The Cupcake Addict's Cupcake Collection The Cupcake Addict's Cupcake Collection

eating cupcakes since the late 60's
    • Search Results for: drumstick

      • D is for Drumstick, continued

        Posted at 9:35 pm by MLea
        Feb 11th

        I had a lot of suggestions for “D”: Darjeeling Tea (actually received today, a bit late), Durian (gross), Doughnut, Dalai Lama (cocktail), Dulce de Leche, and others.  I ended up with Drumstick because it seemed creative.  This Drumstick is the Nestle ice cream product, not a chicken leg, just by the way.  It’s a vanilla ice cream cone with a fudge center topped with milk chocolate and dipped in peanuts.  Every time I’ve ever had one, it was individually wrapped and had to be unpeeled.  The chocolate almost always stuck to the wrapper a bit.

        I started my Drumstick journey a couple of days beforehand by making the fudge center.  I used a slightly modified Cooks’ Illustrated recipe for hot fudge sauce.  I figured if it wasn’t hot, it would be thick, right?

        Ingredients

        10 ounces semisweet chocolate , chopped (I used the rest of a bag of mini chocolate chips and some Callebaut 60% cacao)

        1/3 cup sifted cocoa powder , Dutch process  (I used natural cocoa as I was trying to use up the rest of a can of Ghiardelli cocoa)

        1/3 cup sugar

        3/4 cup light corn syrup (I only used 1/2 cup as I wanted it to be a bit thicker, probably would have been better to use the rest)

        1/3 cup heavy cream

        Pinch of salt

        1 tsp vanilla extract

        3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

        Instructions

        1. Melt chocolate in small heat-proof bowl set over pan of almost simmering water until smooth, stirring once or twice. Turn off heat and whisk in cocoa until dissolved; set aside.
        2. Warm sugar, corn syrup, cream, salt, and 1/3 cup water in medium, heavy-bottomed, nonreactive saucepan over low heat without stirring until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium-high; simmer mixture, stirring frequently, about 4 minutes.
        3. Turn off heat and whisk in vanilla and butter. Cool mixture slightly, about 2 minutes; whisk in melted chocolate.

        I kept this in the frig for a couple of days and brought it to room temperature while baking the cupcakes.

        Fudge filling: click to enlarge

        Fudge filling: click to enlarge

        So the first step of the cupcakes was the wrapper.  I wanted to have the chocolate topping inside the wrapper, so I thought I would make liners out of parchment paper.  I probably needed to make them a bit taller as they ended up essentially being only slightly higher than regular cupcake liners.

        Next step:  The cone.  Drumsticks have a sugar cone, which are pointy, so I couldn’t make the cupcakes in the cones.  Instead I made a crust for the bottom of the cupcake by grinding up some sugar cones in the food processor and combining the crumbs with a little melted butter.  I put a small amount on each parchment paper and pressed it down with a utensil (a prescription vial in a ziplock….it was the perfect size to mush the paper down into the mini cupcake pan) then baked them for about 5 minutes at 350 degrees.

        3rd step:  Making the cupcakes.  I used the New Best Recipe Yellow Cupcake recipe, emailed to me by a coworker.

        Ingredients:

        1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

        1 cup sugar

        1/2 tsp baking powder

        1 stick unsalted butter, softened

        1/2 cup sour cream

        1 large eggs and 2 egg yolks, at room temperature

        1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

        Preheat oven to 350.

        Whisk together dry ingredients in bowl of stand mixer.  Dump in the rest of the ingredients.  (Odd, I know!)  Beat until smooth and satiny, then put into cupcake tins.

        Cupcakes before baking: click to enlarge.

        Bake for 20-24 minutes.

        I set the timer for 16 minutes since I was making minis.  When I checked them, they didn’t seem done, so I put them back for another 2-3 minutes.  Probably wasn’t a good idea as I think they got a little overcooked.

        So after the cupcakes cooled.  I moved on to step 3 (?? I lost count).

        I filled a decorating bag with what I thought was softened fudge.  After trying to squeeze a hard mass of chocolate out of a tiny tip, I realized it wasn’t soft enough.  I put the whole bag into a ziplock and soaked it in some warm water for a bit.  It softened up enough to fill the cupcakes, but not before exploding all over me.  Very attractive.  I tried to get Mr Shuck to take a photo, but he thought it was too disgusting.

