Monthly Archives: April 2011

Recipe Swap – Caramel Apple Pie Pops coming soon!

This month's recipe swap

Happy Monday!

I know Monday’s are mostly unhappy, but I’m very excited that this week brings me lots of baking and a new gig – I’m starting rehearsals for Enchanted April this week!  Since my schedule the next two months will be a little bit more sporadic and since I’ve got lots of baking to do for several events, I spent much of the weekend mentally and goggley planning what my baking strategy will be.

This week I’m whipping up a double batch of scones to send to Seattle and wrap up my contribution to the Online Bake Sale For Japan.  Next weekend I’ll have a few dozen gluten-free cookies cut into the shape of crosses and fondanted and painted for a benefit I’m performing in of Jesus Christ Superstar for Smith Street Stage. And then there’s Palm Sunday and Easter baking/cooking to participate in with my family and a possible dinner party on the 30th.

Very fun and exciting stuff.

But this week I’m most excited to get to try out a new recipe for a recipe swap.  I’ve just joined a group of cooks, bakers and bloggers at Burwell General Store.  Each month the group gets an old, friendly recipe and is required to change at least three recipes and blog them on the same day.  This month’s is for Caramel Apples, and in pondering the many ways you could creatively change it, I stumbled upon a new baking fad that I might have to combine into my inventive treat…

Picture from “The kitchn”

The cake pop.

Several friends of mine are very into these little, festive, sugary treats that can be found at Starbucks and sugar-full bakeries.  I’m not a fan of the idea – make a cake, throw it with frosting into a blender, shape it into balls and then dunk it more sugary shells.  But I have to admit they are adorable looking and a great base recipe to play on.

So, in keeping with the original idea of a candy apple on a stick, I’m going to bake an apple pie, most likely one along the lines of my Bourbon Molasses Apple Pie with Candied Bacon, who’s flavors already resemble a candy apple.  Then I’ll play.

Recipe coming in a few days… I’m excited by this.

Fluffy Vegan Frosting


“I’m the most delicious gluten-and-dairy-free Red Velvet cupcake you’ll ever eat.  And now that I’m topped with light and fluffy vegan frosting, that’s so spreadable and pipeable, you’ll never wanna stop making me.  Kisses.”

– Cupake

I swear the cupcake insisted that I write that – I was completely at its mercy.  Maybe because I ate several of his fellows before changing frosting tips to see if I could pipe letters, which I did with ease.

The cake in this cupcake is truly divine – both moist but light, full of cocoa flavor but not too chocolatey.  Several friends who have no gluten or dairy problems could not tell that they are both, one even suggesting I match it up with a gluten-full cake and blind taste test some people for the fun of it.

Please try it, and tell me what you think.  I dubbed it Little Red Velvet Riding Hood Cupcake.  But if you just wanna call it Mmmmm, that’s okay too.  Recently I’ve been calling it “Oh my Dog!”, while it’s still in my mouth.

Now, the only reason I’m reposing this cupcake is because of the frosting issue.  The first I tried was lovely – a sweet vegan “cream cheese” frosting – but it came out more like a glaze, and no amount of whipping or refrigerating gave it a stiff enough consistency for me to pipe or even pile high.

So I tried a Vegan Fluffy Buttercream Frosting recipe from Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero and BOY-OH was I happy!  Insanely easy and amazingly fluffy, the frosting stayed stiff enough to pipe with several different tips long after I had colored it and bagged it.  Because it’s made with vegan butter and shortening – which are obviously both vegetable-oil based – it whipped easily at any temperature and functioned well.

And the taste!  Like a classic butter-cream it tastes primarily like sugar and vanilla.  But unlike butter-cream it didn’t taste overpoweringly so.  The shortening gave it enough body so that the sugar content was slightly lower.  Don’t get me wrong – this is very sweet.  As someone who struggles with hypoglycemia, I did a decent job at staying away (after one cupcake of course!)  But it’s not going to overwhelm your taste buds nor distract from the cupcake you put it on.  And because of the light and fluffy consistency, it particularly matched the classy cake underneath it and would do as well with a rich chocolate – ooh, or banana!

Vegan Fluffy Buttercream Frosting

The recipe is from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.  Click on the title above for their recipe.

This frosting is fluffy and easy to work with

This frosting is fluffy and easy to work with

Having fun with frosting

The Little Red Velvet Riding Hood Cupcakes – Gluten and Dairy free!

