You Will Need Milk Oreo Cupcakes

Tags

cream filling, cupcakes, milk, oreos

Oreos are “milk’s favorite cookie.” It has to be true because it says so on the package. I wouldn’t tell Nabisco that they were wrong, would you? I’d say 100% of America’s youth loves Oreos. It’s a safe assumption, I’ve never met a kid that has proven me wrong.

Our Grandma Pat (GP) has always kept Oreos in her refrigerator. They’re reduced fat, but we won’t hold that against her. It doesn’t matter if she’s in Florida or Cape Cod. Without fail that woman’s kitchen is stocked.

Close your eyes and imagine a little Katz (or just go on our About Us page for a picture). Back in the day (which was a Wednesday), I’d hang out on GP’s deck with my braided pigtails, swinging my little legs back and forth off a patio chair with a plate of Oreos. Being ever so careful, I would twist apart the Oreos so the top cookie would separate perfectly clean from the yummy cream filling. That’s half the fun of Oreos. The other half is licking the cream filling, duh. God forbid the cookie twisted off with the filling still attached. Can we say control issues?

Fast forward to 2012. I don’t keep Oreos in my apartment, though they are awesome and addicting. I was recently forced to reacquaint myself with this evil cookie. A family friend wanted to make The Cousins’ first cupcake sale, and the request was for Oreo cupcakes! We had never made Oreo cupcakes before. Challenge extended. Challenge accepted.

Shopping for this weeks installment of The Cousins was super fun. In my entire adulthood, I’ve never purchased a package of Oreo cookies. Obviously, I had to compensate for years of cookie neglect by buying two packages!

My goal was to make the cupcakes taste like Oreos, not just a chocolate cupcake with hints of Oreo. I conferred with Mini and we decided that in order to get the cupcakes chocolatey enough and still taste like Oreos, I should use cocoa powder and Oreo crumbs in the batter. What harm would that do?

To make my own crumbs I whipped out my food processor, threw in some cookies and hit the switch. If you’re lucky enough to stumble across Oreo cookie crumbs in your supermarket, feel free to skip this step entirely.

To accentuate the Oreo flavor even more I added chopped Oreos to the batter. Yum yum in my tum tum.

Sidebar: At this stage it was brought to my attention that I need new kitchen knives (coughWorkmancough) as I put all my weight down on the knife to chop them. If you would like to contribute to my kitchen knife fund I accept checks and money orders.

A little skeptical at first, I decided to listen to the advice of every chef on the food network for the next step. By coating solid foods in flour before adding it to your cake batter, it will help suspend the pieces within the cupcakes.

I envisioned a nice layer of Oreo bits at the bottom of each cupcake. That doesn’t sound like a bad thing, but I wanted them to be as equally distributed throughout the batter as possible (control freak). Oddly enough, the flour trick is true! I know you’re just as shocked as I am.

When the uber-oreoy-chocolatey batter is ready, I’d normally say to fill your cupcake liners to 2/3 full. However…

When I pulled my little lovelies out of the oven, I realized maybe that was a little too much batter as shown by Exhibit A, row one column two, aka Gigantor. In this case, don’t fill the liners 2/3 full. Fill them a little less and you should avoid this problem.

Exhibit A

While you’re letting your cuppy-cakes cool, it’s time to get started on the Oreo cream filling frosting and then decorate your lovelies up.

Now that the cupcakes were topped with their Oreo filling frosting it was finally time to do a taste test (a Cousin’s favorite step.) Workman took the first bite. I waited with breathless anticipation, palms sweating, heart rate spiking, when she said, “This actually tastes like an Oreo.” YES! It did taste like an Oreo. Victory is mine!

I have loved making all of The Cousins cupcake recipes, but this was the most fun. These cupcakes don’t have an air of sophistication, they’re playful. You feel like a little kid again, sitting on your Grandma’s back porch with braided pigtails.

Alright. Where’s our money…

Love,

The Cousins

Click the pic, then hit print!

