Strawberry-Champagne Cupcakes!

For the Oscars, I wanted to make cupcakes that would fit in with the celebration, so I decided to try strawberry-Champagne cupcakes. These were really easy to make, especially since I used a cake mix. This gave me more time to spend on the decorations.

What's great about making these cupcakes is that there's plenty of leftover Champagne and strawberries to enjoy while baking.



This is an illustration of my grandmother from 1930s. I love her outfit - she would have fit right in at the Oscars.



oven: 350
baking time: 17-20 min

Cupcakes

1 box Betty Crocker Super Moist Vanilla Cake Mix
1 1/4 cups dry Champagne (to replace the water in the cake mix)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 egg whites (instead of 3 whole eggs listed on the cake mix box)
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh strawberries (cut in smallish pieces)

Frosting

1 cup butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup Champagne
1-2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

combine cake ingredients, mix well. fold in strawberries and fill baking cups 3/4 full.



Bake until toothpick comes out clean in center of cupcake. Remove from tin and allow to cool completely on rack.



Whip the butter on medium speed for a few minutes until light and fluffy. add the powdered sugar slowly, and add Champagne and vanilla. The frosting will have a light consistency, similar to whipped cream. Fill pastry bag with frosting and decorate the cupcakes using a large star tip.



For the Oscar theme decorations, I didn't have much readily available to use, so I had to get creative. I found a good image of the Oscar statuette online, reduced it in size and printed out several on a sheet of paper. i flipped the image to get the reverse side so I could glue the two sides together on a toothpick. It was tricky and tedious work to cut out such a small image, but the result was pretty awesome.



I cut up strawberries into quarters to lay on top of the cupcakes, not only to give them more color, but also to simulate the red carpet. I also considered using red sugars, but didn't want to make the frosting too sweet. The strawberries looked good, but caused the frosting to break down a bit and get a little drippy. Maybe next time I'll dye the frosting red to get the look of the red carpet.



I found some red fabric, which I used to cover a tray and add to the red carpet look. i liked how the red fabric reflected in the silver baking cups.

The cupcakes were a big hit - the flavor of the Champagne really came through in both the cake and the frosting. Next time I'll try making the cake from scratch.

As for the Oscars, I managed to accurately guess the winners for 16 of the 24 awards, which isn't bad considering I saw only a couple of the films nominated. I even won my own statuette for placing third in the pool organized by a coworker. I should incorporate Pez into a cupcake. That would be sweet.

Super Bowl Cupcakes

For this year's Super Bowl, I decided to attempt Irish Car Bomb cupcakes. I've had a simplified version before, made from a Duncan Hines devil's food cake mix and without the bomb in the center. The whiskey/chocolate ganache really makes these cupcakes "da bomb". The cake itself loses most of the Guinness flavor after baking, but helps keep the cake rich and delicious. It also seems to keep the cake moist. I love the Irish cream in the butter frosting, it's quite potent.

This recipe makes 2 dozen cupcakes. Bake at 350 for 18-20 min. cool completely before adding the filling.

Devil's food cake with stout
1 cup Guinness
1 cup butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Ganache Filling
8 oz bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp butter, room temperature
3 tsp Irish whiskey

Irish Cream Frosting
4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter, room temperature
4 tbsp Bailey's Irish cream

Instructions

combine butter and stout over medium-low heat. Drink what's left in Guinness bottle while butter melts.




add cocoa powder, stir until well combined. remove from heat and cool slightly.




mix together eggs and sour cream. add chocolate mixture and beat until combined.


in a separate bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients and add slowly to wet ingredients. fill baking cups 3/4 full.




after baking, remove from pan onto cooling rack. allow to cool completely before inserting filling.




when cooled, cut 1" round holes in tops of cupcakes, and cut about half way through the center of the cupcake.





to make filling, chop chocolate into small pieces. heat cream on stove until heated through (do not boil). pour over chocolate and stir until chocolate is completely melted. add butter and whiskey and mix well. let cool slightly before filling pastry bag (use a wide tip attachment).



fill the holes in the cupcakes to the top.






allow ganache filling to set before frosting. make sure butter is at room temperature and beat for a few minutes until fluffy. add sugar slowly and mix until well combined. add Irish cream. frost cupcakes generously and enjoy!

