Red Velvet Cupcakes with Milk Chocolate Ganache Centers

Isn't it sad that I haven't yet figured out how to comment on my own blog? I wouldn't say I'm in any way technologically challenged, but I just somehow can't get it to work for me! If anyone reading this can help me please comment :)

Anyways, cupcakes. These are classic southern red velvet. They have a moist, tender crumb while still being dense with a nice chocolate flavor. These are NOT flourescent red or pink. They are a "sophisticated" southern red velvet, almost a brick color. I stole the idea for the milk chocolate ganache filling from the restaraunt where I had my first experience with red velvet. They only make them as a special every once in a blue moon which is just NOT enough for me.

The milk chocolate ganache center really kicks the red velvet up a notch and makes these go from yummy to oh my god yummy. If you want to give your red velvet cupcakes that extra edge and put them above your average red velvet you should certainly try out the ganache filling. I hope you enjoy! <3

P.S. Please tell me I'm not the only one out there who remembers the red velvet armadillo cake from Steel Magnolias? Yes, I might have been only 5 when I saw that movie but I still remember wanting to eat that red velvet armadillo cake!

Milk Chocolate Ganache

1/2 cup heavy cream
6-7 ounces milk chocolate chips
cocoa powder

Heat the heavy cream in the microwave or over the stove until the cream is just under a simmer. Pour the heavy cream over the milk chocolate and let stand for 5 minutes. Gently stir the chocolate and cream until all chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Place the mixture in the fridge to harden up for at least one hour.

Once the mixture has hardened up use your hands to roll 12 tablespoon size balls of ganache. Put in the freezer to harden completely. Just before placing the cupcakes in the oven roll each ganache ball in cocoa powder and tap off the excess.

Classic Southern Red Velvet Cupcakes

2 tbl dark unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tbl red gel food coloring
2 tbl boiling water
3 tbl salted butter at room temp
1 tbl vegetable shortening
3/4 cup plus 2 tbl sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup cake flour
1 1/2 tsp cider vinegar
1/2 tsp baking soda
12 prepared ganache balls

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line a 12 cup muffin pan with cupcake papers.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, food coloring, and boiling water. Set aside to cool.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream the butter and shortening until smooth. Add the sugar and continue beating until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Whisk the buttermilk and vanilla into the cooled cocoa mixture. Sift the flour into a medium bowl.

With the mixer on low, add the flour, alternating with the cocoa mixture, to the egg mixture in three seperate additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat until incorporated.

In a small bowl combine the vinegar and baking soda and stir until the baking soda dissolves; the mixture will fizz. Add to the batter and stir until just combined.

Divide the batter among the 12 cupcakes, filling 2/3-3/4 of the way full. Lightly place a prepared milk chocolate ganache ball on the top middle of each cupcake. Put in the oven immediatly and bake for about 20 minutes or until done. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Adapted from Baked Explorations

Classic Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces softened cream cheese
6 tbl salted butter at room temp
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream together the cream cheese and butter on medium-high speed until no lumps remain and the mixture is fluffy and light. Turn the mixer to low and slowly add in the powdered sugar until incorporated. Turn the mixer up to high and beat until fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and combine.

To frost cupcakes, place the frosting in the fridge to set up for 30 minutes. Pipe onto cupcakes with a pastry bag or use an ice cream scoop to get a perfect dollop of frosting :)

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Chocolate and peanut butter are such a classic combination. I don't think peanut butter cups need much explanation. Unless you live under a rock, you've eaten a peanut butter cup in your lifetime. Homemade, these are wonderful. Use dark chocolate and make a creamy peanut butter filling and these will be some of the most decadent desserts you've ever had. Just don't go overboard and make 50 of these unless you have someone to share with, otherwise you'll find yourself waking up in a gutter covered in peanut butter cup wrappers...

