you finish frying up the others.

At this point, it's ready to go! You can eat it as is or with marinara sauce. Mmmm...it's sooo delicious in marinara! (I just use Prego.) Slice them up into quarters to serve as finger food at a party! You can also serve them as appetizers for dinner.

This is where I like to get creative. Wanna know what the ultimate grilled cheese tastes like?? Stuff your sandwich with these freshly fried tomatoes for a flavor combination that's out of this world! For added delight, dip your sandwich in the marinara! It's incredible! Hubby, who's never had fried green tomatoes, was very wary going into it. But upon first bite, he was hooked! There was lot of "Mmmms" and "Yuuuums."

You'd think that green tomatoes would be tart, super sour, and not very pleasant on the palate. But on the contrary, they are slightly tangy and just subtly sour enough to offset the deep-fried coating. And it's so juicy. There's a reason why southerners have been enjoying these for generations!

Drop by your local farmer's market and ask for them! Give these a try before summer's out and they're no longer available. =)

Recipe:

2 medium green tomatoes, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/4 cup corn meal
1 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp oregano
1 egg
2 tbsp water
Olive Oil for frying
Marinara sauce for dipping

Combine and mix well: pepper and flour in a bowl or plate.

In a separate bowl or plate, combine and mix well: bread crumbs, corn meal, garlic salt, and oregano.

In a small bowl beat the egg and water until well mixed.

Coat the sliced tomatoes in the flour mixture, then dip them in the egg wash, followed by the bread crumb and corn meal mixture.

Pour olive oil in a pan, so that it coats 1/4 inch of the pan, enough to cover the tomatoes. On medium-high heat, when the oil is hot, fry the tomatoes, about 2 minutes on each side. Cool slightly on a wire rack before serving. Serve with marinara sauce.