Katz’s Musings: A Sordid Love Affair

Tags

baking, christmas, KitchenAid, Martha Stewart

I am in love with my KitchenAid mixer. Any woman (or man, I dare not make any assumptions) that owns one can relate.  You can do anything with a KitchenAid. You can make cupcakes, cakes, cookies, brownies, pasta, ice cream, knead bread, juice fruit, grind meat, heck you could probably build a house with it if you really wanted to.

As a tiny wee lassie I would watch Martha Stewart Living every Saturday morning. I was transfixed. Staring at the T.V. I thought to myself, “This woman is a freaking genius!” My girl Martha was creating works of art, and I was convinced that this was solely due to the fact that she was using a KitchenAid. Her mixer glowed to me like a beacon of light.  I was instantly brainwashed, and I had to have one.

For years I begged Mini to get one. “Mini, if you really loved me you’d buy one.” She never bought it, that little lady is a tough cookie. Fortunately for me, one Christmas many moons ago Dr. O bought one for Mini. My prayers had finally been answered! No more crap-arific, ancient hand mixer or whisking by hand (phfff) for this chicky! I spent the remainder of that Christmas in the kitchen with Mini pumping out desserts.

Before I knew it the honeymoon was over. I had to go back to college (GO CUSE) and resume what little baking I did using a whisk. Cue the tears rolling down my pathetic face and a really sore right arm. As any respectable baker knows, not having the proper equipment can be frustrating! Eventually my passion for creating delectable num-nums became dormant.

A year and a half ago my grandmother saved my soul. As a housewarming/Christmas gift she gave me a red, shiny KitchenAid mixer. I felt like an adult. Like a real woman ready to take on the baking world by the balls because I was now the proud owner of one of the most coveted items in all of bakingdom.

Ubon’s Yazoo BBQ Pulled Pork Cupcakes

Tags

BBQ, BBQ sauce, Big Apple BBQ Block Party, cupcakes, pulled pork, sweet potatoes, Ubon's

Pulled Pork BBQ cupcakes. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. But you’re wrong, so just stop thinking and keep reading.

One of my favorite meals is a BBQ pulled pork sandwich with sweet potato fries. So naturally, that’s how I adapted this recipe. This is what I propose to you, skeptic: sweet potato cupcakes stuffed with BBQ pulled pork and BBQ sauce glaze. You’ll like it, I swear.

The pork and BBQ sauce were kindly donated to the Cupcake Cousins by Garry Roark of Ubon’s Family BBQ in Yazoo City, MS. We met at the Big Apple BBQ in Manhattan 2012, and that’s where this BBQ love affair began.

You’ll need about a cup of BBQ smoked pulled pork that you can buy from a take out BBQ restuarant or even from the store. I recommend using pork that’s not already swimming in sauce so you can control the proportions.

Begin by baking your sweet potatoes. Each one yields about half a cup, so generally you’ll need two unless they’re huge. I was recently told by a professional chef that “Only jerks boil sweet potatoes. No, really, only jerks boil sweet potatoes.” Throw them on a metal baking sheet at 450 for 45 minutes to an hour. They should be nice and soft when you stab them with a fork. After they cool, score the top and you can just rub or peel the skin right off, kind of like a beet.

If you have extra potatoes, give them to the dog. They’re very healthful and dogs gobble ‘em up.

While those are baking, can you get your glaze going and set it aside. With an electric beater, whisk together a cup of confectioner’s sugar and two tablespoons BBQ sauce.

In your mixer, combine a stick of butter with the granulated and brown sugar.

Add your egg and vanilla and mix. Next, throw in your flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt and the milk gradually alternating between wet and dry ingredients. Look at that lovely batter!

By now, it should be time to puree the potatoes in a food processor. I hit them with an extra dash of cinnamon and a splash of maple syrup for a little extra love. Also, you may have to add a splash or two of milk to get the potatoes to puree smoothly. Baby food!

Fold them into the cake batter.

Fill your liners almost full and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Once the cupcakes are of the oven and cooled, it’s time to assemble. Toss the pork with about a tablespoon of sauce. Look. At. That.

