starbucks in a cake

yesterday i found out that one of my managers is leaving victoria's secret to work at aeropostale. considering that she was the one who hired me [twice, actually], i felt i owed her a little "thank you". and what better way to say "thank you" [or "i love you", "im sorry", or "good luck!" for that matter] than baked goods?! besides, i was looking for an opportunity to try out my new mini bundt cake pan.

so i decided to use a cupcake recipe and quarter it so that i wouldn't have too much extra batter. i actually ended up having the perfect amount and only had to level off the pan a teensy bit after the cake rose during baking. worked out fine and both my sister and i got to sample the part i cut off [and we both approved]. even though the recipe was just labeled as "chocolate cupcakes", the coffee flavor was definitely present [although not overpowering] so i decided to call this a chocolate mocha bundt cake.

it needed a little pretty on top so i used another recipe off the same site for a caramel glaze. i also sampled that and it was really yummy. i think it went with the mocha flavor nicely [kinda reminded me of a caramel frap from starbucks].

you can't really tell from the picture, but the cake was only about 3 1/2" in diameter...so cute!


i brought it to her today and she was soo excited! she literally jumped up and down. made my day :]

here are the amounts i used for my mini cake. the original recipes can be found by clicking the links.

mini chocolate mocha bundt cake
[from baking bites]

ingredients:
1/4 plus 1/8 cups all purpose flour
1/8 cup cocoa powder
1/2tsp instant coffee powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
tiny pinch sea salt
scant 1/4 cup milk
1/8 cup canola oil
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease mini bundt pan.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa power, instant coffee powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a small bowl, whisk together milk, canola oil and vanilla extract. Pour into dry ingredients and stir until just combined and no streaks of flour remain. Pour batter into pan.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
Turn cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely before drizzling with glaze.

caramel glaze
[from baking bites]

ingredients:
1/2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup milk
pinch sea salt
1/2 plus 1/8 cups powdered sugar

directions:
Melt butter in a small saucepan. Stir in brown sugar, milk and salt. Bring to a boil and boil for about two minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Stir in powdered sugar. Frosting should be somewhat thick, but not stiff.

Drizzle over cake.

perfect potstickers

i'm in love with alton brown. along with guy fieri, he's one of my favorite chefs. i absolutely love his show "good eats" and i always learn a lot. so after watching an episode called "wanton ways", i was inspired to make potstickers for the first time ever.

i gotta say, they were a lot of work. probably took me about two hours...mainly because i doubled the recipe, but also because my pan would only fit 5-6 at a time. however, it was totally worth it. they were delicious! they had great flavor that had slightly spicy undertones and a really nice texture. they were, in my opinion, way better than chinese takeout because they weren't oily or greasy but instead they were fresh, flavorful and crispy. this one's definitely making it to the recipe box.

i subbed ground beef for the pork and went without the bell peppers. quite spicy enough without them :]

perfect potstickers
[from food network]

ingredients:
1/2 pound ground pork
1/4 cup finely chopped scallions
2 tablespoons finely chopped red bell pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons ketchup
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
35 to 40 small wonton wrappers
Water, for sealing wontons
3 to 4 tablespoons vegetable oil, for frying
1 1/3 cups chicken stock, divided

directions:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.

Combine the first 11 ingredients in a medium-size mixing bowl (pork through cayenne). Set aside.

To form the dumplings, remove 1 wonton wrapper from the package, covering the others with a damp cloth. Brush 2 of the edges of the wrapper lightly with water. Place 1/2 rounded teaspoon of the pork mixture in the center of the wrapper. Fold over, seal edges, and shape as desired. Set on a sheet pan and cover with a damp cloth. Repeat procedure until all of the filling is gone.

Heat a 12-inch saute pan over medium heat. Brush with vegetable oil once hot. Add 8 to 10 potstickers at a time to the pan and cook for 2 minutes, without touching. Once the 2 minutes are up, gently add 1/3 cup chicken stock to the pan, turn the heat down to low, cover, and cook for another 2 minutes. Remove wontons to a heatproof platter and place in the warm oven. Clean the pan in between batches by pouring in water and allowing the pan to deglaze. Repeat until all the wontons are cooked. Serve immediately.

fancy pants

so fancy that my mom decided to pair it with her best wine [cooler]. you can use brussels sprouts for this, but i'm not a huge fan so i went with broccoli.

quinoa with hazelnut parsley pesto
[from have cake, will travel]

the pesto:
1/4 cup hazelnuts, toasted
1 big or 2 smaller clove(s) garlic, pressed
2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
generous pinch coarse sea salt
1 bunch curly parsley, stemmed = about 1 1/2 cup, super packed
2 T extra virgin olive oil

in a food processor, combine hazelnuts, garlic, and lemon juice. pulse several times to grind the nuts.

add salt and parsley, process for a minute. drizzle EVOO and process until well combined, scraping the sides with a rubber spatula to make sure all’s well mixed.

set aside.

the quinoa:
1 cup quinoa, well rinsed
2 cups pure water

bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan. add quinoa and cook on medium heat, uncovered, for 10 minutes. drain quinoa, spread on a cookie sheet to let cool.

combine pesto with quinoa in a large bowl.

the broccoli:
1 broccoli crown, rinses and chopped
pinch coarse sea salt
1 T olive oil
1/4 cup chopped white onion
juice of half a lemon

in same medium saucepan used to cook the quinoa, heat oil and onion, cook until translucent, on medium heat.

add broccoli, lemon juice, and salt, cook until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
add a squirt of water if the broccoli stick a bit, to deglaze.

stir into quinoa pesto. serve warm, or at room temperature.

candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker

[needing a "thank you" gift for my hairdresser] + [wanting to try out my freshly bought cookie scoop] = oatmeal butterscotch cookies!

i love math :]

very tasty [even though i'm not the biggest fan of butterscotch] and super easy to make. i did reduce the cooking time from the original recipe because my first batch got a little too crispy. the cookie scoop worked wonderfully and gave me 54 pretty uniform cookies. they were just the right size, too, which is great considering i'm typically pretty heavy-handed when it comes to drop cookies [as you can tell from my mrs. field's cookies].

oatmeal-butterscotch cookies
[from baking bites]

ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt
3 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups butterscotch chips

directions:
Preheat oven to 375F. Line a baking pan with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Blend in eggs and vanilla until mixture is smooth.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir into butter mixture, then mix in the oats and butterscotch chips.

Drop rounded tablespoonfuls (large balls) of cookie down onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie to allow for spread.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the edges begin to brown.

Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

"c" is for cookies...they're good enough for me

the vegan shortbread recipe i wanted to try sounded kinda boring, so i wanted to try putting some stuff in the middle of each cookie [a la knott's berry farm shortbread cookies]. i tried out peanut butter on the chocolate cookies and knott's boysenberry preserves on the regular ones.

before hitting the oven
they turned out okay. i liked the toppings, but they didn't spread out as much as i had hoped for and, considering how flat i made the cookies, it didn't quite work. i think i'll have to use a thumbprint cookie recipe if i wanna do that again. at least they taste good.

and after

shortbread cookies
[from la kitchen]

ingredients:
¾ cups margarine
¾ cups powdered sugar
1 ½ cups flour
1/8 cup cocoa
1 tsp vanilla, divided

directions:
Preheat oven to: 325°F.

In a bowl beat together powdered sugar with margarine. Add flour divide in half, add cocoa to one half and split the vanilla between the two bowls.

Refrigerate dough for at least 30 minutes.

Roll dough between two pieces of parchment or wax paper into quarter inch thickness and cut into rounds. Bake for ten minutes and let sit for another ten before eating.