First, melt 5-6 ounces of good quality dark chocolate in the microwave (if you want to be technical, use a double boiler). Seperate 12 candy cups or mini-cupcake wrappers (which are slightly larger than candy cups) and pour in chocolate a quarter of the way. Use a pastry brush or clean paint brush to paint the chocolate up the sides. Don't go too far, you want to be able to peel off the wrapper when all is said and done!

Put these in the fridge while you make the peanut butter filling. Beat 1/4 cup creamy natural peanut butter, 1 tbl softened butter, and 2 tbl powdered sugar with a hand mixer until smooth. Once the chocolate is set, fill each cup with a small ball (yes, you can roll a ball) of the peanut butter filling and press in to fill.

Pour some more chocolate over the top and swirl around. Put back in the fridge to harden up.


Devour at a ridiculous pace or...share.

P.S. Next time I'm sure I'll learn how to actually temper the chocolate first. These should be kept in the fridge to keep the chocolate hard. <3

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

5-6 ounces good quality dark chocolate
1/4 cup creamy natural peanut butter
1 tbl salted butter at room temp
2 tbl powdered sugar
12 candy cup wrappers or mini-cupcake wrappers

Melt the chocolate and pour enough in each cup to fill 1/4 of the way. Paint the chocolate up the sides using a pastry brush and put in the fridge to set.

Make the peanut butter filling by beating together the peanut butter, butter, and powdered sugar. Roll the filling into 12 balls and press into the chilled chocolate cups. Spoon more chocolate over the top and chill to set.

Cream Puffs

I like to gorge myself on various reality tv shows. The Real Housewives of NYC and New Jersey, Million Dollar Decorators, Platinum Hit. Anything and everything that Bravo produces gets eaten up like candy. Social Commentary? I think so. The very fact that Watch What Happens Live exists is proof. It is literally a live show recorded after each episode of The Real Housewives hosting Andy Cohen and special guest who pick apart each episode's ridiculous cast of self-important "housewives" or, as I like to call them, Grandma Frankenstein Barbies. See? I can make fun of each and every episode and still proclaim to love it. This is really nothing new for me, as I have been watching 30 Minute Meals for years. Plus, as far as the housewives are concerned, what would the world be without some form of vapid entertainment to get you through the time between History of Western Civilization and Statistics homework.

Lately, though, I have really been trying to up my game (all this wasted time is making me a bit nervous) and watch more fulfilling programs like Masterchef, Martha Bakes, and (my favorite) Mad Hungry with Lucinda Scala Quinn. It was during one of these Martha Bakes episodes that I learned about pate a choux. A relatively easy Frenchy pastry technique I'm convinved. I refuse to believe that this is simple my view because I am becoming more experienced. After one tv encounter I whipped out a batch from memory in the half an hour before dinner. I'm good...

This dough is actually cooked on the stove. It is then mixed with eggs and piped into tiny creampuff form. It literally is the easiest and most gratifying recipe I've made in a long time. I wouldn't even call this a "tutorial" because that just makes me sound pretentious and important. This is more like a little tiny hint to you to go out into your kitchen and pipe out a hundred little creampuffs and shove them in your face like there's no tomorrow.

Pate A Choux

1 cup water

8 tbl (1 stick) salted butter cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 tsp sugar

1 cup flour

4 eggs at room temp

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium stainless steel saucepan heat together the water, butter, and sugar until boiling. Stirring constantly, add the flour all at once. Continue to stir until the mixture comes together and begins to leave a film on the bottom of the pan, less than one minute. Turn the mixture out into a glass bowl and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Next, begin stirring the mixture and while stirring (to avoid cooking the white) add one egg. Stir it completely into the mixture. Remember that the dough will look completely broken before it comes together. Stir, stir, stir! Repeat with the remaining three eggs, adding the next only when the previous is completely incorporated.

Scoop the mixture into a large pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip (or no tip at all). Pipe the mixture into 1 inch creampuffs leaving about 1 inch between pastries. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown. Allow to cool completely before filling.

