Zero Bar image stolen from Wikipedia

It’s been decades since I had a Zero bar, so I thought I’d refresh myself on the flavor.  Not as easy as you might think.  Mr Shuck finally found one for me at a Rite Aid.  I must say that it really wasn’t worth all the time it took to find.  The flavor was what you’d expect from the ingredient list above.  It was a little waxy and very sweet.

Zero Bar interior

I thought these had whole almonds on top…apparently at one time they did, when they were produced by the Hollywood Candy Company.  Now that they are produced by Hershey’s, they seem to just have some almond crumbs mixed in with the nougat.  After looking at the ingredient list (which I did after making the cake balls), I wished that I had known about the malted milk soon enough to incorporate that into this somewhere.  Oh, well!

I chose to make a cake ball for a couple of reasons: 1.  It was fun last time.  2.  We are hoping to put our house on the market soon, so I’ve put a bunch of stuff into storage. (To make my tiny house seem spacious and roomy.)  Apparently cupcake wrappers are in a box somewhere… and I didn’t want to buy new ones…

The cake ball started with an almond cake recipe that I found on the Odense website.  I had a tube of marzipan lying around and wanted to use it for something.  The cake recipe called for almond paste, not marzipan, so I adjusted it a little.  Marzipan has a lower percentage of almonds (28%) than almond paste (45%) so contains more sugar.  I also knew that my nougat frosting was going to be incredibly sweet, so I wanted to use a bit less sugar.  The only pan that I haven’t packed up was a rectangular spring form, so I used that instead of a tube pan and reduced the baking time.  I replaced some of the flour with almond meal as well.

Ingredients for cake:

• 1 seven ounce tube of marzipan
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup almond meal, divided
• 2 sticks butter @ room temperature (I should have reduced this)
• 4 large eggs @ room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk (I used rice milk since that’s what I had on hand)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease the pan.
2. Put the marzipan in the food processor with sugar and 1/2 of the almond meal and pulse.  Add the eggs and pulse until combined.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder.
4. Transfer the mixture from the food processor into a large bowl and add half of the flour mixture.  Stir just until combined, then add milk.  Stir just until combined, then add the rest of the flour.
5. Bake for around 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and top bounces back when pressed.
6. Allow to cool for around 10 minutes in pan, then un-mold.

Almond Cake with a bite removed for tasting

I found a recipe for nougat icing at FoodTV.com and altered it only slightly by using 1/2 almond butter and 1/2 peanut butter.  I bought smooth butters and decided that crunchy would be better, so I smashed up some sliced almonds and added them in also.

Icing:

Combine 1 large (16 oz) jar of marshmallow creme or fluff with 1/8 cup peanut butter and 1/8 cup almond butter and beat with electric mixer until combined.  Mix in about 1/4 cup crushed almonds.

Nougat Icing

Assembly of cake balls:  Wearing disposable gloves, I broke up the cake into crumbs then worked the icing into the crumbs.  (FYI: marshmallow fluff is VERY STICKY.  See Yam Casserole post.)  Form mixture into balls and place on parchment lined cookie sheet.  (I placed these in the freezer, but would just refrigerate them if I were to do it again…keep reading…)

While the cake balls were solidifying in the freezer, I attempted to make caramel.  I have made caramel a few times before using sugar, water, cream and butter, but I saw a recipe that called for sweetened condensed milk which said it was faster.  I should always do what I know….

Burnt Caramel

A couple of days later when I had another day off, I made caramel candy using the recipe I was used to.

I combined 3 tablespoons water with 1/4 cup corn syrup and 1 cup of sugar in a pan over medium heat.  While I was bringing it to a boil, I warmed 3/4 cup cream and 1/4 cup butter in the microwave.  When the sugar mixture reached 320 degrees, I slowly added the cream mixture.  You have to be really careful with this as the mixture will SERIOUSLY bubble over.  I returned the mixture to 240 degrees, then removed it from heat and put the pan in a bowl of water to cool it off a bit.  I think my thermometer may be a bit off as the sugar syrup was a bit too light when I added the cream.