You can assemble however you like, either as a “sandwich,” or core them and fill them with the pork. I did a little bit of both. If you’re going to serve them right away, you can make a sandwich, but if you’re planning to transport, I recommend the cored cupcake method.

Then drizzle on your BBQ glaze and you’ve got BBQ pulled pork cupcakes! Get real fancy and top them with coleslaw. Pair it with a Bloody Mary and you have breakfast.

Love,

The Cousins

Click the pic, then hit print!

Quick and Easy Dinner: Pulled Pork Tacos via Ubon’s Family BBQ

Tags

BBQ, Big Apple BBQ Block Party, carnitas, Pork Tacos, quick and easy dinners, taco, tequila, Ubon's

Lawd have MURcy!

I’m going to do my best not to write this whole post in a southern accent, but I can’t promise anything.

Ok, I can promise one thing: there’s a fabulous 20 minute taco recipe in this post, but there’s a little backstory that deserves recognition. Bear with.

My long time friend, Rob Travalino, is producing and filming a documentary on Ubon’s Family BBQ in Yazoo City, Mississippi. He invited me to join him at the Big Apple BBQ Block Party on Saturday afternoon to meet Garry Roark, Ubon’s pitmaster, Leslie Scott, his daughter and business partner and the rest of the family behind Ubon’s.

Garry and Leslie filming an interview

I tell you wut, them’s one-a the nahcest families I ever met.

On a recent visit to Greenwich immediately preceding a trip to Yazzo, Rob suggested I try the Ubon Special, a delightful concoction of Sprite, pineapple juice and bourbon. Naturally, I made a Ubon Special adapted cupcake to bring to the BBQ Block Party.

“Ubon Special” Cupcakes

It was a hit!

I mentioned to Garry that I’d been mulling over a BBQ pulled pork cupcake recipe. Though skeptical at first, he gladly sent me home with a huge basket of pork. The next morning, I got up and made sweet potato cupcakes stuffed with Ubon’s pork and a glaze made from Ubon’s sauce. They were also a big hit.

BBQ Pulled Pork Cupcake

Even after several snacks, a batch of cupcakes and a few doggie treats, I still have a ton of pork left. I really wanted to make a dinner meal out of it other than a standard sandwich.

So. Much. Pork.

Ubon’s BBQ has won a gazillion awards because the flavor of the smoked meat and BBQ sauce is pretty dern close to perfect. I hope no one in Yazoo takes offense to my re-purposed pulled pork tacos, but as a Yankee, it’s in my nature to fix something that ain’t broke. Also, I’m inspired by genius.

This is a super easy, inexpensive and unbelievably delicious recipe. Also, if you have the pre-smoked meat, it’s quick, painless and low key. The following proportions made about 2 servings of 2 tacos, so adjust accordingly.

I tossed a couple whole wheat flour tortillas in the oven to warm up while I had some Mexican rice cooking on the stove.

Brown some garlic and red onion in olive oil in a skillet. Throw in about a half cup of Ubon’s Sauce (you can buy it here) and get a good simmer going.

Next, squeeze the juice of half an orange and half a lime over the simmering pork.

Bless your heart, this is a step you cannot skip: throw in a big ol’ splash a’ tequila in the pan.

Sprinkle with chili powder, salt and pepper, cumin, whatever you like. The tequila and citrus accent the pork perfectly. Don’t worry, just like a southern twang, you won’t lose the flavor or integrity Garry spent 16 smoking to achieve.

Pile the pork in a taco with a few toppings and call it a day. Katz and I had sour cream, avocado, shredded pepper jack cheese and cilantro.

Come on, man!

I mean, bon apetit! I’ll wait until you come out of your food coma to thank me…

Plan A & Plan B Peach Crisp Cupcakes

Tags

Cape Cod, cupcakes, peach crisp, peach crumble, peaches

Every year since birth, Workman and I have spent the summer on Cape Cod. It is hands down our favorite place on Earth. Miles of beaches, great shopping, fresh (and fried!) seafood and ice cream stands. The minute you drive over the Bourne Bridge you feel like you’re on another planet. The smell of salt water and pine trees is intoxicating.