Lazy Lemon Filling

1 box instant lemon puddig mix

4 cold cups milk

1 cup cold heavy cream

3 tbl sugar

1 tbl vanilla extract

Make the instant pudding according to package directions using the mix and milk. Beat together the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla until stiff peaks form. In a seperate bowl scoop some prepared pudding and stir until smooth. Fold in a bit of the whipped cream until no streaks remain. Add to a pastry bag fitted with a long filler tip, puncture cream puffs slightly, and fill with a bit of the lemon filling. Chill and eat.

Inspired by Martha Bakes (Martha Stewart)

Cinnamon Toast Flan - A Bread Pudding

This is my first ever Julia Child recipe. I somehow, through all my baking, put on the back burner of my mind the countless Julia Child cooking programs my mom would make me sit through as a child. I guess I just never associated her with baking but more with flying chickens of the non-vegetarian sort.

Fortunately for me my mother happened to have Julia Child's Kitchen Wisdom book sitting in her bathroom one day. Being that I was in no quick position to go anywhere I decided to take a look and quickly flipped to the back pages where the desserts usually hide. The first page that I turned to had this recipe for cinnamon toast bread pudding on it. It was like the hands of fate guided me to this book! I never knew how many different things I could learn from Julia Child about dessert.

I got to thinking while I was making this...I wonder if Julia Child had a dishwasher (as in a person who washes dishes)...just in her everyday life when she was learning and testing recipes...with everything she knew and everything she learned...did she whisk up five consecutive batches of creme anglaise (a French custard base) in one day just to get it so-so (after all she was the "master") and then wash her own dishes? All pressing questions in the minds of many I'm sure. But really, I would like to gain even a smidgen of her knowledge. I'm dedicated to opening up a book of hers and learning the basics in the near future. Maybe I'll hire a dishwasher...

Ok, now that I got that out of the way, another pressing question...what the heck did they do in the days before electric stand mixers???? I mean, for serious!!! This recipe requires the beating of sugar with 5 large eggs and 5 egg yolks into "the ribbon" stage. Do you even understand the magnitude of what that means to someone with no mixer???? It took me at least 15 minutes in my super-duper-powered modern whizzy machine (otherwise known as a Kitchen Aid) to beat these 10 eggs and sugar into a gigantic foamy mass of ribbony pale pillowiness. It made me feel a new sense of respect for my predecessors just knowing that they had steel balls and massive muscles (even if no one knew it).

Eggs tripled in size...

Forming "the ribbon"...

Large volume, large foamy layer...

Creme anglaise all cooked down and ready to go...

In the end this huge pillowy mass of eggs and sugar gets mixed ever so slowly with dribbles of hot milk and cooked over low heat until thick. It must be stirred constantly and kept in check to avoid reaching a bubble which will break the yolk. Eventually a magical thing will happen: the piles of foamy cloud-like egg will give way to a much reduced looking custard that ever so slightly coats the back of a spoon. Mix with vanilla extract and pour over (did I mention???) CINNAMON TOAST, bake, and voila!: Cinnamon toast bread pudding.

Cinnamon Toast Flan - A Bread Pudding

*This recipe is for a 6-cup baking dish 2 inches deep (8" by 8" pan), serving 6 to 8

4 tbs salted butter, at room temp
6 thick slices white sandwich bread, crusts left on
1/4 cup sugar mixed with 2 tsp ground cinnamon
5 large eggs at room temp
5 egg yolks at room temp
3/4 cup sugar
3 3/4 cup hot milk
1 1/2 tbs pure vanilla extract

Preheat the broiler. Butter the bread slices on one side, using half the butter. Arrange them buttered side up on a baking sheet and sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over each. Watching carefully, broil for a few seconds until the sugar bubbles up. Cut each slice into 4 triangles. Smear the remaining butter inside the baking dish, and fill with the toast triangles, sugar side up. Set aside while you make the custard sauce (creme anglaise).

