There’s a number of reasons I prefer making cupcakes over full cakes. Number one is probably my ineptitude with cake decorating. Beyond that, they just seem easier–easier to make, easier to serve, easier to eat, and they taste just as good. It had been a long time since I last made cupcakes, and I wasn’t about to endeavor on a full on cake.
For these particular cupcakes, I opted for the flavor that always seems to draw my wife and I to cakes: chocolate. I wanted it to have some intrigue to it though, so its not just chocolate–I wanted something darker. So for the cupcake batter, the foundational flavors are both cocoa and molasses for something a bit more like Devil’s Food. Then, to compliment that: a tangy cream cheese frosting flavored with toasted, honeyed pecans. All together very tasty and a fun change from the everyday… click to read more…
Posted by mike on June 13th, 2009 in Cake, Dessert
A good while back, I made a different kind of brownie that was light, fluffy, and strongly flavored with honey. These brownies fall on the opposite end of the spectrum, restoring balance to my ultimate zen state of brownie satiation. These brownies are dark, dense, and incredibly chocolatey. The kind that requires you to approach them armed with a tall glass of milk and a willingness to fend off any passers-by who think they can share in the bounty. These are brownies well worth being selfish about…unless you’re looking to bribe someone, I suppose–then these would be a great thing to share.
This is more than comfort food. Its too rich and indulgent to be called comfort food. You have the crisp, buttery, crinkly edges that seem to contradict the dense, fudgy, moist interior. And this is a situation where if you have a cache of chocolate, splurge and use the best you’ve got, because this is… click to read more…
Posted by mike on April 26th, 2009 in Cake, Dessert
Unfortunately, year-round pumpkin bread isn’t a possibility for most of us. Very fortunately though, there are some other awesome quickbreads that work beautifully as either breakfast or dessert. One of my all-time favorites: banana bread.
Just about everybody out there has had banana bread before–its a favorite for so many people for good reason. One of the problems with such popularity though is that there’s also many a banana bread recipe out there that kind of give banana bread a bad name. You know the kind–those fruit breads where, that, no matter what the fruit is, all taste exactly the same? All you taste is semi-moist bread and a bunch of spice, usually stale nutmeg? Kind of a downer. Apples don’t taste like bananas–why should they in bread?
This banana bread is nothing of the sort. I derived my recipe from this one and fell in love. Aside from the beautiful look and texture… click to read more…
Posted by mike on April 6th, 2009 in Breakfast, Cake, Dessert, Fruit
At the time of my birthday (and since you ask, it was a few weeks ago 
), I was kind of caked out. I just happened to have made lots of cakes leading up to it, so we instead decided to celebrate with something different for dessert: brownies. And while its not my birthday any more, in case you’re in the mood to celebrate anything with someone special (setting the mood for Valentine’s day perhaps?), these will score you…wait for it…brownie points (rimshot!).
Now all that being said, there’s something to be said about these brownies. Calling anything a “brownie” commands certain expectations that vary person to person. In all likelihood, these won’t meet them. Does that mean you’ll be disappointed? Absolutely not–these are incredible and you’ll devour the whole batch as quickly as you would any other brownie. They’re just different–more like a cake than the dark fudgey… click to read more…
Posted by mike on February 11th, 2009 in Cake, Dessert
Like I’ve said before, my wife and I are cake people. I thought I’d try to get us out of our chocolate cake rut and go for something completely different. Since its citrus season here in Florida, I thought I’d try to highlight the variety of lemons and oranges in a cake.
So before I go into how it tastes, I should let you know what’s actually in the cake. The cake itself is flavored with both lemon and orange, and wedged between all four layers is a sheet of orange marmalade, orange flavored buttercream, and bits of candied citrus (I candied a variety of fruit–more on this later). The cake was then frosted with more buttercream and decorated with more candied citrus.
Flavor-wise, the cake was truly spectacular and texturally, light as air. The flavor was light, citrusy, and fresh in that way you only get from lemon (if that makes any sense). The buttercream was… click to read more…
Posted by mike on January 25th, 2009 in Cake, Dessert, Fruit
I don’t make cakes terribly often. My wife and I love eating them, but it can take a bit of work, and given how infrequently I make them, the two of us never tire of a good chocolate cake (not that you’ve ever noticed, right?) And since its been a while, here we are again…another chocolate cake, as if anyone could possibly ever get too much chocolate cake.
Now after you get past how evenly I layered my cake (fine, no slice for you, then!), the richness of it can begin to sink in. I went with an old favorite for the cake part: devil’s food. Aside from being chocolatey, it has a really dark, complex taste about it that I always enjoy. Of course, since I’ve made devil’s food cake before, I thought I’d keep things interesting by changing the other components of the cake. In between each layer… click to read more…
Posted by mike on January 16th, 2009 in Cake, Dessert
