Long Time No Bake

So I haven't updated in ages and ages and ages. I'm sorry. But I like to think I have a good excuse - I MOVED TO NEW YORK CITY!! Currently I'm living on the Upper West Side at my uncles apartment while working at Godiva in Grand Central Station. Needless to say, I haven't baked that much recently, although I have been to many many cupcake shops. After I move into my dorm next week - YAYAY - I'm hoping that I will be able to bake more. I have a kitchen in my dorm and it would appear that many of my suite mates - there are 5 more - enjoy baking and cooking too. So right now, I'm just going to put up some pictures of my baking and cooking expeditions from this past summer.

Dad's birthday cake Vanilla oreo cookies with pink frosting (it was going to raspberry, but that didn't work out so well) Super puffy homemade oreos.

Butter Lane cupcakes - my new favorite shop in NYC. Cupcake display at Whole Foods on Houston. Cupcake from Sweet Revenge on Carmine Street right above Houston.

Crumbs mint chip cupcake.

Grilled Salmon I made for dinner and burned my hand while making - still delicious though.

Dirt & Worm Cupcakes

This past weekend was my little step-nephews 6th birthday party. Last year, I made his different colored cupcakes to go with his pirate themed birthday, but this year, after looking through my cupcake book, he decided on dirt and worm cupcakes. I love gummy worms, so I was quite excited to be able to make them - mostly so that I would be able to eat the extra worms. When I turned on the oven Saturday night, I had an almost near catastrophe when it started smoking. I thought that the cleaning lady had done something to it, but instead of using convection oven I just used regular bake - crisis diverted. The cupcakes turned out great. It seemed like most of the kids enjoyed them, even though I threw away about ten half eaten ones. This probably had more to do with the fact that the kids had already eaten a snack and then pizza and juice then to do with not actually liking the cupcakes. The recipe was really easy to follow, although I did modify the icing a wee bit. I put in a whole stick of butter, because with all the powdered sugar, it was not creaming at all. I also simply added milk as I saw fit until it fit the consistency I was looking for. It didn't have a dark, rich, chocolate look to - lack of chocolate I guess - but it still tasted delicious. Chocolate cupcakes

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ Dutch-Processed cocoa
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup butter
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt bowl – set aside

3. In a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter until creamy. Add sugar gradually, beating until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Add eggs one at a time. Add the flour in four additions alternating with the milk. Begin and end with the flour addition. Continue to beat on low-medium speed after each addition.

4. Divide batter among cupcake wells (I got about 21, and some were even over flowing a little bit)

5. Bake for 22 minutes, or until toothpick inserted shows a few moist crumbs

6. Cool pans on racks for 5 minutes, then remove cupcakes from tin.

Fudge Frosting

• 1 stick butter at room temperature
• 4 cups confectioneres sugar – I used about 5 in the end
• 1/3 cup milk – just added as I needed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and slightly cooled

1. In a large bowl, beat butter until creamy. Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating until light. Be sure to scrape down side of bowl after each addition. Beat on high until smooth. Add vanilla and chocolate until well combined.

For the Cupcakes:

• Gummy Worms
• Cookie Crumbs (I used chocolate animal crackers)

1. Frost cupcakes with icing and then roll or sprinkle on the cookies crumbs. Arrange gummy worms all over.

NYC

I haven't updated in ages, even though I've been baking up a storm. Every time I bake some goodies, I either can't find my camera, or the battery is dead, or I can't find my chord. But now I have a new charger and am committed to updating more. Anyway, arrived in New York City yesterday for my cousins bat-mitzvah on Saturday. Let me say, IT'S FREEZING HERE! I brought my winter coat and lots of legging. My mission has been to go to all sorts of cupcake shops while I'm here, and I was successful with the start of my mission this morning. I started by heading downtown to Cupcake Cafe on West 18th. It was connected to this very cute little kid book store and had a very laid back feel. I ordered a small chocolate cupcake with vanilla icing. Let me tell you that this was some of the best icing I have ever had in my life. So light, felt like I was chewing through air, not all thick like I'm used too. the cupcake itself was good. Not sweet enough for my tastes, but it was a god thing I got a small, because I'm sure the large would have been far too much for me. Next, I walked around NYU for awhile, and I've assessed that this is the only place I can imagine myself in college, so I really hope I get in. After walking around awhile, I saw Max Brenners, which is my favorite chocolate restaurant from Israel. Had my 16th birthday there. So good. I took the subway to Times Square at 42nd street and the WALKED all the way to 72nd. Was quite proud of myself. First I made a stop at the now infamous Magnolia's bakery on 69th. The inside was quite cute. All pink and white. Lots of cupcakes and cakes and cookies. I bought to cupcakes and rushed them home, because my hips were killing my from walking and it was so cold. So after hearing everything about these cupcakes, I was hoping to take a bite into heaven. I started with the vanilla cupcake with classic vanilla buttercream frosting. The frosting was very thick, and you could taste the sugar just a little too much. The cupcake itself was nothing all the special. Just a vanilla cake. I was rather unimpressed. I ventured onto the chocolate one with higher expectations and the frosting led me to believe I was about to devour a delicious cupcake. It was light and chocolatey, but not to thick. Simply delicious. But once I had taken a bite out of the cake itself, it all went downhill. It was so thick and dense, I was barely able to finish it. Not very sweet and I was required to get a large glass of milk just to swallow what was already in my mouth all. All in all, I would have to say I was quite disappointed with Magnolia's, although I might go back to try some other flavors. Cupcake Cafe was great - would love to get the recipe for their frosting and tomorrow I shall review Buttercup Bake Shop.

Chocolate cupcakes

So after making the molten cakes, Michelle and I tried out hand at cupcakes for my Sunday School class. Our first batch was an absolute disaster. I don't know what happened, but they completely overflowed and then sunk. They resembled chocolate bowls. I tried to salvage them, but my efforts were fruitless. So in the end, we had about 30 cupcakes get eaten up by the garbage can. The second batch was much better, probably due to a new recipe. I just used the basic chocolate butter cake recipe from The Cake Bible. They were not as chocolaty as I would have liked, but still very light and airy. I bought a new icing tip the other day, so I experimented trying to make perfect iced cupcakes. I still need to practice, but it was a start. I am still in search for the perfect cupcake recipe, because although the second batch turned out good, they still did not have the perfect chocolate cupcake taste. Needless to say, the kids at Sunday School gobbled them up and were asking for seconds before they had even finished their first. First disastrous batch... The second batch was much better...