My favorite town on the Cape, Brewster, is home to one of the best bakeries you will ever experience. The Hopkins House Bakery is a gift from the gods. Bread, pies, muffins, cookies, bars, cakes. Everything will blow your mind. Even if you think you don’t like something, guess what, you’ll like it if Hopkins House made it. One of their most scrumptious goodies is their peach cobbler: to die for.

Over the last two weeks I’ve been racking my brain to come up with a super fab cupcake idea. Dreaming of the Cape at work it dawned on me, peach crisp cupcakes. Thank you Hopkins House!

The first step is definitely the messiest (and the yuckiest), cutting up the peaches. But look how pretty!

Next comes the topping, also messy. The best way to combine the ingredients is to use your hands. You may be getting the impression that I only like recipes that result in me getting down and dirty. You would be correct.

This topping is magnificent and I always use it for my apple crisps! I highly recommend experimenting with this in different desserts.

Next, get your batter going. Combine the eggs and sugar. Mix in your canola oil, vanilla, greek yogurt, sifted flour, baking soda and powder, salt, and cinnamon. This batter is delicious, even more so when you add the cinnamon.

Ever so gently fold the peaches into the batter. I thought the peaches would all sink to the bottom of the bowl, but I was surprised at how buoyant they were!

Pour a little bit of the batter into the cupcake liners and add some crispy goodness on top! Before I put my babies in the oven I was already excited about the end result.

And then this happened. Sigh.

Plan A

They weren’t meant to collapse in on themselves! In prior years, I would have flipped out and possibly cried. Maybe I’ve grown up. While they weren’t the prettiest cupcakes I have ever produced, (I prefer the word “rustic,”) I was still proud of them and they looked yummy!

Why didn’t my recipe go as planned? The topping was too heavy and the batter couldn’t support it and all its delicious weight. This is where it’s fun to have a cousin. While you’re thinking, “Maybe if we baked the cupcakes for a little first and then add the topping,” your cousin will say it out loud. I’m talking real creepy ESP stuff.

So that’s what we did! The last batch was baked in the oven first for 10 minutes and then we added the topping before continuing with the baking.

Plan B

Now that looks like a crisp cupcake! The final step is to mix up your glaze. It’s a mixture of confectioner’s sugar, vanilla and milk, similar to a cinnamon roll glaze.

Drizzle your yummy frosting on top. Feel free to be as artsy or as random as you like!

It doesn’t matter if you go with Plan A or plan B cupcakes, they will be fabulous!

Love,

The Cousins

Click the pic, then hit print!

Workman’s Musings: It’s not summer until it’s rhubarb, or: Adventures with Dr. O

Tags

baking, rhubarb, strawberry, strawberry rhubarb crisp

My mother, Dr. O, and I were just on Cape Cod. This is us on our way.

Just kidding, those are our dogs.

When we got back we thought it’d be fun to make a healthful and light dinner. That’s why we made a strawberry rhubarb crisp.

Denial is a wonderful drug.

This was my first initiation into the world of rhubarb. I’m thrilled to be part of the club.

Dr. O isn’t exactly a recipe follower. Sometimes it works out, sometimes… well sometimes she forgets to add the sugar. But who hasn’t forgotten sugar at least once? This recipe is a conglomeration of Ina Garten, Fannie Farmer and Dr. O. It’s pretty straight forward and very tasty. Easy to make and perfect for a summer cookout. Everyone will adore you for making this. Unless you eat it all.

This, my friends, is rhubarb:

Fun rhubarb trivia: similar in texture to celery, rhubarb is technically a vegetable, but a New York court ruled in 1947 that it was to be called a fruit to benefit from lower tariff rates. Rhubarb is a tart stalk that grows toxic green leaves at the ends, so be sure to avoid those.

Moving along. Chop your rhubarb into about one inch slices and hull and halve your strawberries.

Hello gawgeous! Toss them with the sugar and spread them out in a buttered casserole dish.

Some people like to use orange juice and orange zest. Dr. O does not, but I was intrigued. If you do, toss the fruit with the zest. In a separate bowl, mix 1 tablespoon cornstarch and a half cup of fresh squeezed OJ and pour it over the fruit. 