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment beat the eggs and egg yolks together, adding the sugar by spoonfuls, until the mixture turns a pale yellow and forms the ribbon: start off on a low speed and gradually increase as the eggs start to expand and eventually triple in size. This will take a while and you will know it is done when the whisk, when lifted from the mixture, leaves a slowly dissolving ribbon of egg flowing from it.

Transfer the mixture to a stainless-steel saucepan. Stir in the hot milk by dribbles at first, until all of it is incorporated and the eggs are tempered (the mixture should be smooth). Set over low heat, stirring slowly and continuously with a wooden spoon, reaching all over the bottom of the pan as the custard gradually heats and thickens - do not let it come near the boil. If it seems to be getting too hot, lift pan up, then continue as the sauce thickens. You are almost there when surface bubbles begin to disappear and you may see a whiff of steam arise. It is done when surface bubbles are gone and it coats the spoon in a light, creamy layer.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix in the vanilla to the custard and pour half through a sieve over the toast. Let soak 5 minutes, then seive on the remaining custard. Place the dish in a roasting pan and set in the lower-middle of the oven. Pour boiling water into the pan to come halfway up the baking dish. Bake for 25-30 minutes, keeping the water bath at just below the simmer. It is done when a skewer plunged into the custard an inch from the side comes out clean.

It may be eaten hot or allowed to cool. Note that the custard will by runny if served hot and if served cold the custard will set to a thicker consistency.

Recipe from Julia's Kitchen Wisdom

Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies

Oatmeal? Soy nut butter? Marshmallow? Butterrrrr? OMG. These were my dad's favorite cookies. Happy father's day! He ate all of them with the help of my hefty uncle Paul last time I made them. So this father's day what did I make? These cookies of course. Because I love my dad! He has maybe an even bigger sweet tooth than I do. He posesses the uncanny ability to eat solely Hershey's bars and stay skinny as a stick. I obviously did not inherit this gene :(

Anyways, these cookies don't taste very similar to their store-bought counterparts. But they are nevertheless amazing. Cookie part equals lots of sugar, butter, flour, soy nut butter, and oatmeal. Make sure not to overcook them. They will feel a little wobbly in the center when you touch them. They'll fall apart if you try to pick them up. But let them cool completely and they'll set up. And be totally chewy and delicious. Then fill with yummy marshmallow with butter. Oh joy.

Oatmeal Cookies

3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter at room temp
1/2 cup soy nut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup quick-cooking oats

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream together the butter and soy nut butter on medium-high speed until smooth. Beat in both sugars until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla until just combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the flour mixture on low speed just until combined. With the mixer still on low, add in the oats until just combined.

Drop the batter in rounded teaspoonfuls onto the baking sheet leaving two inches between cookies. Bake 8-10 minutes or until the middle is set and the edges are just golden brown. Let cool on the baking sheet for one minute before moving to a wire rack.

Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Food Gifts Magazine 2010

Marshmallow Butter Filling

1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter at room temp
7 ounces marshmallow cream
1/2-1 cup powdered sugar

Beat butter and marshmallow together in a stand mixer until combined. Slowly beat in the powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time until the frosting is thick enough to hold its shape. Scoop into a pastry bag with a plain tip. Pipe enough onto the back of one cookie to fill the surface, leaving 1/4 inch border. Press on a cookie of equal size. Eat, or put in the fridge to set up further.

Pink Coconut Sno Ball Cake Pops

A sno-ball:
-chocolate cake filled with fluffy vanilla frosting and covered in marshmallow and pink coconut

There was a package of these in my cupboard about a month ago. They quickly ended up in my belly. Nom nom nom. I def went to the gym that night - 800 calories, eliptical machine. It made me realize that I HAD TO learn how to bake them in giant cake form. Note to self: next time, only eat one.

I had to be savvy and come up with my own solution since the recipes I found used a marshamallow cream frosting instead of real marshmallow. This worked fine as a filling. I adapted a version from Sprinkle Bakes. It ended up being too gloopy and I added heavy cream to fluff it up.