Happy Pi Day

Well, it's been way too long since my last post, and since it's 3.14 (Pi Day), it's high time for some pie worship. I was just thinking it would be cool to bake a pie with the pi symbol cut in the top for the steam vents. I'll have to consider that for next year. Today is actually not a pie baking day for me, but a ginger cookie day. It was the only treat I could make without a trip to the grocery. It's a really stormy day, so staying in to bake cookies works for me just fine.

3.14 is a pretty important day. In addition to it being the day we all celebrate Pi (thanks to this crazy dude: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Prince-of-pi.jpg) it's Einstein's b-day. But who cares about him, because it is also happens to be my Grandma Nellie's birthday. She would have been 96 today. She died only a couple of months after her 94th birthday. 



Happy Birthday, Grandma!


Grandma would have loved these ginger cookies. I wonder if I ever made them for her? I only discovered the recipe from my Aunt at Christmas 2007. It's a fantastic recipe:

Ginger Cookies

cream together:
3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg

sift together:
2 cups flour (more if necessary)
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp ginger

mix well, add extra flour if dough is too sticky.
roll into small balls, dip in sugar.
place 2" apart on a greased cookie sheet (I use parchment paper)
bake at 350 for 8 min. let cool on sheet before transferring to cooling rack
makes approx 4 dozen cookies

The cookies will look puffy when you first take them out of the oven, but will flatten out nicely after they've cooled:




Ok, back to PIE.

Spring is almost here and I look forward to seeing some rhubarb in the stores and friends' gardens to make some tasty treats. I wanted to make some strawberry rhubarb jam last fall, but of course it was too late for either of those fruits. Well, rhubarb is technically a vegetable, but we won't tell anybody. My friend Chris grows some awesome rhubarb in his yard. Hopefully he'll be a pal and save some for me this year. It might require a rhubarb pie in exchange. Let's just hope I get my pie pan back within a reasonable time frame. It seems like forever ago, but I made him this tasty strawberry rhubarb pie as a goodbye treat when he left the company we both worked for. (I, sadly, am still there.) I recall how the group of us enjoyed the pie after a nice lunch as Sushi Ya. Our waiter also had a slice and really liked it. The recipe is pretty basic:

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

1 cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp quick cooking tapioca
pinch of salt
3 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered
3 cups fresh rhubarb, sliced 1/2" thick (about 4-5 stalks)
1 tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces

Mix together all dry ingredients
Sprinkle on top of strawberries & rhubarb, toss to distribute evenly
Transfer to dough-lined pan and dot with butter.
Place top crust over filling, trim edge, crimp to seal & cut steam vents
Place in refrigerator for 20-30 min, preheat oven to 350.
Bake the pie on lower third rack for 50-60 min, when the filling is thick and bubbling.
Allow to cool completely on rack before serving. Serve at room temperature or warm in oven at 350 for 10-15 min

Pie dough (double recipe for bottom and top crusts)

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter (cut into 1/4" cubes)
3 tbsp very cold water

Stir together dry ingredients.
With a pastry blender, add cubed butter to dry ingredients and mix until butter pieces are pea-sized.
Add water one tbsp at a time and mix just until the dough pulls together.
Form into a ball, flatten to a disk and roll out.




This is the pie I made for Chris.

Thanksgivings of yore

Looking back at some old pics, I came across this one of some pies i baked with my sister Fran in either 2005 or 2006. Fran had discovered this really yummy apple pie with a crumb top. I made the bottom crust for her pie as well as the two pumpkin pies and the cherry. This was not the year I made the pumpkin pies without sugar. I always made pumpkin for my nephew Kyle, and had even made a mini pie just for him. i was horrified when he told me there was something "wrong" with it. So now everyone likes to joke "Don't forget the sugar!" whenever I make any type of pie, not just pumpkin.

a few more pics

Look at me!



Marjorie declared the winner!



Martha and Marjorie



that's some blue ribbon!



loot from the show

more pics

Inside the studio



Check out my pie in the center...in the red dish




what an awesome set



look there's my pie again!



This pie was cool

What a day!

