Valentine Cake Pops

This morning I had to make some mini chocolate cupcakes for an event.  I had a few dozen left over, that I usually leave un-iced for a lunch box treat.

On a whim, I thought, what if I use my left over minis and give Cake Pops a whirl?

I have really good whims sometimes…..

Cake Pops are the infamous creation of Bakerella.  She’s had an amazing year and has captured the world over with her Cake Pop creations.

I gotta say, she’s a pretty smart lady, cause these taste really good and look awesome.

These were fun and so incredibly easy.  And, they fit right in with my promise of Valentine’s Day posts for the next few weeks.

Wouldn’t these be great at a class party?  A girl’s night out?  Wrapped up with a sweet saying and some ribbon?

Lovely.

The um, unfortunate part is that I can’t actually give you a recipe.  I can only tell you what I did.

I took about 12 left over cooled mini chocolate cupcakes and crumbled them up in a bowl.  Then I used approximately 3 tablespoons of left over chocolate icing and mixed that all together until I had a nice dough ball.  I rolled them up and put them on parchment and in the fridge for about 15 minutes to firm up a bit.

Next, I melted some chocolate and dipped my candy sticks into it and then into the cake ball.  I left them in the fridge for a good hour to get nice and firm.

See?

I used Candy Melts to dip my cake balls when they were firm.  Keep some in the fridge while you are working so they are nice and cold when you need them.

Decorate with sprinkles, sparkles, jimmies, coloured Candy Melts, whatever you have on hand!  I found these super cute printables from Mommy By Day…Crafter By Night  and attached them to my candy sticks.

If you want a full recipe, that will yield 48 or more…look here.

I hope you give these a whirl when you have left over cake!

French Vanilla Cupcakes with Maraschino Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Pretty soon Valentine’s Day will be upon us.  I know that there are some who think it’s so over rated, but I can’t help but feel excited about what kind of card or flowers my sweet Valentine has picked out for me.

I am ‘that’ mom who puts heart-shaped things in the kids lunches, even though they are well into junior grades and almost into highschool.

So I wanted to have a few posts dedicated to some Valentines treats because I have so many cute things rolling around in my brain.  This is the first post, my French Vanilla Cupcakes with Maraschino Swiss Meringue Buttercream. 

 

I am always on a quest for a good vanilla cupcake.   You know which kind really tastes the best?  The cake mix kind.  They have such wonderful vanilla flavour and are so light and fluffy.  I have yet to find this in a scratch version.   Not that there is anything wrong with a box version!  To me, well, for some reason it just feels like cheating.

Do not despair…I am not one to give up….on cake.

I really love the way these turned out.  Wouldn’t you love to have one of these waiting for you on Valentine’s Day?

Perhaps waiting on your desk, or in your lunch?  Sitting outside your door?

Just a little surprise that says “you’re sweet!”

The toppers are just some cherries made out of fondant and coated with cake glitter.  I did happen to have real cherries in the fridge that I stole the stems off of.

I’m not going to include the Vanilla Cake recipe because it needs some work!  Use your favourite Vanilla Cupcake recipe and top with the Maraschino Swiss Meringue Buttercream (recipe below).

Maraschino Swiss Meringue Buttercream

• 5 egg whites
• 1 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 cups of unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 tsp pure vanilla
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup pureed maraschino cherries (I also included a few tsp of the syrup)

*just an update…if you find the cherry icing doesn’t have a strong enough cherry flavour, add a few drops of cherry oil which can be found at most baking supply stores.

1. Fill a saucepan (large enough to fit your mixing bowl just a few inches) with two inches of water. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce heat to med-low so water continues to simmer.

2. In your stand mixer bowl, hand whisk the egg whites and the sugar just until combined. Place over simmering pot and whisk for approx 4 mins until the egg whites are hot (about 150 degrees). The sugar should be dissolved by this time as well. Place bowl on stand mixer and attach the whisk attachment. Whisk on medium speed until whites have increased in volume, are thick and glossy and the outside of the bowl is just slightly warm to the touch (this can take up to 10 minutes!).

3. Remove whisk attachment and replace with paddle attachment. Beat on low-speed until mixture is completely cooled. Increase speed to medium and add butter pieces one at a time. Scrape the bowl and continue to beat until buttercream is glossy, smooth and thick. It may separate at first, but continue beating and it will emulsify. Add vanilla flavouring, a pinch of salt and cherry puree (to taste) and beat until combined.   Use immediately.

Small Batch Chocolate Vanilla Bean Latte Cupcakes

Remember a while ago when I said I would post a recipe for small batch cupcakes?

Please forgive me but I forgot….

And, I forgot that I forgot until this week-end when I decided to make them again for this post…

See, I am constantly searching on Pinterest looking for cake stands and baking inspiration.  Man there are some creative people out there!  There are ruffle shirts and scarves, ruffle cakes, ruffle dresses and gowns, you name it!

I decided that if you can make a ruffle flower out of a t-shirt in less than 10 minutes, surely I could follow the same instructions and make one out of fondant!