        After filling, I melted some milk chocolate chips and crushed some dry roasted peanuts.  I dipped each cupcake in the chocolate, then into the peanuts.

        Almost finished!  Click to enlarge

        Almost finished! Click to enlarge.

        I broke some of the other sugar cones for a garnish.  I think they were a success, even though the cake was a bit dry.

        Finished Drumsticks! Click to enlarge.

        
        
         
        Posted in Mrs Shuck's Creations | Tagged drumstick
      • D is for Drumstick

        Posted at 9:52 pm by MLea
        Feb 10th

        More of a post to come.  I shouldn’t bake on a weeknight after work.  D might be for dry or DARNIT!

        Posted in Uncategorized
      • “Fuddle” = Fudge Fennel

        Posted at 9:23 pm by MLea
        Oct 9th
        fennel

        the main ingredient…

        I’ll just say at the onset that I’m not very happy with this letter.   I could see the potential in it…fennel is a little licorice-y…chocolate covered licorice is popular…but it didn’t translate into delicious…

        I’ll tell you about it anyway…

        I made a fennel cake using the same cake recipe I did for the plum cake for “WUM”, just using pureed fennel instead.  The batter wasn’t heavy on fennel flavor, so I heated a little milk with some fennel seeds, whirred it with the immersion blender, then strained out the solids.  It helped.  The cake is fine on it’s own.

        I found a whipped fudge icing that ultimately wasted a lot of ingredients…it turned out extremely sweet but bitter at the same time, if that’s possible.   It’s also very grainy.  I’m not even going to reference it.  Before making this, I tried to find the recipe I used previously for the fudge filling in my Drumstick cupcakes.  It never dawned on me, until I just made that link, that I posted the recipe!

        Mr Shuck thinks it overpowers the delicate fennel flavor of the cake.  I agree.

        I garnished with some candy coated fennel seeds that I got at the Indian grocery.

        fuddel

        Fudge Fennel

        On top of all this…I’m not happy with my photos!   What’s wrong with the white balance?  Some days are just like this.  I hope I can get rid of all these cupcakes at work tomorrow…

        So far On Beyond Zebra has inspired 4 successes and one fail.  I’m still at a B average.

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        Posted in Mrs Shuck's Creations
      • M= Moosetracks

        Posted at 7:59 pm by MLea
        Aug 11th

        For those of you that don’t know, Moose Tracks® is an ice cream by Denali® Flavors.   It is made into various store brand ice creams and other small dairies like Mayfield and Turkey Hill.  Moose Tracks® has a vanilla ice cream base and is accented with peanut butter cups and Moose Tracks® fudge.

        Trader Joe's Mini Peanut Butter Cups

        I started off my cup cake interpretation with a standard vanilla cupcake batter.  I creamed together 2 sticks room temperature butter and 2 cups sugar.  I then added 4 eggs and 2 teaspoonfuls of vanilla and mixed well.  In a separate bowl, I mixed 3 cups flour, 3 teaspoonfuls baking powder and a bit of salt.  I added it in thirds to the butter mixture, alternating with 2/3 cup warmed milk.   When the flour was incorporated, I stirred in a box of Trader Joe’s Mini Peanut Butter cups.  I scooped into 24 cupcake liners and baked for around 20 minutes at 350.

        Baked up Moosetracks

        While the cakes were cooling, I started the icing.  I thought about using the Drumsticks fudge as an icing, but its too thick to pipe when cool and too thin to pipe when warm… I also thought about using my grandmother’s boiled chocolate icing which I remember as being “fudgy”… but she always poured it onto a sheet cake still in the pan.  I didn’t know how that would pipe either… I ended up using a recipe that I found on Chowhound.  I don’t know who to credit….

        I heated 1 cup of cream with a couple of tablespoonfuls of corn syrup and a pinch of salt.  When it was simmering, I poured it over 20 ounces of chopped chocolate.  (I used a bag of Ghiardelli semi sweet chips that I had on hand and 8 ounces of Callebaut bittersweet).  I mixed this until the chocolate was melted, then added 1 cup of powdered sugar, then 1 and 1/2 sticks of butter a little at a time and blended until smooth.  After it cooled completely in the frig (I was short on time!) I whipped it a bit to make it fluffy.