For the topping, mix up your soft butter, flour, brown/white sugar combo, oatmeal, cinnamon, vanilla and a dash of salt. Some recipes call for only brown sugar in the topping but it gets very crunchy, almost candy like. Splitting your sugar between white and brown makes a better, crumblier topping.

Plus, it looks neat in the measuring cup.

Spread the topping all over the fruit, pop in the oven and bake for about an hour at 350 degrees.

Serve with ice cream, whipped cream or both. We used Mango ice cream. The flavor and color contrasts were beautiful and tasty.

Instructions:

Toss 4 cups strawberries, hulled and halved with 4 cups rhubarb, chopped, with a cup of sugar. Spread in buttered casserole baking dish.

Mix up a cup of flour, 3/4 cup brown sugar and white sugar (half and half, you can eyeball it), a dash of salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1/2 cup oatmeal and a stick of softened butter. Don’t over mix it, just get it combined, but crumbly. Spread it over the top of fruit, bake for an hour at 350 and voila!

Drunk Bastard Blueberry Pancake Cupcakes

Tags

blueberries, blueberry pancakes, cupcakes, lemon, maple syrup, pecans, tequila

Sometimes you want breakfast for dinner. And sometimes you want breakfast for dessert. In a cupcake. There’s a lot going on in these Drunk Bastard Blueberry Pancake Cupcakes, and there are a lot of ways to vary this recipe to keep it fun and fresh. That’s part of what makes them bastards. They are easy to make but so difficult to keep track of.

Maybe that’s just the tequila you’re swigging.

Whatever. I still love ‘em.

This was a very experimental recipe, so we had some hiccups (not tequila) along the way, which I’ll share with you because I’m drunk honest.

Let’s get started. Put down the tequila! Focus. You’ll need:

Preheat your oven, line your tins, yadda yadda yadda.

Now this is not a “cake” recipe, this is a pancake recipe, so the proportions are going to confuse you. Stay with me. Also: nuts are not my favorite ingredient in baked goods because I’m a little afraid of the old mantra, “you are what you eat.” In this case you really do need the nuts. I use pecans because they’re my favorite, but walnuts would work just fine. You can buy them chopped, but I like to give them a few good rounds under my santoku knife for a finer chop. Now’s a good time to grate some lemon zest.

Combine your wet ingredients in one bowl and dry in another. Look, it’s a pretty heart of love.

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix. Try not to forget your sugar. What? Who said that? (Hiccup).

Do not forget the blueberries, either! (Hiccup). Fold them in at the end, fill your baking cups, toss ‘em in the oven and give them a good 20 minutes or so.

I’m attached to my disposable EZ-Foil baking tins. Don’t hate.

While they are baking and cooling, there are a few things you can do.

One: make tequila filling! Fun!

Two: make frosting. Not. Fun.

Ok, first things first: mix your blueberry jam with the tequila and lemon juice.

Yay! Tequila blueberry filling.

Next, take your extra lemons and make um… lemonade.

Don’t put tequila in it. I mean you can if you want to. (Hiccup.)

Ok, frosting. I hate making frosting. Mostly because I had to do this one twice.

My vision was to make a maple syrup marscapone frosting, but I couldn’t get the maple syrup ratio right and by the time I was done stirring the cheese 5,393 times, I turned my marscapone into grits.

GRITS. What a disaster. This is why having a Cupcake Cousin comes in real handy. While you’re about to have a psychotic episode on your kitchen floor and your dog is scrambling out of the room, your Cupcake Cousin tells you to keep on truckin’ and hey, wouldn’t maple syrup buttercream taste better anyway?

Plan B.

Mix up your butter, confectioner’s sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, cream and a dash of salt and beat the hell out of it for about 5 minutes. If you’re using real maple syrup, which you should be, you might be on the verge of having a second psychotic episode because it’s going to look like vomit for about a minute until it starts becoming creamy. Just hang in there.

Maple syrup buttercream frosting, which actually kinda’ did taste better than that marscapone grit concoction.

