Chocolate Angel Food Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Speckled Buttercream

I may be be called cute at times, but one thing I'm not is cutesy. Nor am I follower of fads. That's why the whole cupcake craze just never appealed to me much. I will have one now and then, but I am not obsessed . Although I admit there are those that have taken the cupcake to pure art form. I wrote about the whole craze here. Give me a multi tiered cake to bring out the artist in me. However when it comes to a portable dessert to break my dry spell of not baking , the cupcake comes to the rescue. The small parcels of sweet goodness are just  the right thing to tote to work to satisfy  the few people that had been missing my sweets.

The security guard and customer service representative were beginning to wonder what was going on with me. They got spoiled over the holidays.  But with New Years and personal vows to get my health and weight  in check before things got out of control, baking was sidelined. Then Certain Someone, decided to remodel, which I am grateful, but it takes time with our schedules and figuring out what to do with all my stuff. So my kitchen just isn't in the state I would like it to be for things to flow. I moved things around and lost my Mojo. The other day I moved my Kitchen Aid back to its original place and I got the urge back . With egg whites in the freezer and visions of lightness, I decided on Angel Food. Chocolaty Angel Food, cause that what's I am. Then topped with an Italian Meringue Butter cream speckled with vanilla bean paste. Light and rich. Certain Someone is not one for sweets but that didn't stop him from asking for his "Honig to bring me another bite of cake. Ein Bisschen".

I exaggerate, but that's the gist. At work , those managed to partake scarfed them down in a bite. They are that light, but with a rich decadent topping. I choose Rose Levy  Beranbaum's Chocolate Lovers Angel Food Cake from the Cake Bible as my guide. The recipe is designed for a cake,but it made 24 cupcakes plus one 6 inch plain cake.
You can find the recipe here for the cake.
I used my recipe from from the French Pasty School. Here you can find an classic Italian Meringue with a tutorial that's based on a Rose Levy Beranbaum  recipe.

Some quick tips:

•  Make your own cake flour by substitute by sifting  together 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour with 1/4 cup cornstarch.
• Make sure the egg whites hit the stiff beak stage. To test hold up whisk attachment and see it the beaks hold their shape.The recipe has 3 stages, frothy, soft, and stiff.
• Don't be deterred if your Italian Meringue curdles. It's one of those things that has looks really bad before it shapes up and comes to life. Just keep beating on. It will come together , promise.
• I used Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Bean paste which is a great alternative to actual vanilla beans.Just add to butter cream  to achieve speckled effect. 
• If making cupcakes , fill liners 2/3 of the way. Tap pan to settle batter.

Duck Egg Pasta...The Best Pasta Ever

The other day I decided to splurge on duck eggs on a shopping expedition to Chinatown. At $8.50 a dozen they were extravagant, but I rationalized the purchase by using them in a post, making a dessert with them, and an upcoming article I'm doing later on for Easter. I have been intrigued by duck eggs for a while as they have larger yolks and thicker shells. Duck eggs have many applications and are wonderful in rich egg based pastries. You can see in the first photo the side by side comparison between the duck egg and regular hens egg.

Being Sunday, and the weekend, Certain Someone wanted pasta. I didn't have any dried pasta in the pantry so I decided to make some with the duck eggs. He fussed as he thought it would be a big ordeal, as my previous pasta making attempts. I knew he was thinking of the tape I made for  the Master Chef Auditions, in the messy condo undergoing  repainting. and the long wait for dinner that night. I have to say that was my worst pasta even  , as I added to much liquid and was more worried about the camera, than product. It stuck all over my new Kitchen Aid pasta rollers that Certain Someone gave me  for Christmas. But I dusted myslef off, and the rollers, and tried again. Tell me a cook or chef that doesn't have a failure now ad then. That's how we achieve perfection. Substituting duck eggs for regular, I achieved a dense, rich, golden dough.

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After letting it rest, dividing it in four, it was the easily, most pliable dough to roll. I managed to whip out some rich fettuccine noodles in a fraction of the time of my previous attempts with an easy clean up.

 With Spring in the air I wanted to make  Pasta  Primavera, but he wanted MEAT!  So I threw in some meat, and tons vegetables like zucchini, various hued peppers, spices, onion and garlic in a red sauce. Certain Someone fussed about all the vegetables, but admitted it was my best handmade pasta ever.  If you can find them, I highly recommend you substitute the duck eggs for hens   next time you make and egg based pasta.

 Duck Egg Pasta 

(adapted from Kitchen Aid's Egg Pasta Recipe)

4 Duck Eggs

1 1/2 tablespoons water

3 1/2 cups All purpose four or Italian 00 flour ( the best for pasta, breads, and pizza)

1/2 teaspoon Salt

In Kitchen Aid mixer bowl  mix all ingredients with flat paddle for 30 seconds on low speed ( 2).

Switch out flat beater for dough hook and knead all ingredients for 2 minutes at same low speed.

Turn dough out and knead for 2 more minuted by hand. The dough will be very stiff.