        I ended up with 2 pans in the oven when I baked the cupcakes.  Both pans were the same TYPE of pan (non-stick), but not the same BRAND (one was Wilton and one was CakeMate, I think).  When I initially took the cakes out of the oven, one of the pans seemed to be a little underdone.  When I touched the top to see if it bounced back, it was still wet, so I put that pan back in the oven for an extra 2 minutes.   When Mr Shuck and I ate a cupcake later on that night, mine was still a little raw in the middle.  Mr Shuck’s was fine.  We both thought the cupcakes were good, but the icing was a little sweeter than I like.   The next day at work, I got mixed reviews:  some people thought the cupcakes were “a little dense” and “dry” and others thought they were good.  I think it probably depended on which pan they had come out of.  There is also the possibility that some of my friends are honest and some don’t want to complain about a free cupcake!  I think I might try to get another Wilton pan for consistency.  I also think I need to spend an entire weekend testing vanilla cake recipes.   If anyone out there wants to share…..

        Posted in Mrs Shuck's Creations | Tagged chocolate, Moosetracks, peanut butter, vanilla
      • My experience at Cupcake Camp

        Posted at 9:43 pm by MLea
        Apr 12th

        So, you’ve already heard about my experience baking for Cupcake Camp… I will be more organized and not forget ingredients next year!

        In spite of my difficulties in preparation, I was really excited about Cupcake Camp.  I thought I could take some cool cupcake photos and maybe meet some other bakers.   I already had my volunteer assignment, which was helping at the children’s craft table, so I knew I wouldn’t get to see ALL the cupcakes.  Mr Shuck, who I’ve already established is an angel, was volunteering with me (one of only 2 male volunteers listed) so I didn’t have to choose between him and cupcakes.

        We arrived at 10am to drop off my cupcakes.  It was nice that there was plenty of fairly inexpensive parking ($5 for all day).  It was also nice that there was a coffee shop right across the street so we could kill some time before our volunteer shift started at 11am.  We ran into my friend Millie (who baked) and her husband Geo (also a great guy for spending a a couple of hours at Cupcake Camp).  If I had known how the day would end up, I would have spent the hour photographing what I could…

        When we arrived back at just before 11, there was already a line developing, so we squeezed past the people in line so we could take our place at the children’s craft area.  The craft activity was decorating blank cupcake wrappers, provided by the presenter, Bella Cupcake Couture, with markers and stickers.   There were also temporary tattoos advertising the event charity, The Hope Heart Institute.  We met our fellow volunteer, Orly, and got oriented to our area.  Crafting had a slow start, so I took a few minutes out to go and take a few pictures of displays by professional bakers.  I assumed I’d have a chance later to go back in and get more pictures of the amateur bakers wares.   I was able to catch a few pictures of plates that attendees had filled with cupcakes and wondered how they’d eat those without becoming sick.

        Average Plate of Cake: Click to enlarge

        I also was able to get a photo of my name on the schedule.  I know it’s lame, but I was excited!

        Cupcake Schedule

        I went back out to my assigned area and hung out with the kids for a bit.  After 11:30, I thought I’d go in and check to see if my cakes were out yet.  I was aware of the line, but when I got up to go in, I wasn’t expecting this:

        Throngs of cupcake lovers

        When I got to the table, I was thrilled to see people interested in my cupcakes.  (I realize that these people were cupcake rabid and probably the flavors didn’t matter, but still…)  As I said above, I’m easily excited.

        Mrs Shuck's Cupcakes: Drumstick and French Toast

        I couldn’t get around to my box of Caramel Popcorn cupcakes, I did see them on a couple of plates that passed by though.  Made me happy that someone was about to try them.

        Cupcake Plate with Caramel Popcorn on it: Click to enlarge.

        I was also excited today to be mentioned on the Bella Couture blog.

        So enough of my rambling…. I had fun presenting my cupcakes to the public.  Thanks to Alla and Millie for wearing their TheCupcakeAddict.com T-shirts to the event.  Thanks to the presenters and sponsors for all their efforts.  There were a few kinks (like running out of cupcakes and some overcrowding), but it sounds like they are already thinking of ways to improve next year.

        And now for some random photos:

        Making cupcake wrappers: Click to enlarge

        Cupcake wrapper tools

        Support from a friend

        Posted in Cupcake Stuff! | Tagged Cupcake Camp
      • More drama…

        Posted at 10:25 pm by MLea
        Apr 9th

        So I forgot to put the sugar cone crust on the bottom of the vanilla cupcakes for Drumstick.  The whole French Toast sugar fiasco got me all out of whack.  I am giving up for tonight and doing the icing in the morning.