When your cupcakes are cooled, fill a pastry bag with the tequila jam and fill up your ‘cakes.

Remember: you’ve added liquid to an already viscose jam, so this process can be messy if you’re not paying attention. (Hiccup).

Now it’s time to frost, garnish and eat. I thought it was fun to decorate these guys with blueberries and a lemon zest. Throw on some crumbled bacon if you’re feeling really radical. Do what you want. Just do something.

Love,

The Cousins

Click the pic, then hit print!

Great Grandma Elsie’s S’more For Me, Please Cupcakes

Tags

chocolate, cupcakes, graham cracker, S'mores

I’ve only gone camping once and I slept in the back of my ’96 Ford Explorer, Bertha (is that even considered camping?) That has not stopped me from lusting for s’mores by a campfire. Toasted marshmallows melted over chocolate sandwiched between graham crackers? Yes, please!

When Crumbs opened in Greenwich I was THRILLED. I had been into Crumbs in NYC and stood and stared at the glorious selection of delectable goodies wiping the drool from my mouth. For some reason that escapes me at the moment, I left empty-handed. Weird, right? Last year I was in the market for some cupcakes for a special occasion and decided to pop my head into Crumbs. Standing in line I locked eyes with their s’mores cupcake. I could feel my pupils dilating. A purchase was made, a bite was taken, and I had a moment.

Since the start of The Cousins, I knew a s’mores cupcake had to happen. For a couple days I mulled around different ideas and then genius struck. Three words: graham cracker cake. This cake was introduced to the family by our great grandmother, Elsie. We never got to meet her, but based on our love for this baked good, I know Workman and I would have adored her. Elsie took a graham cracker cake recipe and made it her own, creating my favorite cake of all time. These cupcakes were made in her honor.

Start by chopping up your walnuts in a food processor (thank you Cousin, Dr. O., and GP for my Christmas Cuisinart) or by hand until the nuts are pulverized and set aside. 

Next cream the butter and sugars until combined, and beat in the egg yolks and vanilla. Look how smooth and sumptuous.

 

In a separate bowl (because I like to make use of EVERYTHING in my kitchen) combine the walnuts, graham cracker crumbs, and baking powder.

 Alternately, add the milk and the other ingredients to your butter mixture.

At this juncture I highly recommend testing the batter. Even more so if you’ve never had graham cracker cake before. This will give you a hint of how fabulous the cake will be!

This next step always made me nervous when I helped Mini make this cake in the past. Beating egg whites. It seems innocent enough, but for years I never knew when I was finished beating them. Now? Now? How about now? Mini help! Maybe in my youth I just wasn’t paying enough attention. Now I get it. You know you’re done when the egg whites look like this.

 Stiff white peaks are what you’re looking for. Per Mini, sprinkling a little sugar into the egg whites prior to the beat down help them get to this point.

The next step I think is really fun because I’m a dork. Watching the egg whites slide out of their bowl and plop into the graham cracker batter in one piece. See? Dork. You do want to be careful now when folding the egg whites into the batter. Gently fold them you so you don’t deflate those pretty, fluffy egg whites. Last but not least add your chocolate chunks!

Throw those little lovelies into the oven and around 18 minutes later they’ll look like this.

While your ‘cakes cool, start working on some marshmallow magic. In a double broiler, whisk the egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar.

 
Once the sugar is dissolved and the egg whites are warm to the touch, beat in an electric mixture until you get stiff, shiny peaks.

Now is the time to get creative. Decorate these cupcakes however you want. Using a kitchen torch, roast the edges of your marshmallow frosting to make them true s’mores. 

WARNING: You’re hand will start to hurt after torching a couple cupcakes. Having a wing-cousin is to your benefit.

To give these bad boys a special touch I melted semisweet chocolate chips, drizzled them lightly over the cupcakes and sprinkled left over graham cracker crumbs on top.

YUM.

Love,

The Cousins

Click the pic, then hit print!

