forget funfetti, these are for a real celebration

Twenty-six years ago at 8:22 AM, I was born in Syracuse, NY.  My Aunt Potty claims that she, like my Mommy Dearest, had labor pains.  Her boss actually excused her from work because she could not function.  The beginning of an era was ushered in with me being the quintessential eldest child on both sides of the fam.  I am often outspoken and bossy and give advice where it is not asked for.  I also push myself without any prodding from others, feel guilty for things and people out of my control and get farklempt over roadkill and wonder if some poor animal family is going hungry.  My family is my heart and I thank each one of them for contributing to my pieced together existence.   My first quarter century was amazing and this past year was the perfect summation.  You all deserve a thank you cupcake on this day (especially you, Father Fartknocker, for giving me this crazy sweet molar rather than tooth) and what doesn't say "celebration" like champagne?  I also have a penchant for ruffles and bows, My Little Ponies were my toy of choice and "pinkandpurple" was my favorite color growing up, so help me embrace my inner fancypants, okay?

Bubbly Bellini Cupcakes

Yield: 24 standard-sized cupcakes

INGREDIENTS
cupcake
6 egg whites at room temp
3 C sifted all purpose flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
3/4 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
3/4 C unsalted butter, softened
2 2/3 C sugar
1 t vanilla
2 C champagne, spumante or the like
3/4 C peach jam

champagne frosting
1/2 C unsalted butter, softened
4 C confectioner's sugar
1/4 C champagne
1 t vanilla

DIRECTIONS
cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line standard-sized muffin tin with paper liners.
1. In a medium bowl stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar and vanilla beating until well-combined.
3. Gradually add egg whites beating well after each addition.
4. Alternately add in flour mixture and champagne starting and ending with flour until just combined. The batter will appear curdled after the champagne is added but will smooth out after all of the flour mixture has been incorporated.
5. Pour in prepared muffin tins and bake for 17-22 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

Left: Cone method, Right: Jam filling

assembly and frosting
1. After cupcakes have cooled, use the cone method to scoop out part of the cupcake top.
2. Add a 1/2 T of peach jam to each cupcake and replace the cone top.
3. In medium bowl, beat frosting ingredients with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Frost cupcakes.

Nutrition: 350 cal, 9g fat, 84mg sod, 61g carb, 46g sugar, 0g fiber, 2.5g protein

plain, simple, perfect

My birthday senses are heightened around this time of year mostly because my own is looming around the corner.  Growing up, however, the only other person near and dear to me who was born in the heat of the summer was my little Tesswich, exactly seven years and 51 weeks after me.  I guess my mother is either a masochist or a victim of poor planning.  I figure for those who can help it, they do their best not to balloon an extra thirty pounds and bring a new life to the planet in the dead humidity of summer but then again, it may be a little anal retentive to worry about such things.  I suppose you could have a baby in the middle of a snowstorm {cough}Grandma{cough}.

Recently I realized that more people in my life are summer babies which means cakes to bake and hold up in the melty heat.  Cupcakes can usually make it but cakes need to hold up at least twelve servings on their little spongy shoulders. Sometimes you just want to bring one, solid treat, you know what I mean?  Fortunately, this cake is meant to be baked easy peasy in a 9 x 13-inch pan.  However, if you want to test its weight lifting powers, I have successfully baked it into a two-tiered cake with 8 or 9-inch pans and a three-tiered cake with a 6-inch pan with time adjustments.

This cake recipe is wonderful in its rich, chocolaty simplicity.  No sour cream, mayo, avocado or beer to steal the spotlight.  The usual complaint about chocolate (and white for that matter) cake is that it's too dry.  That shouldn't be a problem with this one and I have a feeling it has a lot to do with the lack of cocoa powder and the addition of solid baking chocolate. 

This cake should be loved be even the pickiest eaters.  With that I will wish a happy 2-6 to Nick McNeil, the pickiest of them all.  Even though you only love burgers and pulled-pork, you are still fantabulous (and you better like this cake, HA).

Mountain Meadow Chocolate Fudge Cake (or the best chocolate cake ever!)

adapted from Sticky Chewy Messy Gooey
Yield: 15 servings

INGREDIENTS
cake
2 C all purpose flour
1 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1 C (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 C boiling water
4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 C  brown sugar I used brown sugar for even more moisture!
1/2 cup buttermilk I never buy it, I just do 1 T apple cider vinegar to 1 C milk and let it sit for 5 min.
2 large eggs
1 T pure vanilla extract

your favorite chocolate frosting
I'm still finding my "all-time favorite chocolate frosting recipe" but I had all of that unsweetened chocolate so I went with Baker's One Bowl Chocolate Frosting recipe. Anything that can be mashed together and only dirty one dish is a definite plus on my list. Even though the icing looked oily at first, it frosted and piped without a problem and I was able to stick it in the fridge and reheat it a few times since I wasn't able to make the cake in one fell swoop. It has a nice sheen and is holding up well!