        Posted in Cupcake Stuff! | Tagged Cupcake Camp
      • As I’m baking for cupcake camp….

        Posted at 9:13 pm by MLea
        Apr 9th

        Things were going so smoothly.  I shouldn’t have even said it aloud.  Cakes for caramel popcorn were done and in a container.  French Toast cakes (mini bread puddings really) were cooling.  I had a bit of a rest… Then I went to taste the French Toast.

        No sugar!  I went back and read my blog entry for the day I fabricated the recipe.  I didn’t mention any sugar!  There was supposed to be sugar!  So…a tear ran down my cheek.  Mr Shuck, the saint, ran out to Thriftway to buy more bread.  Unfortunately, he didn’t take his cell phone as I realized right after he left that we were also out of foil cupcake liners.  When he got back, my wonderful husband left again to retrieve cupcake liners.   While he was out, I started the batter for the vanilla cakes for Drumstick.  I got them in the oven, then remade French Toast…

        Sugarless French Toast cupcakes: click to enlarge.

        I realized as I looked at the mounds of cupcakes around me (2 batches of 48 and a batch of 60) that I ended up with more than 150 cupcakes.  I could have been a Cupcake Camp sponsor!  I thought that 150 wasn’t doable.  Apparently I was mistaken.  TheCupcakeAddict.com could have gotten a bit of publicity and I could have gotten a poster.  Darnit.  Maybe next year…

        PS…for anyone who attempted that recipe and thought it was crap, I apologize.  I have updated the post to include sugar.

        Posted in Cupcake Stuff! | Tagged Cupcake Camp
      • Baking is bad

        Posted at 6:49 pm by MLea
        Apr 7th

        Since I’ve been baking regularly, I seem to have a lot of supplies around all the time.  It’s really bad to have a couple of pounds of chocolate in varying degrees of sweetness just lying around the house.  It’s tempting.

        My kitchen is especially enticing since I have extra Cupcake Camp groceries.  Every time I walk through the kitchen, I have to divert my eyes from the loaf of Franz Bainbridge Island Cinnamon Swirl bread waiting to be made into French Toast cupcakes.

        Franz Cinnamon Swirl Bread

        I just ate a couple of handfuls of bittersweet chocolate chips that I used to make the fudge for the center of Drumsticks.

        The Uncle Woody’s Caramel Popcorn is whispering to me.  I’m glad I haven’t broken the seal on that yet.  After this weekend, the rest of that bag is going to have to go to work with me so someone else will eat it up.

        There are always mini marshmallows around (usually a bit stale, fortunately) waiting to be packed around cupcakes for transport.

        I need to lose about 40 pounds, but I think I’d have an easier time if the Alphabet of Cupcakes wasn’t going on… and I stopped trying inventive cupcake flavors that my favorite bakeries have produced… and Bakery Nouveau would just stop opening their doors!

        Did I mention that we stopped there yesterday for Chocolate Cake and Praline Dream? Mr Shuck was driving, so I blame him… And he made the Hazelnut Cream decaf coffee to go with them once we got home… I only ordered, carried to the car, and consumed half of each one.  (Chocolate Cake: super moist chocolate cake layered with 64% chocolate mousse and finished with chocolate glaze and chocolate shards.  Praline Dream: 64% chocolate mousse with a delicate and flakey milk chocolate and praline paste layered on a chocolate biscuit finished with Gianduja – fancy word for Nutella.)  If you are a Seattle reader and you haven’t ventured to Bakery Nouveau, VENTURE soon! Or maybe you shouldn’t, then they will have to close and lock their doors permanently and I will no longer be drawn through them.

        Posted in Cupcake Stuff!
      • Flavors for Cupcake Camp

        Posted at 9:43 pm by MLea
        Mar 18th

        I’m thinking about making 3 flavors for cupcake camp: Caramel Popcorn, French Toast and Drumstick.   Caramel Popcorn is fairly easy.  The French toast cupcake is fairly easy.  The icing can be made a couple of days ahead.  Drumstick has a few steps, but I’ve had some practice, so hopefully it will be pretty quick.  Most importantly, I will have a couple of volunteers to help with decorating and garnishing.

        Posted in Uncategorized
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