I don’t know the best method to recommend for coating the cake balls with the caramel.  I tried dunking them in, but that made a sticky mess.  I dropped one in and the cake ball got a bit too soft from the heat.  Since the cake balls were frozen, the caramel solidified too quickly and didn’t want to stick.  I ended up putting the tray of cake balls in the oven to defrost for a few minutes, then spooned the caramel over them.  These weren’t completely covered with caramel so were easier to move around.   (All of this was way too sticky for me to photograph myself and Mr Shuck was at work, so no photos of the process.)

I put the caramel covered balls back into the freezer (as there is no room in my frig) while I melted some white chocolate bars for the coating.  I chose to use commercial white chocolate bars because I thought straight white chocolate would be too soft for coating.

I broke the chocolate into squares and placed it in a medium metal mixing bowl that I placed over boiling water.  (Actually boiling barley, which I was cooking to put into chili.)  Again, I struggled with coating the balls with the melted chocolate.  Dunking them completely looked nice at first, but then I had to get it off the skewer I was using and that made a mess.  I tried just holding them with 2 fingers and covering them with chocolate with a spoon, but that was awkward as well when I tried to put them down on the cooling rack.  (Cake pops would have been best, but those involved lollipop sticks which were packed up with the cupcake wrappers.  Poor planning on my part.)  Finally, I decided to just spoon the chocolate on top of the solidified caramel.  I garnished them at first with multiple sliced almonds, but ended up just using one sliced almond on top.  (Hershey’s has gotten rid of the almond on top altogether…)

Zero Cake Ball, covered with almonds

Zero Cake Ball, simplified

Sweet Potato Casserole stolen from Southern Living.

I have never liked Sweet Potato casserole…mainly because I don’t like yellow sweet potatoes or yams.  (Unless they they are made into french fries.)    Before we moved to Washington, I wasn’t even aware that there were white sweet potatoes, which I don’t mind, but don’t crave.  Back to the topic:  My family always had Sweet Potato casserole at Thanksgiving and Christmas.    Mr Shuck says that it was more like a dessert anyway, with the brown sugar and nuts and marshmallows.

The most important elements to me were the brown sugar, marshmallow, and of course, the yams.

I started with a sweet potato cake recipe that I found at Epicurious and adapted it only slightly.

• 2 cups of mashed cooked yams  (I used canned yams by Taylors, a brand with no other ingredients. The 12.75oz can yielded exactly 2 cups mashed.)
• 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger  (I didn’t have any, so I used a teaspoon or so of ginger juice)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 and 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup dark muscovado sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• roughly 1 cup of toasted chopped pecans.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and fill one pan of mini muffin tins with liners.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, leaveners and salt.  In a larger mixer bowl, combine the yams with sugar and oil and beat until smooth.  Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition, then add the vanilla.  Add half of the dry mixture and mix just until combined, then add the other half.  Fold in the pecans.  Scoop into prepared pans using a 1/2 ounce scoop.   Bake for approximately 14 minutes.  Yields 72 mini cupcakes.

When I have multiple pans to bake, I fill one pan, then put it into the middle of the oven.  I set the timer for 1/2 of the recommended time and let the first pan bake while I fill the second pan.    I rotate the first pan over to the side of the oven and put the second pan in.  I let both pans bake for the other 1/2 of the recommended time, then take out the first pan, moving the second pan into the center of the oven.   I had to let the pans cool so the 3rd pan baked by itself.

Sweet potato casserole normally has mini marshmallows baked on top, but marshmallows are not vegetarian since they contain gelatin.   Instead I was going to make a Swiss meringue, which tastes essentially like a marshmallow, but then I read on someones baking blog (can’t find it now!) that she likes to use straight marshmallow fluff as an icing.  I took this easy way out.  I wouldn’t do it again….

Beautiful Fluff star, immediately after piping

Piped Fluff a minute later

And a few more minutes later...

I hoped that toasting the Fluff might stabilize it a bit… I was right.  I should have had them ready to go under the broiler as soon as I piped on the Fluff.  A pastry torch would have been better, but mine doesn’t work!  It only takes 30-45 seconds to brown the tops nicely.

Watch cakes carefully while under the broiler...

While these cakes were a mess, I think they turned out tasty otherwise.  If I were to do it over, I’d try the 7 minute frosting recipe I found on the Fluff website.

Finished Yam Casserole cupcake

I am now off to clean marshmallow Fluff out of my piping tip…and off my counters…and the stove…there may even be some on the dog…

I started off by making a banana cake using my standard cake but substituting pureed banana for some liquid.