Place in plastic , seal able bag, and let rest in the refrigerator for 20 minutes, This allows to gluten to relax and dough will be easier to work with.

 With a bench scraper or knife, divide the dough into four pieces.

Process with  Pasta Sheet roller.

1. Roll out piece on no setting at low speed . Fold into thirds each time and re roll until until it starts to look smooth and uniform.
2.  Take setting up to 2 and process sheet. Don't fold.
3. Take setting up to 3 and repeat on each setting until desired thickness. I processed my fettuccine up until setting 6.
4. Take the fettuccine attachment and process each thin sheet through it.  Set aside.
5. Repeat with other 3 sections.

Fresh pasta only requires a 2-5 minutes in rapidly boiling , salted water .  Drain .

Thanks all of you for the great, positive feedback I am receiving regarding Coco. I decided  to embed an issue  here on the blog for you to read. Of course, it cant compare to actual paper edition, but enjoy.

Singapore “Carrot Cake” or Chai tao kway with Homemade Ketjap Manis

Those that know me know I love to try new things. I’m quite adventurous when it comes to food. A few incidents occurred this past week that propelled me to make this tasty vegetarian recipe. I had ordered three Culinaria books to round my collection, and the first one was on South East Asia. Reading the first section about Singapore and Malaysia, and the various ethnicities that make up that region got me hungry. Particularly the Chinese old fashioned coffee shops , a fading tradition, where they serve for breakfast a egg jam made of eggs, sugar, pandan, and condensed milk, and such things as this ‘carrot cake” which is a cake made up rice flour, and shredded Daikon Radish, eggs, and a thick sweet soy sauce called ketjap manis ( which is Indonesian in origin). Lo and behold the next day I received 3 perfect looking Daikon Radishes in my Organic Vegetable Box. I knew I had to make this recipe. The Chinese words for Daikon (chhài-thâu)and

Carrot (âng-chhài-thâu) are similar and this is why its called ‘Carrot Cake” or Chai tao kway. The dish varies over regions and can served white or dark with the dark so based ketjap manis. Some people even add dried shrimp to it. Be warned, this breakfast dish takes while. A cake is made by steaming shredded wok fried Daikon and rice flour for and hour and then letting it cool for a minimum if eight hours.

Then more slicing,dicing, and frying and there you have it. The pasty white cake getting soft and sticking to wok, didn’t look appealing at all at first. And the smell of Daikon sautéing reminded me of sauerkraut. But in that final stage of adding the eggs, garlic,  Ketjap manis, Siracha, and scallions, my nose became alive and I could see this would be a good dish. That extra of cilantro and Sambal Olek just took it over the top. I could eat this for lunch or dinner. For a vegetarian dish, its very tasty and filling. You can find the recipe here from Epicurious. Note I couldn’t find Ketjap manis so I made my own using a combination of various ones on the internet. I used brown rather than white sugar, so the result is more subtle in sweetness). Some people add molasses or brown sugar as well.

Homemade Ketjap Manis (Indonesian Ketchup)

2 ½ cups Brown Sugar

½ cup water

2 ¾ cups Dark Soy Sauce

3 whole garlic cloves

3-4 Star Anise Pods

1 tsp ground ginger.

In a heavy bottom saucepan combine sugar and water and bring to boil until syrup starts to form and it starts to caramelize.Carefully reduce heat and add the soy sauce and other ingredients. Reduce heat carefully and simmer for 15 minutes until reduced and thickened. Let cool. Can be kept for a while in the refrigerator for a few months tightly covered.

Wasabi Deviled Eggs

This week I have been running to China town after work in search of some items. I am participating in Jadens Steamy Kitchens recipe testing for her new book. How exciting it is!Certain Someone is all for it as he loves Asian food. Don't know how many I will get through but what an innovative way to create a book. Jaden is a trail blazer. She says we can send our friends over to participate but please dont reveal her recipes. But look at some of the tasty things I have made so far.

All that aside I picked up some Japanese Mayonnaise. I have read about this from time to time and thought now was my chance to try it. People go crazy over it. Its made with rice vinegar rather than distilled. Certain Someone loves Mayo on his fries. He actually prefers Miracle Whip( if you want to call that Mayonnaise). I'm a little more quirky. Anyway its so hot and hes been coming home later. With weather like this I just like to nibble. He wants his meal. So yesterday I made some deviled eggs. Immediately I thought this needs some spice. So the next day I purchased a tube of Wasabi to add to the Japanese Mayo. Presto. I found perhaps I wasn't so original as there are many recipes out there. I finished the deviled eggs with some salt blends I was trying from Jaden. Perfection.

Wasabi Deviled Eggs

4 hard boiled eggs

Prepared wasabi paste to taste

approx 2 tablespoons of Kwepi Japanese Mayonnaise

Slice eggs length wise. Carefully hollow out yolks. In a separate bowl mix the yolks, mayo, and wasabi paste to your taste. You can either pipe in the filling or just re scoop back into solid egg white hole. Garnish with wasabi powder or a finishing salt.Chill in the refrigerator and serve.