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Strawberry balsamic cupcake

For Danny's bday this year, Freddy and I came up with a surprise bday party idea - where Freddy wants to make a Japanese KatsuDon and miso soup dinner combo and I want to make some kind of strawberry cake for him.  After some searching, decided between a chocolate strawberry cheesecake and strawberry balsamic cupcakes.  We then decided to make cupcakes, because it is a bit more unique and we can decorate and arrange it to make a pattern!

This is my first time making cupcakes on my own.  I have probably made it in Foods in junior high or something, and one more time under the supervision of Dana.  This is the first time making a swiss meringue buttercream though (previously was a much simpler icing).  The buttercream didn't thicken up as I hoped to, but nevertheless it was so deliciously tasting!

Note: this recipe does call for the use of a stand mixer!

Yield: about 28 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:
16 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
3 cups cake flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
5 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1¼ cups buttermilk, at room temperature

For the frosting:
3 cups fresh strawberries (16 oz.), rinsed, hulled and coarsely chopped
1 cup plus 6 tbsp. sugar, divided
2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
4 large egg whites
3 sticks (1½ cups) unsalted butter, at room temperature

For topping:
3 cups strawberries, diced small
3 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
¼ tsp. vanilla extract

For the glaze:
½ cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp. light brown sugar

Procedure:

• Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line cupcake pans with paper liners.  Place the butter in a large skillet over over medium heat.  Let melt and continue to cook, swirling occasionally, until the butter is a deep golden brown color (be careful not to burn it).  Set aside to cool slightly.  Transfer the butter to the bowl of an electric mixer.  Add in the sugars and beat on medium speed until smooth and the bowl is slightly warm to the touch.
• Meanwhile in a medium bowl, combine the cake flour, baking powder and salt.  Whisk to blend.  When the butter and sugars are adequately mixed, beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl as needed between additions.  Blend in the vanilla.  With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Mix each addition only just until incorporated.
• Divide the batter between the paper liners, filling each about 2/3 of the way full.  Bake, rotating the pans halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18 minutes total.  Allow to cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
  
  
  
• For the frosting, combine the chopped strawberries, 2 tablespoons of the sugar and balsamic in a small saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the berries have softened and the liquid is somewhat reduced, about 5-8 minutes.  Let cool slightly, then transfer to a blender or food processor and puree until smooth.  Chill the mixture well before use in the frosting.
• Combine the egg whites and the remaining 1¼ cups sugar in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water.  Heat, whisking frequently, until the mixture reaches 160° F and the sugar has dissolved.  Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Beat on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form and the mixture has cooled to room temperature, about 8 minutes.  (The bowl should be cool to the touch.)  Reduce the speed to medium and add the butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, adding more once each addition has been incorporated.  If the frosting looks soupy or curdled, continue to beat on medium-high speed until thick and smooth again, about 3-5 minutes more (or longer - don’t worry, it will come together!)  Blend in the strawberry-balsamic puree until smooth and completely incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
• To make the topping, combine the berries, sugar, vinegar and vanilla in a medium bowl and stir to blend.  Let sit at least 20-30 minutes.  Meanwhile, make the balsamic drizzle by combining the balsamic vinegar and brown sugar in a small saucepan or skillet.  Heat over medium-high until bubbling, then lower the heat and continue to cook until significantly reduced (about 4 tbsp.)  Set aside to cool slightly.
• Transfer the frosting to a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip (I used Ateco #809.)  Pipe a round of frosting onto each cupcake.  Use the back of a spoon or an offset spatula to scoop out a small bit of the center of the frosting to create a well.  Add a spoonful of the macerated strawberry mixture to each well.  Drizzle the cupcakes with the balsamic glaze to finish.

Recipe adapted from: Annie's Eats

Thoughts:
1. Didn't know strawberries and balsamic form such a nice combination together!
2. The swiss meringue buttercream didn't thicken up as Annie's did... I think partly was because the strawberry puree was sitting at room temperature for too long (we switched to make dinner instead =(), and the puree became watery, and silly me added all of the puree instead of a little at a time.  So it became very wet and watery.  Yummy though!
3. Would love to make more cupcakes next time and try the swiss meringue buttercream again.  BUT!! as always without the stand mixer this recipe would be too difficult to make by hand.... boooooo

Which step will I reach today?

Homemade Strawberry Chia Seed Jam

Ingredients:

2 cups of strawberries (or blueberries), washed and hulled
2 tbsp chia seed
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp honey
few drops vanilla extract

Procedure:

1. Place the strawberries in a bowl. Using a potato masher, and mash the strawberries until they are a rough puree (kind of chunky).
2. In a medium pot, combine mashed berries, sweetener of choice, and lemon juice. Incorporate chia seeds by sprinkling a layer of seeds over the berry mixture, stirring in, and continuing to add the seeds in this way until they are all incorporated. (Chia seeds gel almost immediately upon hitting liquid–this method keeps the seeds from gelling with each other, creating lumpy jam).
3. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.
4. Reduce heat to low, and simmer, stirring constantly, for five minutes.
5. Remove from heat and add vanilla extract.
6. Transfer jam to storage containers (Mason jars). Jam thickens as it cools.
7.  Store the jam in the refrigerator for up to two weeks, or the freezer for up to six months.

Life is like a camera...

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Lab Bake Off Time!!!