As for the marshmallow. This was the trickiest part. I could deal with crumbly cakes, cutting wells for marshmallow cream, and tinting coconut. But melted marshmallow is outrageously hard to work with. It's something like wet tar. Sticky, viscous, and worst of all it dries in no time flat. There's really no short cuts to a real marshmallow, but I think I found one. I melted mini marshmallows in the mirowave and quickly poured it over the cake and spread as fast as my arm could work. Success! After tinting and covering with pink coconut it looked beautiful.

There was one huge problem with this cake. It was just plain horrible when all was said and done. The heavy cream sunk into the cake making it totally soggy and collapse in the middle. The marshmallow when melted and dried lost all its air and became a thin layer of very hard and untasty marshmallow that required a sharp knife sprayed with non-stick spray to cut. All-in-all the ratios and textures were off and I was not happy, but I was not ready to give up. I hate to waste food, especially when it can be salvaged. After ripping off the marshmallow top and discarding the middle I was left with a decent amount of unscathed devil's food cake. Now, let's talk cake.

This devil's food cake recipe came out of a Northeast Flavor magazine I picked up last Christmas. It caught my eye while browsing old magazines last week and I had to try it. Seldom does a plain 'ol chocolate cake catch my eye, but this recipe sounded truly spectacular. It has mayonnaise, one whole cup of sour cream, one whole cup of coffee, and a heaping amount of dark chocolate cocoa in the batter. If this doesn't sell you from a standpoint of boring chocolate cake recipes I don't know what would. It really is an amazing chocolate cake. It makes nice full flat-topped cakes than are dense, moist, and chocolatey. This is my new go-to. I was ecstatic to salvage the remains for yummy cake pops (after eating a couple bites or so...).

Basically the cake gets food processed with some frosting, rolled into balls, chilled, dipped in more marshmallow frosting, and dipped in coconut. Now I can finally say that I made an awesome homemade sno-ball in one form or another. Instead of giant it's mini. I love it!! I kind of wish I were going to a bake sale so I could put these in pretty flower pots and sell them. I would have loved to use real marshmallow for the covering but I was totally put off with my prior experience. Instead I subjected to a marshmallow frosting and guess what? It's amazing. After being chilled, the frosting, which is butter based, hardens up and couldn't be any better.

Devil's Food Cake

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tbl mayonnaise
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter at room temp
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup coffee

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter an 8-inch round cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Butter the parchment paper and flour the entire pan (you may also use cocoa powder for this), tapping out any excess.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cocoa powder in a large bowl and set aside. In a small bowl combine the vanilla, mayonnaise, and sour cream and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until fluffy. Add the egg and beat until just incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Alternately add the flour mixture and sour cream mixture, beating until just incorporated, and being sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Slowly add the coffee until incorporated.

Pour the entire mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 15-20 minutes before carefully removing the cake onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Marshmallow Frosting

1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter at room temp
8 ounces marshmallow cream
1 cup powdered sugar
2 cups coconut
few drops pink food coloring
splash water

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream together the butter and marshmallow cream on medium-high speed until fluffy. Slowly add in the powdered sugar on low speed until incorporated. Mix on medium-high speed until fluffy.

Next, in a large resealable bag add the coconut. In a small bowl mix together the food coloring and water. Add to the coconut, seal bag, and shake until all of the coconut is coated and pink. Empty out into a bowl.

Take 6 tbl of the frosting and add it to a food processor with 2 cups of the crumbled cake. Pulse until combined. Remove the top and check consistency by rolling a bite size ball of the mixture. It should stay together as a ball without being too wet. Adjust consistency if needed by adding more cake or frosting.

Roll all of the cake mixture into small bite size balls and put on a platter to harden up in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. Once hardened insert a lollipop stick into each ball and dunk into the remaining frosting to coat. This doesn't have to be perfect. Next, roll the cake pop in the coconut and use fingers to press the coconut in evenly and distribute the frosting to all parts of the pop. Put the cake pop ball side down into a mini-cupcake wrapper and place in the fridge to set up before serving. Repeat. Every 2 cups of cake makes about 24 cake pops.