Workman’s Musings: Creative Efforts

Tags

choclate chip cookies, cooking, cupcakes

I’ve always had a tendency to engage in creative activities. In college, it was creative fiction writing, which slowly and unwittingly evolved into poetry as I got older. Also, I had a fun “creative non-fiction” column in a local South Carolina newspaper and now, in addition to this one, I manage my own blog.

I like to draw and paint, though not master at either, and DIY projects at home from time to time.

I’ve always liked to cook, but when it comes to preparing meals, I never follow recipes. I improvise as I go and enjoy inventing new dinner ideas.

I’ve also always liked to bake, but historically my baking endeavors have had a specific purpose like a birthday or holiday. My cousin, on the other hand, loves to bake as a hobby. She pores through recipes online or in cookbooks looking to find the right new project. Since we started this blog, she’s really inspired me to become more creative and inventive, not just in cooking, but in baking too.

Something interesting happened today. I got all emotional about something annoying and instead of taking it to Microsoft Word, I took it to the kitchen.

First, I boiled beets for the first time in my life.

I’ve only recently started liking beets, so it was sort of a big moment. They seem so… intimidating. But all you do is boil them. They made me feel good. And so healthful.

Then I made chocolate chip cookie cupcakes. I merged the Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe with my yellow cake recipe. And it worked!

I made them while making dinner and that’s why there’s broccoli in the background. I considered cropping it out but chose not to because I love broccoli so much.

Then I Googled around for an innovative frosting and came up with this fun eggless chocolate chip cookie dough idea.

And now here I am, baking and writing: creating. My favorite thing to do.

If you’re good, I might even share the recipe with you…

Until next time!

Katz’s Musings: TORA Cake Challenge

Tags

chocolate cake, Katz, TORA Clothing, Travis James

I consider myself to be a good friend. If I say I’ll do something for you, I’ll follow through in the near or distant future. At some point, it will get done.

My friend, Travis, who is the designer and owner of a new luxury men’s sportswear line called TORA Clothing, knows this about me. Back in January I promised I would make a special cake to celebrate the launch of his website. The site launched in February. May came and still no cake. Whoopsie!

Time to get my butt in gear. Back in January I knew what I was going to do: chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream frosting (my fave combination because ultimately this is about me, duh) and somehow getting the TORA logo on top.

TORA tiger face logo

Praying for my artistic skills to come forth, I started drawing. Over a few hours of sketching, I came up with this… 

TORA logo sketch

I thought it came out pretty darn well! Having the sketch turn out so well gave me a huge confidence boost. I knew this cake had the potential to be amazing.

The next step was to make a template to put on the cake. Hello X-Acto knives! Using parchment paper, I drew the outline of a 9” round cake pan which I then placed over my sketch and traced. Go very slowly when you’re cutting out your template with your X-Acto knife, you’ll be oh so ticked off if the parchment paper rips.

TORA logo template

I decided to use gold sanding sugar to make the TORA logo on the cake. After a little research I discovered that Williams-Sonoma was my go-to for this necessity.

I’m not going to sugar coat anything for you (except this cake): I was really nervous about executing this project. As a perfectionist, if something doesn’t turn out how I want it to, the probability of tears and a temper tantrum is extremely high. The cake itself? No problem. Pulling off my sugar stenciled tiger? Another story all together.

This is where the wonder of the world wide web saved me. After about an hour of Googling buttercream frosting, stencil templates, and sanding sugar, I knew all I needed to make this work without disaster striking.

Some important tips:

• After frosting your cake, refrigerate it to let the frosting set and harden so your template won’t stick.
• When applying sanding sugar, do a little at a time and lightly tap it into the frosting to make sure it sticks. Before removing the template, try to brush off any excess sugar so your design will be as neat and tidy as possible!

Drum roll please…

TORA cake

Voila!

Once I peeled off the stencil, my head got a little bigger. My nerves vanished and I turned into a giddy, little school girl. The idea I had in my head for months had finally come to life and it was amazing. I finished the cake about 15 minutes before Travis arrived to see what I promised him five months prior. As soon as he saw the cake, he said, “That’s sick.”

Cue me clapping hands and jumping up and down with glee.