DIRECTIONS
cake
Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F. Brush a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with melted butter or line with nonstick foil.
1. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl and set aside.
2. Combine the butter, boiling water, and chocolate in a saucepan. Place the saucepan over medium-low heat and whisk gently until the butter and chocolate are melted and the mixture is smooth.
3. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the sugar.
4. Quickly whisk in the buttermilk and then the eggs and vanilla.
5. Using an electric mixer set on medium speed, beat the chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients just until combined and a smooth batter forms, about 1 minute.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until the cake starts to pull away from the sides of the pan and a wooden skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean, 20-25 minutes.
7. Transfer the cake to a wire rack and frost according to the icing directions. Some cakes need to be warm for a poured icing and some need to be cooled for a traditional buttercream.

Nutrition (just the cake): 313 cal, 16.5g fat, 111mg sod, 38g carb, 25g sugar, 1g fiber, 4g protein

keeping with the lazy days

Summer is the obviously fruit season what with the bounty of berries, peaches and early apples making their way into the world and ripening (or rotting) quickly in the heat. Sure, you could slave away in your kitchen and can and jam all of those beauties but thankfully there is a queen of such things in my family and that is my Grandma Sue. So while she is busting her butt in her 90+ degree kitchen, I can't really complain about slapping together a pie. I definitely shoved about twenty pounds of blueberries into my freezer but I just couldn't resist making a fresh pie or two for a couple near and dear to me.

Truth be told, I really never liked the blue suckers if they weren't tucked into a buttery, sugary muffin. Even then, I probably picked half of them out and tossed them. (Since when should something sinfully sweet have any nutritional value?) However, as much as I can take credit for introducing that dude-I'm-shacking-up-with to a plethora of pungent cheeses, complex jams and jellies (yes, thank Grandma), pinch-your-mouth-sweet desserts and some random fruits and vegetables that require farmer market sleuthing, this is one of the things I can say that he tossed my cheese-loving way. I did not fall for them easily or instantly. In fact, I was literally whining about my distaste for them mid-bite of the little fruit during a picking spree just a few weeks ago when I had to bite my tongue. They were the biggest, most gentle tasting blueberries I had been fortunate enough to eat. The key to that success was picking early and actually knowing when to shut up.

Since the weather was hot but I was determined, I went the lazy-girl route and made a bottomless pie. Pie crust can be daunting for some but really, I didn't want to be elbow deep in butter, sweating through my shirt. Nice picture, huh? The bright side is that this is cute and fun and out of the oven all that much faster for you to dump some vanilla bean ice cream on and shovel in your mouth.

Bottomless Blueberry Pie

Crust idea from here
Yield: 8 servings

INGREDIENTS
crust
1 1/3 C all purpose flour
1/2 C unsalted butter, frozen
3 T ice water

blueberry filling
4 C fresh blueberries, rinsed
1 T flour
1 T unsalted butter
1 T lemon juice
1/4 C white sugar
1/4 C brown sugar

DIRECTIONS
crust
1. Add flour to a medium bowl.
2. Cut in frozen butter with a pastry blender or fork until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
3. Carefully add the ice water, the mixture should begin to clump together into a moist ball.
4. Wrap ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 min.

blueberry filling
Grease an 8 or 9-inch pie pan.
1. Pour 2 C of the blueberries into the pie pan.
2. Combine flour, butter, lemon juice and sugar into a medium saucepan. Mix thoroughly. Add the remaining pint of blueberries and bring just to a boil over medium heat. Berries should begin to pop open.
3. Pour cooked berries over fresh berries.

assembly
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
1. Roll out cold dough (easiest between two sheets of wax paper) and cut out desired shapes.
2. Layer on top of pie filling. You might want to leave some open space on a berry pie so that some of the moisture evaporates in the oven. Otherwise, you may want to bake it a little longer.
3. Bake for 12-15 min.
4. Serve with ice cream, delish!

Nutrition: 266cal, 12g fat, 0mg sod, 37g carb, 19.5g sugar, 2g fiber, 2.5g protein