Little Red Velvet Riding Hood Cupcakes

These cupcakes are amazing. I just wanted to start with that.  You can’t tell that they’re gluten AND dairy free.  My roommate’s eyes lit up when she took her first bite, and after her third she proclaimed it her favorite of my creations.  Even I am wowed by how good this cupcake is.  I can  confidently say this is the best gluten-free red velvet cupcake recipe.  AND the best dairy-free red velvet cupcake recipe.  There.  I said it.  But I should know.  I’ve eaten about 12 of these little guys.  Including two this morning, before breakfast.

Three things contributed as inspiration for the best gluten-free red velvet cupcake I have ever eaten.

Brainstorming first came when I online-met Kelli of Ingested Read.  I love her new blog, and her recipes are created for a specific book she’s pouring over.  I’m a big fan of this idea, and this blog.  So she opened up her site for guest-posts with Intercaketuality.  Brilliant.  I’m sending her a big high five across the pond.

I knew I wanted to make some sort of red-velvet cake.  In my gluten-free food crawl with a few friends I learned that the three bakeries in the city that boast gluten-free offerings disappointed our taste buds in the red-velvet department.  Either too dry or too moist, none contained that classic cocoa flavor.

A few months ago my cousin Daniella played Little Red Riding Hood in her high school production of Into the Woods and, as I predicted, was stellar, stealing the show.  In this musical version Little Red has a slight obsession with baked goods, eating all the bread and sweets she is supposed to take through the woods to granny.  Daniella herself is very allergic to dairy, so over the years we’ve commiserated at the dessert table as treats were passed around.

So when thinking about a new cake I wanted to work on, these three elements blended perfectly into The Little Red Velvet Riding Hood Cupcake!

But a few challenges arose when making this both gluten and dairy free.

First, how to replicate cake flour?  According to my interweb research, cake flour is distinctive because (a) it is very finely milled, (b) it contains a low amount of protein which develops gluten and (c) it has a higher amount of starch as a result.  So, how to make a gluten-free version of cake flour, which obviously lacks gluten to begin with?

Several sites including Gluten-Free Bay, WikiHow and Gluten Free Naturally Blog use the same ingredients in the same proportions.

  • 3 cups brown rice flour
  • 1 cup potato starch
  • 1/2 cup tapioca flour
  • 1 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

I don’t really use potato starch, as it’s a nightshade and not good for people with arthritis and digestive issues, so instead I used arrowroot and crossed my fingers.  I also used 2 cups of brown rice flour and 1 of white rice flour, and sifted twice.  This worked wonderfully in the cake.  I’ll have it on hand from now on.

I then had to replace buttermilk with a non-dairy ingredient.  Normally I’d just use almond or soy milk, but as the consistency of buttermilk is a bit thicker and tangy, I had to improvise.  So I used tofutti sour cream and diluted it with unsweetened almond milk, then threw in a tablespoon of white vinegar.  It worked!

I can honestly say that this recipe is better than the two bakery ones we tried.  The cakes are that perfect combination of being both moist and crumbly – they’re not dry at all, so they won’t fall under the pressure of a fork.  The cocoa is definitely present, but in no way do they taste like chocolate.   And I cut back the sugar aspect by a half a cup and substituted with 1/8 a cup of light agave syrup.  I’m not at all a fan of using either of these things, but for experimentation purposes I had to go with it.

Vegan "cream cheese" frosting

For a frosting I whipped up a tofutti / Earth Balance spread from Mama Sophia’s Soul Kitchen.  It’s a very tasty recipe, tangy and sweet without being overpowering nor tasting like soy.  But as you can see in this picture, it’s more like a pretty, thick glaze.  It has a gorgeous sheen, but even when refrigerated overnight it was far too loose for piping.  So I glazed the minis with these and then found an incredibly light and fluffy vegan frosting that I whopped on the big guys.

Fluffy Vegan Frosting

The Little Red Velvet Riding Hood Cupcake

Notes: Make sure you have all your ingredients are room temperature or slightly warm.  Make sure your oven is properly heated.  Don’t over-mix the dough when you’re stirring in the last batch of dry ingredients.

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups gluten-free cake flour
  • 3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/8 cup light agave syrup
  • 1 1/2 cup canola oil
  • 2 large eggs at room temperature
  • 3/4 tsp. red gel/paste food coloring
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 rounded tablespoons Tofutti “sour cream” – at room temp
  • almond or soy milk (directions below)
  • 1 Tbsp plus 2 tsp distilled white vinegar, separated
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda.