• 2 cups flour (I used probably 1/3 all purpose and 2/3 Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat pastry flour)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine the above and set aside.  In another bowl, beat together:

• 1 and 1/4 cup pureed bannaa
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 and 1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans that I had toasted in the oven for about 7 minutes)

After the banana mixture is combined, gradually fold in the flour mixture.  Pour into 2 greased round cake pans or a 13 x 9 inch greased rectangular pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until done.  Allow cake to cool in pan for 10-15 minutes, then remove.  I used a Springform pan, so removing the cake from the pan was really easy.  One of the advantages to making cake pops is that it doesn’t matter what condition the cake is in when it comes out of the pan!  I dumped the cake into a huge bowl, then chopped it up a bit with a spatula and allowed it to cool completely.

While the cake was cooling, I made a cream cheese frosting.  The recipe I normally use calls for 1 stick of butter, 2 blocks of cream cheese (16 ounces total) and 1 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar.  I had a tub of mascarpone cheese left over from Waldorf Salad, so I used this for half of the cream cheese.    To make the icing, I allowed the ingredients to warm to room temperature, then creamed the butter until smooth.  I added the cream cheese and beat it until smooth, then added the sugar a little at a time.

After the cake was completely cooled, I dumped in about half of the icing and mixed well with my hands.  I added more icing a little at a time until the mixture was moist enough to hold it’s shape in a ball without being overly wet.  I had about 1/4 of the frosting left over, which I popped into the freezer to use later on.

I molded the mixture into balls about 1 and 1/2 inches in diameter and added a stick.  I placed them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment and let them sit in the freezer until solid.   After solid, I put them into a zip lock until I had the chance a few days later to coat them in chocolate.  My freezer is pretty small, so I had to do this in a couple of batches.  I let the remaining balls rest in the refrigerator.

Cake balls waiting for room in the freezer. Looks like they are waiting on spaghetti...

Since Mayan chocolate was typically made with chili and spices, I wanted to include a little chili in the chocolate coating.   I purchased the chocolate at Target since I was going there anyway and my options were a little limited.  I used Dove dark chocolate squares…

and a couple of Lindt Chili chocolate bars

I melted the chocolate together in a metal bowl set over simmering water and used one square of the chili bar to each square of Dove chocolate.  When it was smooth, I spooned it over the frozen pops.  I leaned the sticks into a cooling rack set over parchment paper to let them drain and harden.

Finished Chocolate Banana Cake Pops

I thought these turned out really tasty.  The interior was moist enough to stick together without being overly wet.  There was a little crunch from the toasted pecans.  The cake and icing were a nice compliment to the dark chocolate and the chili added just enough heat to make the back of my throat tingle.  My dog walker stated that these are her favorite so far.

While researching for this post (after baking), I discovered an Indian curry called Xacuti which would have been very interesting.  It contains white poppy seeds, coconut, chilies and various other curry spices.

There are a multitude of Chinese (Mandarin, I think) foods that start with X: xia (shrimp), xiang chang (a sausage), xiang fun (a mushroom), xian rou (bacon), xiaodianxin (cookies).  Xiang cao jing is vanilla, but that’s kind of boring.   Xigua, I just discovered, is watermelon.   I’ve seen unsuccessful results on Cupcake Wars with watermelon.

I finally decided on Xiang Jiao (banana).  Banana is a little boring, but I hoped that I could do something to spice it up a bit.

While in Portland one day, we stopped in a chocolate store and I saw a chocolate bar by Xocolatl de David.   After a little googling, I discovered that Xocolatl is the Aztec word for chocolate.  Chocolate and banana are a great combination.

Stay posted for the end result

Xocolatl Xiang Jiao cake pops!

While we were in the Portland area, we stopped by the Bridgeport Village Mall in Tualatin/Tigard, Oregon.  The main reason for the stop was to visit Sweetest Thing Cupcakes which has a kiosk there.