Wow, it was so cool to be on Martha's show today! i've never been in a studio audience before and would really like to do it again. i didn't get bored or antsy to get up and walk around (they wouldn't let you anyway). The show was supposed to take about an hour to tape, but it took well over two hours. This was the first annual Pie Bake-Off for the show. It was great to be a part of that.

i got to the studio around noon, thinking it would be a good idea to get there early. I shouldn't have been surprised to see such a long line of people who had the same idea. I walked to the end of the line and stood patiently, trying to balance my pie while holding an umbrella. A sweet old lady named Marjorie got in line behind me. We struck up a conversation when I overheard she had just flown in from Minnesota. We chatted the whole time we were on the line outside and later, sat together inside what I call the "holding pen", a couple of rooms with a lot of chairs and some flat screen TVs playing Martha's show. It was great to hear about her life and all she has accomplished. She has well over 1000 blue ribbons from the MN State Fair and has been on various shows from Rosie O'Donnell to Jay Leno. She also had a copy of her book on hand, Blue Ribbon Baking, which I spent some time flipping through.

When it was time to walk into the studio, I had to leave Marjorie behind, as we were to be seated in different sections. She was part of a big group, the American Pie Council. I didn't know such an organization existed. I got a great seat on the center aisle, so I had a perfect view of the set. I was so impressed with Martha's studio, everything was so perfect, just as you'd expect from Martha. I took pictures of every corner, amazed at the details. If i were to design a kitchen, I would probably use her set as the model.

There were a total of 170 pies in the bake-off. All the pies were nicely arranged on two long tables. Some pies were showcased on a cake stand. I was pleasantly surprised to see my pie on one of the pedestals! I recognized my red ceramic pie dish from Sur La Table almost immediately as I scanned the pies from my seat. I took several pictures of my pie as it stood there in all its glory. As the cameras panned across the tables, i could see the images on the big flat screen TVs in the studio. I was so pleased to see my pie showcased, but it never made me think I'd have a chance at winning. The reason is that when they asked how many of us made apple pie, about half the audience stood up. But at that point it really didn't matter, I was just really excited to be participating.

Martha had several pastry chefs judging the pies, including Karen DeMasco, the pastry chef at Robert DeNiro's restaurant, Locanda Verde. She has a new book out called The Craft of Baking. I'd recently seen this book online while I was doing a lot of research on pies, and had made a note to see if my company carries this book. Lucky for me, one of the items in our goody bag was a copy of her book! I was thrilled. In addition to that, we each got a Pyrex pie caddy, which includes a glass pie pan, and a Martha Stewart pie top cutter -- another item I'd been eyeing recently. Plus there was a bag full of other useful things, such as hand lotion (3 varieties!) and two blocks of organic baking chocolate -- nice!

During the show, Martha called on a couple of members of the audience to talk about their pie. One of them was my new friend Marjorie. I thought this was a good sign for her. There were two other women from the American Pie Council who were interviewed. I began to wonder how I could join this secret society of pie experts and vowed to look into it.

Later in the show, Martha herself got over to the pie tables and began sampling several pies. I never saw her taste mine, but i did see one judge take a bite and immediately reach for some water. I thought, "that can't be good". Slowly they started taking some of the pies off the table and placed on carts. I figured these were the final contestants. I saw another judge taste my pie, and I saw him hesitate, speak to someone and then moved on. My pie never made it on that cart. I was too happy to be disappointed about that. It was so much fun being on the show that the actual contest seemed unimportant at that point.

When it came time for Martha to announce the winner, I honestly had no idea who it could be. I was beyond thrilled when she said Marjorie's name! I felt she really deserved it, having come all the way from MN and having won so many awards in the past. It seemed completely appropriate and I was proud that a fellow Minnesotan won! Now she will go back to the show tomorrow to tape an episode where she makes her pecan pie with Martha. I can't wait to see it.

I also look forward to seeing the Pie Show on Monday. During the taping, there were several shots taken of my pie, I am anxious to see which make the final cut. There was one fade to commercial break with only my pie in the frame. I hope that stays in. I really hope Martha makes this an annual event, i would love to participate next year! And I am already thinking about new pies to try out.



Waiting on line outside the Martha Stewart studio



Me and my pie



Me and my new friend, Marjorie