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 350º
  • Line 24 cupcake molds (I did an even 12 cupcakes and 24 minis)
  • Add Tofutti cream cheese to a liquid measuring cup and fill to just shy of one cup with almond or soy milk.  Whisk thoroughly with a fork until smooth.  Heat in microwave until warm but not hot.
  • Add 1 Tbsp white vinegar and stir in.
  • In a small bowl, whisk flour, cocoa and salt thoroughly.
  • In the bowl of a standing mixer, mix sugar, agave and oil thoroughly on medium speed until thoroughly combined.
  • Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well between additions.
  • Add vanilla and coloring and mix in.
  • Turn speed down to low.  Add the flour in three additions, alternating with 1/2 of the “buttermilk”.  Make sure to mix thoroughly between additions.
  • Mix baking soda and remaining 2 tsps vinegar until foamy.  Add and beat for 10 seconds or until incorporated.
  • Bake for 14 minutes (small) or 22 minutes (large), rotating pan halfway through.
  • Cool in pan for at least 5 minutes before removing to cool on a rack, or cool completely in pans.
  • Definitely cool completely before frosting.

These can be kept in a refrigerator for 3 days in an airtight container.  Bring them down to room temperature before serving.

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Cupcake decorating class, frosting skills and a birthday!

The product of two hours of playing with frosting

Last weekend my little sister and I took a cupcake decorating class at Butterlane Cupcakes in NYC.  I’d been wanting to take a frosting class for a while – anyone who knows me can attest my skills are (were!) quite lacking, and while I’ve been making cut-out cookies and piping them for years, I never really learned what to do with all the little tips I’ve collected from several pastry sets.  Maggie’s birthday was the perfect excuse for us to play together on a Sunday and, as I’d expected, we had an awesome time.

Shortly after this picture was taken blue frosting did, indeed, somehow make it into my ear.

Now, in no way can I rate Butterlane’s cupcakes because they don’t offer a gluten-free option (evidently they did at one point but they didn’t sell well enough) and they use cream cheese to thicken their frosting.  While I was disappointed at not getting the sugar high I was hoping for (which would have been a horrible idea in retrospect), I understand and respect the decision to use cream cheese, which gives the frosting body and cuts back on the amount of powdered sugar needed.

Also (shh), I’m not as into the cupcake craze as most of NYC foodies seem to be.  Maybe it’s because I can’t eat most of them anyway.  Or maybe it’s because I’m obsessed with those pesky macarons.

But I got down with this frosting class.  The two hours were spent learning how to most easily fill and seal a pastry bag, and the correct pressure and “strokeage” (I’m sure someone’s used that word before but I am claiming it) for each tip and its appropriate shape.  Swirly letters, puffy flowers and trees and even a somewhat likeness of Betsey, the cow that graces a large wall of the classroom, made their way onto my workspace.

Betsey the cow

Towards the end of the class we learned the basics of making roses – which took a little practicing but were actually much easier than I had expected, especially once the frosting was at the perfect, somewhat hard texture needed for molding them most intricately.

By the time we got our cupcakes our untrained hands were cramping and I was ravenously hungry, so my creativity was tanking a bit and Maggie definitely showed me up in the final-product department.

Maggie with her stellar creations

A few days later, two very fun things happened.  First, I got a new DSLR camera.  My boyfriend is a filmmaker and Maggie’s a photographer, so I’ve stolen their cameras on numerous occasions to document my kitchen-time, always knowing that my photos need to step it up if they’re going to compete in this visual-food world.  But as most of my serious baking happens in my own, horribly lit kitchen, many hours have been lost as I stand on step-ladders next to my window, willing the light to bounce enough for me to get a decent shot.  Anyone who’s lived in NYC for a long enough period of time can tell you that there are too many kinds of indoor light, and mine is the somewhat reflected, gray wash kind.

So in a miraculous turn of events, I now own a camera that both the boyfriend and Maggie say are better than theirs, through no magic of my own.  I just lucked upon an incredibly affordable used Nikon body that can mount the boyfriend’s extremely expensive lenses that he no longer uses.  Which means I can’t break up with him for a very long, long time.

Now I can take this picture in seconds!

I am very excited.

So frosting skills and camera came together on Saturday, as I rushed to Connecticut from the city to celebrate my mother’s birthday with my siblings and grandparents over delicious food and an exciting basketball game (yay UConn!).  And while I still have much to learn about both using this crazy camera (I’m just old enough that all the photography classes I took in high school and college focused on composition and developing those rolls of film) and frosting cakes, I was one happy, dusty baker.

Happy Birthday to my mom!

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