With Roshani leaving to Sweden very soon, the lab decide to host a Lab Bake Off!!!  I was looking through my favourite recipe website, and couldn't really decide what I want to bake on a weeknight with limited time to get ingredients and bake.  Then I came across the cookies section with my favourite cookie of ALL time - white chocolate macadamia nut cookies - serenading to ask me to make them hahaha.  So I sucked it up and finally bought baking powder and baking soda.  I don't know why I was so reluctant to get these two items before.  I have always picked recipes that doesn't use them, or if I'm baking with friends I asked who can bring some over.  Now that I have them... I'm tempted to make some banana bread lol!  

The Lab Bake Off was a success! We had more turn outs than anticipated... Nancy baked some peach pockets, Ben baked some coffee chocolate cookies, Prarthna made some strawberry walnut chocolate fudge, and Ply's girlfriend Megan baked some rhubarb tarts. <3  I'm really happy how the cookies turned out!!! I like how thick they are, and not your conventional thin cookies.

**Note to self ** to buy lots of macadamia nuts when I go to Hawaii for wedding/honeymoon.

Ingredients

yields about two dozen cookies

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. coarse salt
1¼ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
1 cup (16 tbsp.) unsalted butter, cold and cut into large chunks
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. coconut extract (optional - didn't use this, but added more vanilla extract)
12 oz. white chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used 1 bag of white chocolate chips instead to save time)
1½ cups coarsely chopped macadamia nuts (I used 2 bags of 100g macadamia nuts)

Procedure

1. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.  Whisk to blend.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the cold butter and the sugars.  Beat on medium-high speed until smooth and just combined, 1-2 minutes.  Blend in the eggs one at a time just until incorporated, scraping down the bowl as needed.   Blend in the vanilla and coconut extracts. With the mixer on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated.  Fold in the white chocolate and macadamia nuts with a spatula.  Cover and refrigerate the dough for about 30-60 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  Roll a small handful of dough into a ball and place on baking sheets.
4. Bake the cookies, rotating halfway through, until light golden and just set, about 14-16 minutes total.  Let cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  Store in an airtight container.
   
   
   Recipe adapted from Annie's Eats
   

   Thoughts:

   1. I love how it is less sweet because I put more macadamia nut than white chocolates.  Cookies turned out really delicious! And the recipe is super easy to follow.
   2. Remember to bake for 14 minutes for lighter, more raw, chewier texture.
   3. I creamed the butter-sugar by hand, definitely would help if I have a stand mixer lol =P

Chocolate Soufflé

I have been DYING to try making soufflés at home ever since watching the most epic and toughest pressure test in the history of MasterChef Season 3, where Frank and Josh has to make three different types of soufflé in 60 minutes; one savory cheese, one dessert chocolate and one dessert raspberry.  The opportunity came when my friend Lindie has some ramekins and we were going to make some crème brûlée together, but we don't have a torch yet.  So at one of the BBQ dinner gathering, with Lindie's ramekins and Freddy's stand mixer, we let the baking dream begins!

Blog by Josh Marks from MasterChef Season 3.
http://www.ishootonions.com/

Ingredients:

Vanilla Pastry Cream Base
2 cups milk
40 g butter
2 vanilla beans (spilt and scraped) - replaced with 1-2 tsp of vanilla extract
40 g corn starch
80 g egg yolks (approx. 4 yolks)

Chocolate Soufflé
100 g egg whites (approx. 3 1/2 eggs)
50 g castor (berry) sugar
pinch of salt
50 g vanilla pastry cream base
100 g chocolate - used 50g of milk chocolate chips and 50g of dark chocolate chips

***tips: one of the main tips for perfect soufflés is the egg whites. They must be handled with clean hands, free from all oil.

butter – as needed
sugar – as needed
butter 4 ramekins and coat with sugar

Procedure:

preheat oven to 425F

1. In a saucepan heat half of the milk, all of the butter and the 2 vanilla beans. place on medium heat.
2. In a bowl, mix the rest of the milk with the cornstarch and beaten egg yolks to make a slurry.
3. Once the milk is at scald point, whisk in slurry and cook to boil. Take off heat and reserve for soufflé assembly.
4. Melt chocolate over double boiler.
5. In a stand mixer, add egg whites and a pinch of salt. Whisk on medium until frothy. Slowly rain in sugar to make meringue. Increase speed from 4 to 5 to 6 as your meringue gets stiffer.
6. When you take your meringue out of the mixer, it should be a pointy tip on your whisk attachment and should droop over like an elf’s hat.
7. Fold 50 g pastry cream base into melted chocolate
8. In 3 steps fold the meringue into the chocolate mixture while rotating bowl. No Streaks! (it's ok to mix until no streak even the meringue looks deflated)
9. Place mixture into ramekins, flatten it with a small offset spatula and wipe the rim with your thumb to create a “moat”. DO NOT BANG THE BOTTOM OF THE RAMEKIN ON THE COUNTER.
10. Place in oven at 425 degrees F for 11-12 mins
11. Serve with icing sugar and seasonal fruits

Recipe adapted from Josh Marks http://www.ishootonions.com/the-most-amazing-chocolate-souffle/

Thoughts:

1. ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! The texture is spot on, between a mousse and cake, airy and light.  I don't think there's anything to change about the recipe! IT IS PERFECT.  I just need to get smaller ramekins next time, so that the soufflé can poof over the ramekins to be as authentic as possible.  So happy ^^