Making whoopie

Whoopie Pies
recipe from Epicurious.com

INGREDIENTS

For cakes

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup well-shaken buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 large egg

For filling

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups confectioners sugar
• 2 cups marshmallow cream such as Marshmallow Fluff
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

PREPARATION

Make cakes:
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a bowl until combined. Stir together buttermilk and vanilla in a small bowl.

Beat together butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a handheld, then add egg, beating until combined well. Reduce speed to low and alternately mix in flour mixture and buttermilk in batches, beginning and ending with flour, scraping down side of bowl occasionally, and mixing until smooth.

Spoon 1/4-cup mounds of batter about 2 inches apart onto 2 buttered large baking sheets. Bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until tops are puffed and cakes spring back when touched, 11 to 13 minutes. Transfer with a metal spatula to a rack to cool completely.

Make filling:
Beat together butter, confectioners sugar, marshmallow, and vanilla in a bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.

Assemble pies:
Spread a rounded tablespoon filling on flat sides of half of cakes and top with remaining cakes.

Cooks' notes: • Cakes can be made 3 days ahead and kept, layered between sheets of wax paper, in an airtight container at room temperature.

• Filling can be made 4 hours ahead and kept, covered, at room temperature.

Bye bye, Magpie

Chocolate Guinness Cake
easy to make and delicious--from Nigella Lawson/NPR version

INGREDIENTS

for the cake:

1 cup Guinness
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups superfine sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

for the topping:

8 oz Philadelphia cream cheese
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream

PREPARATION

Preheat the over to 350 F, and butter and line a 9 inch springform pan.

Pour the Guinness into a large wide saucepan, add the butter — in spoons or slices — and heat until the butter's melted, at which time you should whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and then pour into the brown, buttery, beery pan and finally whisk in the flour and baking soda.

Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Leave to cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.

When the cake's cold, sit it on a flat platter or cake stand and get on with the frosting. Lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth, sift over the confectioner's sugar and then beat them both together. Or do this in a processor, putting the unsifted confectioners' sugar in first and blitz to remove lumps before adding the cheese.

Add the cream and beat again until it makes a spreadable consistency. Ice the top of the black cake so that it resembles the frothy top of the famous pint.

There's a hole in this cake!

Coffee cake- boont, I mean bundt form.

I fixed it!

Blu-uuuuuuuuueberry breakfast loaf

Tasting, 1-2-3

Birthday cupcakes for J and wedding cupcake "tasting" for J&T. Top to bottom: Vanilla, Caramel and Tiramisu.

I want my baby back, baby back, baby back...

Lucille's Baby Back Ribs, full rack. Get In My Belly! After months of craving BBQ ribs, I finally got what I wished for. Thanks, to J for turning a year older and picking this place to celebrate with us, and Ate Stella and Paul for treating-- de-li-cious.

ENJOYing cupcakes and wine tasting

On the way to our second annual camping trip, we took a little detour to do a cupcake and wine pairing/tasting in Los Olivos, CA.

First of 6 mini cupcakes: Blueberry Chardonnay (Chardonnay cake, filled with a blueberry center, topped with lemon frosting and a Chardonnay soaked blueberry)


The others (left to right, top to bottom): Whipped Peanut Butter (Chocolate cake, filled with peanut butter mousse, topped with whipped peanut butter frosting & a peanut butter cup), Chocolate Blackberry Syrah (Chocolate, syrah infused cake, filled with dark chocolate Belgium fudge, topped with blackberry frosting and a wine soaked blackberry that's rolled in sugar crystals), Chocolate Bailey's & Cream (Chocolate cake, with a creamy chocolate bailey's filling, topped with chocolate frosting & chocolate sauce), Sugar Daddy (Vanilla cake, filled with vanilla bean caramel, topped with cream cheese frosting - swirled with caramel) and Chili Mango (Vanilla bean cupcake filled with chili mango curd, topped with mango frosting and sugared ground chili).