Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The OTHER Chocolate...

I'm not a big fan of white chocolate on it's own. It's a bit too sweet for this lady, but I seem to be surrounded by people who think otherwise. Mr. LMC, LMC's real life boss, family, friends...they all seem to see something in this smooth confection that I just can't see for myself.

However, throw it into a cake batter and you've got a pretty amazing, moist treat on your hands!

I adapted this recipe from that of a wedding cake recipe I had, and while I used it to make cupcakes in this entry, you are more than welcomed to try it in it's original form. The recipe makes enough batter to fill a 3 inch deep, 10 inch round cake pan. Simply grease and flour your pan and put a piece of parchment in the bottom before cooking.

For now, however, I'll continue on with my plans to make these into cupcakes. Calculating ahead, I knew I'd have more batter than necessary, but still divided it evenly into 24 cupcake papers (LMC does not advocate eating the batter that's leftover due to the raw eggs and whatnot...) and just watered down and tossed the rest. By all means, you can make the extra few if you'd like! :)

So, like every other culinary adventure in the LMC kitchen, we start with some ingredients. They're basic except for the addition of the star ingredient:


First, chop the chocolate. I forgot to do this ahead of time the first try and it was a pain to do it while trying to continue on making the cake!!



Then, the butter and the sugar go into the stand mixer to get nice and fluffy (Mrs. Bobbinoggin will appreciate the fluffiness!!)


Next, we add the eggs one at a time, beating each in between until they're well-incorporated.


 Stir in the vanilla.


In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.


Alternating the flour mixture and milk, add each in fourths until each is completely incorporated into your batter. At this point, it will be pretty thick.



 Melt the chocolate (either in a double boiler or in the microwave) until it is almost melted. Remove from the source of heat and stir until smooth. Pour into the batter and mix well.



Divide the batter into the cupcake liners (or prepared cake pan) and bake at 325 for 25 minutes (or until the toothpick runneth clean)



As cupcakes, they baked up relatively flat. The interior was moist and cakey. It was so good, in fact, that I chose not to ice them right away. They would, however, taste great with a dark chocolate or vanilla frosting! :)


Happy Baking!

Crystal

PS: Do not feed cupcakes to your cat, or else you may end up with a cat resembling LMC's youngest cat, Niko (alias: KoKo Puff) [disclaimer: I didn't feed him cake. He's just fat.]



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White Chocolate Cupcakes

2/3 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/3 cups white sugar
4 large eggs at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups All Purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups 2% milk at room temperature
8 ounces white chocolate, chopped


1. Preheat the oven to 325 F

2. Line 2 cupcake pans with 24 paper or foil liners. (Or: grease and flour a 10-inch cake pan with 3-inch sides and line bottom with parchment paper.)

3. In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in vanilla extract.

4. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt. Add flour to butter mixture in 4 additions, alternating with milk, blending well after each addition.

5. Melt chocolate in a heat proof bowl  in the microwave until it's almost melted. Remove from heat and continue to stir until smooth. Pour the warm chocolate into cake batter while blending.

6. Divide batter into prepared cupcake liners and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. (if making a 10 inch cake, the baking time is approximately 45 minutes.) Allow cupcakes to cool 5 minutes in the pan, then remove to racks to cool completely.

Finish options are endless as they can be filled with fresh fruit, iced with dark chocolate, ganache or fresh cream.

White Chocolate Icing

cups unsalted butter at room temperature
16 ounces white chocolate, melted and cooled to room temperature
cups icing sugar, sifted
teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a stand-up mixer or in a large bowl with electric beaters, beat butter until fluffy. Beat in cooled melted chocolate on medium speed. Reduce speed and beat in icing sugar, vanilla and salt (icing will be a little soft). Chill for about an hour to set before using.

If you want to make this into a cake, this recipe will make a 10-inch cake.  Multiply by 6 for a 6-inch/10-inch/12-inch/14-inch cake layers. Icing recipe makes icing to fill and cover one 10-inch cake. Multiply by 8 for wedding cake.


Sunday, June 26, 2011

Grad Weekend!

Congratulations to all the graduates who finished (or are just beginning) one of the most important journeys you will ever take in your lives. May you have a great summer and go on to greatness!! And for all of you who are just off for the summer, enjoy! Be safe and make it a memorable one!

The only cake I remembered to take a picture of, made for a coworker's son's high school graduation! :)


Happy Baking!

Crystal