I think it turned out pretty cute and overall was really easy.  Like no brainer kind of easy.  So I needed a small batch of cupcakes just to show you how it turned out.  The instructions I followed are here from A Bit of Sunshine.  What a cute site!

I used it to garnish a Chocolate Cupcake with some Vanilla Bean Latte Swiss Meringue Buttercream.   I have yet to find a Swiss Meringue Buttercream that I don’t like.  It’s smooth and creamy and full of flavour.  It’s that simple.  The cupcakes are surprisingly moist for such a small batch and had gorgeous rounded tops!  Perfect, when you just need a nibble of something sweet.

Small Batch Chocolate Cupcakes

*from Small Batch Baking, from Debby Maugans Nakos

yield 4 standard size cupcakes

• 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 3 tbsp buttermilk, room temp
• 1 large egg, room temp
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line four muffin cups with paper liners.
2. Combine the buttermilk, egg and vanilla in a small bowl, and whisk to mix. Gradually pour the melted butter into the buttermilk mixture, whisking constantly.
3. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium-size mixing bowl, and then whisk to blend well. Add the sugar and whisk to combine. Add the buttermilk mixture and whisk just until the dry ingredients are moistened.
4. Spoon the batter into the prepared liners and until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean, 16 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
6. Frost with Vanilla Bean Latte Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

Vanilla Bean Latte Swiss Meringue Buttercream

*note: this will make approx 2 1/2 cups of frosting.  You will have extra!

• 1 cup unsalted butter cubed, at room temperature
• 3 large egg whites
• 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 vanilla bean split with seeds scraped out
• pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp of instant espresso powder dissolved in 2 tsp water

1.  Fill a saucepan (large enough to fit your mixing bowl just a few inches) with two inches of water.  Bring the water to a boil, then reduce heat to med-low so water continues to simmer.

2.  In your stand mixer bowl, hand whisk the egg whites and the sugar just until combined.  Place over simmering pot and whisk for approx 4 mins until the egg whites are hot (about 150 degrees).  The sugar should be dissolved by this time as well.  Place bowl on stand mixer and attach the whisk attachment.  Whisk on medium until whites have increased in volume and the outside of the bowl is just slightly warm to the touch (this can take up to 10 minutes!).

3.  Remove whisk attachment and replace with paddle attachment.  Beat on low-speed until mixture is completely cooled.  Increase speed to medium and add butter pieces one at a time.  Scrape the bowl and continue to beat until buttercream is glossy, smooth and thick.  It may separate at first, but continue beating and it will emulsify.  Add vanilla flavouring, vanilla seeds, a pinch of salt and espresso and beat until combined.  Use immediately.

Buttermilk Panna Cotta

I’ve decided to forgo any New Years Resolutions this year because I always seem to disappoint myself and irritate everyone who lives with me.  Instead, I’m going to put my energy into expanding my baking repertoire and my sometimes lacklustre food styling.  Really, at this point in the year this house is cupcaked out!

So I thought to start, I would make some Buttermilk Panna Cotta which I have been really wanting to try since buying my new Miette Book (Meg Ray is living my dream right now!).   Panna Cotta is essentially ’cooked cream’ paired with gelatin and a few simple flavourings and then left to set for a few hours.   Since I love anything creamy – I heart clotted cream -and I’ve thrown my resolutions out the window, this simple yet elegant dessert is right up my alley.  You don`t have to use buttermilk, most recipes use just heavy cream, but buttermilk gives it a nice tangy taste.  I did a combination of recipes, both from the book and online.  Essentially, the instructions and ingredients are all the same.

I made two sauces to try.  The first was a simple Apricot and Honey Compote from Martha Stewart.  Hello delicious.  So simple and it`s thick enough that as it was cooling I could envision a gorgeous spoonful atop a buttermilk scone.   The second was a Red-Wine Poached Rhubarb recipe.   I`ll have to post those pictures at a later date.

Okay, the apricot got me.  It was pretty yummy.

On a cold winters day, some Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Apricot and Honey Compote is like a little ray of sunshine.  Top with some slivered almonds for a little nutty crunch.  Bye bye winter blues!

Panna Cotta is like a blank canvas.  There are so many options for toppings although I do think simple is best sometimes.  Any ‘in season’ fruit would be a treat.

•  2 cups heavy cream
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
• 1 ½ tsp unflavored gelatin powder
• 2 tbsp warm water
• 1 cup of buttermilk

1. Place the water in a small bowl and sprinkle gelatin over the surface.  Let sit for at least 10 minutes.

2. Combine sugar and cream in a saucepan over medium heat and whisk until the sugar is dissolved.  Add in the vanilla bean and seeds, remove from heat and allow cream to steep for 30 minutes.  Bring back to heat and almost to a boil. 

3. Stir in the gelatin until dissolved.

4. Add the buttermilk to the cream mixture and continue whisking. 

5. Remove from heat and strain the mixture into a glass measuring cup.

6. Pour the strained mixture into cups, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours or until set.

Top with Apricot and Honey Compote and slivered almonds.   Serve immediately.