When we entered the store, we were greeted by a delicious blast of the aroma of butter cream and cake:  a delicious first impression.   I was also glad that there were a lot of choices:  Snickers, Chocolate/Raspberry, Chocolate w/ Vanilla Icing, Vanilla w/chocolate icing, Vanilla/Vanilla, Chocolate/Chocolate, Snickerdoodle., Chocolate Strawberry and Red Velvet.  They also had one of the most unique cake treats I’ve seen (although very environmentally unfriendly):  Cupcake PushUps.

Peanut Butter Marshmallow Cupcake PushUp

The shop had 3 different flavors of PushUps available and I chose Peanut Butter Marshmallow.   Theoretically, I think PushUps are a great idea, but practically they didn’t work so great.  It was next to impossible to get a balanced bite.  I had to eat the icing, which was good but EXTREMELY sweet.  After the icing, I got a layer of cake, which wasn’t dry exactly, but very crumbly and messy.  Next I got a mouthful of marshmallow filling, also extremely sweet.   Being able to have a combination of layers would have tempered the sweetness of the creamy components and possibly held the cake together better as well.   From a hippie standpoint, it’s a lot of plastic to be thrown away for such a small a dessert.

On the way back to Seattle, I dug into my cupcake.  I had chosen the Strawberry Fields cupcake, which was advertised as a strawberry/chocolate chip cake filled with strawberry and topped with chocolate ganache.  It came packaged in a Chinese to go box, which kept it safe for the journey.

Strawberry Fields Cupcake

This was a very tasty cupcake.  I didn’t get a lot of strawberry flavor from the cake, but it was moist and the chocolate chips gave a bit of texture.  I wasn’t thrilled with the strawberry jam in the center:  it was a bit sweet and “Smuckers”-ish.  The ganache on top was nicely bitter and delicious.  I don’t even remember eating the fondant flower garnish, so it wasn’t as off putting as I find most sugar garnishes.

Granted, my sample was pretty small, but I was impressed overall with this shop.  I’ve had a few visits to other shops lately that I didn’t want to even comment upon.  (If you can’t say anything nice…).

I would go back to Sweetest Thing if I were in the area.  I’d be interested in visiting the original shop where the baking is done, but it’s about 40 minutes south of Portland.  Maybe one day….

On a tangent:  We also visited the Good Food Here food cart pod at 43rd and Belmont in Portland.  I was excited to see that my old cupcake friend, The Sugar Cube PDX had moved from Mississippi and Skidmore.  The Sugar Cube is home to one of my all time favorite cupcakes, Chocolate Caramel Potato Chip.  On this trip, I tried their Chocolate Chocolate Bread Puddin’ which was described on their website as “An ooey gooey journey to the peak of Mt. ChocoGASM. Served warm and topped with Nutella cream, salted caramel and Freddy Guys toasted hazelnuts.”  They did not lie.  It was fabulous.  It was beautiful.  I wish I had taken a crappy IPhone photo before I devoured it.  I also love that they serve on mismatched china and trust us to bring it back to the cart and not steal.  I loved my plate and pondered taking it with me before returning it to the cart.   I have visited the Sugar Cube almost every trip to Portland… they were closed once when we attempted.  I will definitely return.

Naked cupcakes

I made it as far as the above photo last week.  I tweaked the batter a bit since I wasn’t going to be able to put celery in the icing.  Instead of 3 cups of apples, I used just 2 and 1/2 cups of chopped apples.  I measured out 1/2 cup of chopped celery and blended it in the food processor with the walnuts.  I didn’t want to end up with HUGE chunks of celery since I don’t like the taste.

I used the same icing as before, except I omitted the celery juice.

After piping on the mascarpone icing, I sprinkled the cakes with celery seed.   (I probably should have put it into the mixer, but I didn’t want leftover celery icing.)  I finished the garnish with a red grape.

Finished Waldorf Salad Cupcakes

i think these turned out pretty tasty…considering…It’s quite a mouthful, but it’s a nice combination to get the grape with the icing and cake.

W was originally going to be “Whoppers”.  (The candy, not the hamburger.)  I have malted milk powder in the house.  I have chocolate in the house.  At various times, I have had a box or 2 of Whoppers in the house in preparation.   I didn’t do Whoppers for 2 reasons:  First,  the flavor profile is pretty simple.  I’m not saying that I’m beyond simple by any means.  (Wait for X!)  I just thought it would be boring.  Second, I could figure out how to give the cupcake that crunch without just putting a malt ball on as garnish.  I wasn’t sure if they’d stay crunch if baked inside and didn’t know if the icing would make them soggy if I crunched them up.  So, I scratched “Whopper” and decided on something that I’d never eat:  Waldorf Salad.