Cake adapted from Northeast Flavor magazine, Frosting adapted from Sprinkle Bakes

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

I really love cinnamon toast. Ahh white bread, butter, cinnamon, and sugar. Together it is one of the simplest yet perfect breakfasts, forget about poptarts and generally processed garbage. All you need are five ingredients to make the perfect breakfast toast.

These cupcakes are called Snickerdoodle cupcakes. But let's face it, snickerdoodles are really cinnamon sugar toast in cookie form. And they are soo good. I plan on making some soon and then eating them all before I get to give them out. Yum.

I should mention that I went to my first cupcakery while in New Hampshire last summer. It was a very cute and little place with about 15 different kinds of cupcakes called White Mountain Cupcakery. This was around the same time that I really started getting into baking from scratch. They had a wonderful snickerdoodle cupcake there too!

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 stick (8 tbl) salted butter, at room temp

3/4 cup plus 2 tbl sugar

2 large eggs, at room temp

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup plus 2 tbl milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a 12 cup muffin pan with liners. Sift together the flours, baking powder, and cinnamon and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and incorporate the vanilla. Turn the mixer to low speed and add the dry ingredients, alterntaing with the milk, in three seperate additions, beginning and ending with the dry.

Fill the cupcake tins 3/4 of the way full and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

Snickerdoodle Buttercream

1 stick (8 tbl) salted butter at room temp
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tbl milk (more or less)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream the butter on medium-high until light and fluffy. Slowly add in the powdered sugar until incorporated. Add the milk, one tsp at a time until the frosting is the desired consistency. Add more milk as needed. Add in the cinnamon and vanilla and beat on high speed until the frosting is light and fluffy. Frost cupcakes as desired. To finish sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Coconut Lemon Crunch Cupcakes

Not being able to decide between triple lemon ice cream, a concoction of lemon ice cream swirled with lemon curd and lemon crunch pieces, and a frozen coconut bar one night, I made the hard decision to eat both simultaneously. I thought about transalting it into a cupcake...yum!

This is a moist lemon cake filled with lemon curd, topped with coconut marshmallow frosting, and sprinkled with crunchy lemon cookies.  The play on textures - from moist cake to smooth lemon curd to fluffy frosting to crunchy topping - makes these slightly addictive.

The cake recipe is from Hello, Cupcake! I've had trouble lately with overcooking cupcakes. I don't know what the deal is but I think an oven thermometer is in my near future. This was the second lemon cupcake I overbaked. I threw out the first one, which was a recipe from the Middle Eastern Hershey's website containing sweetened condensed milk, thinking that the recipe was bad. But after overcooking these too, I think my oven is the problem.

I've made a couple lemon curds lately, namely one from Martha Stewart's lemon meringue pie cupcakes and one from Baked Explorations' lemon drop cake. The lemon curd recipe here, from Epicurious, is so far my favorite. It is intensly sour and sweet. Another winning point is that this verison uses the entire egg rather then just the yolks. All the ingredients go in one saucepan and get cooked until thick, no seperating or tempering involved. Super easy.

Coconut marshmallow frosting - let's talk. Four things - butter, marshmallow, powdered sugar, coconut extract. Freakin' amazingness. Have you ever had a certain frozen supermarket coconut layer cake in a square-ish shape? That is this in frosting form. Eat it with a spoon.

Crunchy lemon topping? Crunch is satisfying. I used store-bought cookies. They get crushed and toasted. The more the better. Press it into the frosting.

Lemon Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 ounces cream cheese at room temp
4 tbl salted butter at room temp
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp lemon extract
1 large egg
1/4 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a muffin cup with 12 paper liners. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda and set aside.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream together the butter, cream cheese, and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and lemon extracts and beat on medium speed until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the egg on medium-low speed, mixing just until incorporated. With the mixer on low speed add the dry ingredients alternating with the milk in three seperate additions, starting and ending with the dry ingredients and mixing just until combined.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 of the way full and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe adapted from Hello, Cupcake!

