Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Success Gone Awry

In recent weeks, two dessert experiments took place. One of which that turned out well, a red velvet cupcake mix from Williams-Sonoma again. The other, not so well, was a white chocolate blondie brownie mix purchased at Marshalls.

First, the Williams-Sonoma red velvet cupcakes. Ingredients called for the usual suspects, but a few others that were not so usual like buttermilk and white vinegar. I followed the directions except substituted buttermilk for skim milk and a few tablespoons of butter.

Cutting baking time down a few minutes shy of the recommended time and making a few additional cupcakes in excess of a dozen, all turned out great! Taste and consistency were perfect and the buttermilk substitution didn't seem to affect the flavor.

The next experiment was something called Tasty French Bakers Blondie Brownie mix. I spotted this at Marshalls and thought I'd give it a try. It called for simple ingredients like eggs and butter.

I used an 8 X 8 inch square glass pan. The baking time said 40-45 minutes for cake-like brownies. I set the timer for 35 minutes. About 25 minutes in, the brownies looked about done. Edges turned brownish and started to appear dry. I took them out of the oven, stuck a toothpick in and it came out dry. I was worried it may have been overcooked.

After cooling about 10 minutes, I began cutting into it and it was wet as if it was nowhere near done. This was confusing since I did the toothpick test and it was dry. So, I put it back in the oven for another 7 minutes or so. At this point, the top looked more brown, so I figured they had to be done now. Toothpick test again came out dry. Cooling another 5-10 minutes, then cutting, it was wet again on the inside! I don't get it?! The taste was good, but rich. The consistency came out all wrong. I was disappointed.

Monday, January 7, 2013

January Cupcake Specials

Happy New Year! Check out this month's cupcake specials...

January 4-27:
  • S'more: Graham cracker-lined Belgian dark chocolate cake filled with bittersweet chocolate ganache and topped with toasted marshmallow frosting.
  • German Chocolate: Topping is a rich, golden caramel laced with fresh coconut and crunchy pecans, piled high atop a light chocolate cake.
January 7-10:
  • The King: Just in time for Elvis' 78th birthday, celebrate his favorite flavors with fresh banana cake topped with creamy peanut butter frosting; adorned with a shiny gold star.
New Seasonal Flavors:
Tue/Thu/Sat:
  • Italian Cream: Traditional Italian cream cake with pecans and coconut, filled with vanilla cream cheese and topped with cream cheese frosting.
  • White Chocolate Raspberry: Light cream cake with white chocolate chips, topped with raspberry buttercream and white chocolate shavings.
  • Saint Arnold Stout Chocolate: Moist chocolate cake infused with Houston's own Saint Arnold Winter Stout beer, topped with whipped chocolate ganache.

Wed/Fri:
  • Banoffee: Banana cake filled with dulce de leche, topped with whipped cream and caramel buttercreams, sprinkled with graham crumbs..
  • Coffee and Donuts: Light spice cake reminiscent of cinnamon sugar cake donuts, topped with coffee buttercream and 1/2 a mini donut.
Sugarbaby's also offers gluten-free vanilla cream cupcakes now in store on Fridays and Saturdays or by special order Tuesday through Thursday.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Sorry for the Delay - Blame it on the Holiday

Since my last update, there have been a few dessert events to report.

While I wanted to bake at home for the first time in my new house, there just wasn't enough time. I recently spotted a little bakery in a shopping strip center that I thought we'd give a try. Memorial Bakery is a bit more of a true bakery; not solely a cupcakery. They have cakes, pies and cookies, plus a seating area with wi-fi. You can get both a sugar and caffeine high, thereby doubling your efficiency on the computer.

Our selections were: White Chocolate (top left and bottom left), Carrot (top right), Red Velvet (middle left), Raspberry Cream Cheese (middle right) and Sweet Strawberry (bottom right).

My first cupcake was raspberry cream cheese. There is no detailed description on the website, but it seemed to be a standard white cake with raspberry cream cheese frosting, topped with a dried raspberry. The taste was good. It seems like they refrigerate the cupcakes to keep them fresh longer because it was a bit cold. It wasn't very moist, but not yet dry.

Second cupcake was sweet strawberry. Also was a white cake, but with strawberry frosting. It was quite similar to the raspberry cupcake, but a tad bit drier.

And last was the white chocolate cupcake. This was the best tasting out of all three. Except I was so full at this point that it was difficult to enjoy. It was white cake again with either white chocolate or vanilla frosting and white chocolate shavings on top.

I did have a bite of the husband's red velvet, which was also decent. You could taste the chocolate flavor in it more than some red velvet cakes.

Memorial Bakery was a nice diversion. I would still stick with my favorite cupcake shops before going here for cupcakes though.

On New Year's Eve, I used another cookie kit from Williams-Sonoma. This one was chocolate marshmallow crinkle and usually retails for about $18.95, but I got them for $14 using a buy two deal and a coupon.

I followed the recipe exactly and didn't overmix the batter this time. I reduced the bake time by a few minutes and the cookies turned out perfect.

These cookies were good, but I liked the toffee chocolate chunk flavor a bit better.