Waldorf Salad has 5 ingredients: Apples, grapes, celery, walnuts and mayo.  I dislike 40% of these ingredients.  I’ll let you guess which ones.  I could give you details about the origination of this salad, but I’d just be plagiarizing Wikipedia, so if you’re that interested, click here.

Waldorf Salad, stolen from Wikipedia

So I started off by making a simple apple cake.  I combined blended together 2 eggs and 1 and 1/2 cups sugar.   In another bowl, I combined 3 cups flour, 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder and a little salt.   I wanted to include some mayonnaise in the cake recipe since Waldorf salad is traditionally dressed with mayo.  I didn’t have any and forgot it at the store, so I sort of made my own.  So…I found a recipe online for mayo which contained 1 cup oil, 1 egg yolk, 1 tablespoonful lemon juice and 1 tablespoonful vinegar.  I didn’t see the value in whisking all this into an emulsion, so I dumped them together, then used 1 cup of the mixture instead of the oil.   I added this and the flour mixture alternately to the eggs and sugar, then folded in 3 cups of diced apple and a handful of chopped walnuts.  I thought about adding celery instead of some of the apple, but had intended to make a celery mascarpone icing.

I scooped batter into mini muffin pans and baked them at 350 degrees for around 15 minutes.

While the cakes were cooling, I juiced a little celery.  I added this slowly to a whipped mixture of 1/2 cup whipping cream, around 1 cup of powdered sugar and 8 ounces of mascarpone cheese.  Unfortunately, I think there was an enzymatic reaction between the celery and the dairy:  curdling resulted.  It wasn’t attractive.  I thought at first that I had just put too much juice and had watered down the cheese too much.  After adding another 8 ounces of cheese, I decided that it was unfixable.

Today’s cupcakes were more like muffins.  Tasty, but naked without the icing.

I’ll try again soon.  I think I may try using celery seed to flavor the mascarpone icing…

A lot of supplies need to be obtained…there is no flour in the house…or chocolate…

There is a jar of Carnation Malted Milk Powder in the cabinet, the main ingredient for W= Whoppers.  It’s progress.  I’m 1/10 of the way there…

Stay tuned…

Strawberry Mini from Honeymoon Bakery

I tried the Strawberry Mini first.  The icing was fluffy and full of fresh strawberry flavor.  It sat atop a moist strawberry cake and was garnished with a sugar flower that I didn’t really taste.  (Not tasting the decor is typically a good thing.  Sprinkles and sugar flowers aren’t typically the most delicious part of a cupcake.)  I would have liked to have had more information regarding the details, like was it a meringue butter cream or American butter cream, but my email for more information was returned with only the barest of information.

Italian Creme Cake mini from Honeymoon Bakery

I’ve had the Italian Creme cake from Honeymoon Bakery before.  It wasn’t as delicious as I remembered, but it was NICE.  The cream cheese icing was tangy and full of nutty goodness.  The cake was just slightly dry but not crumbly at all.  I’d buy it again.

Sour Cream Fudge mini from Honeymoon Bakery.

The Sour Cream fudge bite made up for the small amount the Italian creme cake was lacking.  The icing and cake were both delicious.  Both were rich and fudgy.  This would definitely satisfy a chocolate craving.

If I lived in Rome, I’d probably drop by here pretty frequently.  I had samples of cookies which were chewy and flavorful.  I also split a Ladybug mousse cake with my mother in law which was amazing.  I think she might have stopped by for another one since I’ve left.  I wish I had photographed it because it was incredibly cute.   If you live in Rome, it’s definitely worth a trip downtown!

Margarita Cupcake, image stolen from Trophy

I love a good margarita and this was pretty tasty.  Unlike most Trophy icings, the tequila lime butter cream wasn’t overly sweet and was very fluffy and light.  The lime cake had a great citrus flavor, but was a bit dry and very crumbly.  I wish I had taken a picture of the crumbs all over my shirt.  The cake was topped with a tiny bit of salt which added a little something extra.  I’m willing to ignore the dry cake since the icing made up for it.  Delicious!