Lemon Curd

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons finely grated fresh lemon zest
1 cup fresh lemon juice
1 1/3 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 3/4 sticks (3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) salted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces

Whisk together the lemon zest, lemon juice, sugar, eggs, and a pinch of salt in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add the butter pieces and cook over moderately low heat, whisking constantly, until the curd is thick enough to hold the marks of a whisk and the first bubbles appear on surface, about 10 minutes. *Note - I actually had to boil my lemon curd for a few minutes until it was the thickness I desired for this recipe. Immediately pour curd through a fine sieve into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and chill.

To fill cupcakes use a cupcake filler tip attached to a pastry bag filled with lemon curd. Alternatively, cut a cone-shaped piece out of the middle of each cupcake, add about a tablespoon of filling, and cover with the top of the cone-shaped cut out.

Recipe adapted from Epicurious

Coconut Marshmallow Frosting

1 stick (8 tbl) salted butter at room temp
8 ounces marshmallow cream
1/4 tsp coconut extract
1 cup powdered sugar

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat together the butter and marshmallow on medium-high speed until smooth. Add the coconut extract and beat until combined. Turn the mixer to low and slowly add the powdered sugar until combined. Turn mixer up to medium-high and beat until fluffy. Frost cupcakes.

Recipe adapted from Sprinkle Bakes

Lemon Crunch Topping

10 medium sized lemon cookies, homemade or store-bought (I used Pepperidge Farms)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a non-stick mat.

Put the cookies in a lare plastic sealable bag and crush until crumbs remain. Alternatively, use the food processor and pulse until crumbly. Spread the crumbs out on a baking sheet in an even layer and toast until golden, tossing halfway through. This takes about five minutes total but watch carefully to prevent burning.

Fresh Herb Potato Salad

This amazing potato salad comes from Alex Guarnashelli. I have been watching her show Alex's Day Off since it started, and I love the way she describes her food. This potato salad sounded like my kind of potato salad. There's no mayonnaise in it for starters and it's not the traditional potato salad that I know. It has a fresh herb pesto, baby gherkins, tangy mustard, vinegar, and shallots. It's a fresh, briny, salty, and tangy potato salad with a little crunch from the pickles and shallots.

This is exactly the kind of food that I love. It it served warm so it is easily portable to a barbeque or picnic without worry. It's healthy as far as potato salads go and it's simple to put together. To be honest, I didn't measure out any of my ingredients for this recipe. I adapted a few ingredients but I left the recipe relatively unchanged. I kept having to add a little more olive oil and/or sugar because it was actually too briny at first, and it is probably easier to go by taste for a recipe like this depending on your preferences. I hope you enjoy!

Fresh Herb Potato Salad

2 pounds small Yukon gold potatoes

1 large bunch parsley

1 bunch basil

1/2 tsp salt

2 tablespoons water

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

4 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 shallots, peeled and sliced into thin rounds

2 tablespoons whole grain mustard

5 baby gherkins pickles, quartered lengthwise and sliced into 1/4-inch pieces

1 tablespoon gherkin pickle liquid

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Arrange to potatoes in a single layer in a baking dish and bake for about 50 minutes or until tender.

Meanwhile, in a blender combine the parsley and basil leaves, snipping them into pieces with kitchen scissors before adding. Add the salt, water, and sugar and blend. With the motor running pour 1/2 cup of the olive oil through the top in a slow, steady stream until combined.

In a serving bowl large enough to hold the potatoes, stir together the red wine vinegar, shallots, mustard, gherkins and liquid. Add the the herb mixture and combine.

Check on the potatoes and remove if cooked. Let cool, remove skin, and cut into 1/2 inch pieces. Put the potatoes in the bowl with the dressing. Season lightly with salt and pepper, to taste, and toss them in the dressing.

Recipe adapted from Alex's Day Off