White chocolate is a unique ingredient, and while dark and milk chocolate have hordes of rabid fans, you’d hear those same hordes echoing horrible sentiments like “I hate white chocolate” and “white chocolate is gross” or even “white chocolate isn’t REAL chocolate.” Lately I’ve taken up the cause and have been stubbornly defending what I know to be a special, delicious ingredient. And it is TOO real chocolate!

Where's the white chocolate?

However, as with many things, sometimes it takes baby steps to get people to like an ingredient that they’ve completely dismissed. That’s why I was so elated when I learned that you could CARAMELIZE white chocolate to make it extra special!

But what IS it?

I ended up using white chocolate in the form of a caramelized ganache. Easy to make, easier to eat. Since caramelized white chocolate just screams for salt, I topped each cupcake with a random sprinkling of large crystal sanding sugar and coarse sea salt.

What's with the cherries and almonds?

The first time I ever made caramelized white chocolate, I decided that, while it looks like peanut butter, it tastes decidedly more like toasted almonds, if anything. I chose to make an almond flour cake, though not a gluten-free one. I wanted the natural almond flavor more than the density. For that toasted flavor I craved, I toasted the almond flour in the oven before using it, which worked perfectly.

Such a warm and inviting looking cupcake.

Instead of my usual filling-in-a-hole-in-the-middle style, I went for a muffin-ier approach in these cupcakes and added fresh chopped cherries to the batter just before baking. Honestly they weren’t my first choice, as much as I love cherry and almond together; I would have preferred apricots. But I just barely missed the end of apricot season by about a week as I waited for the weather to cool down enough for me to turn on the oven, and just went with the cherries from the bodega downstairs. They definitely do the trick, though, adding a sweet, juicy note to the almost-savory cupcakes. And they gave me the inspiration to use these sexy red wrappers I bought recently.

Quite elegant, actually.

A few notes about the ganache: while it eventually sets up to the point where it will hold its shape enough to pipe, that takes at least 24 hours in the fridge. Even after that point it’s very soft and melts easily. I prefer to use it as a glaze – you get plenty of the unique caramelized flavor while not overdosing on sticky sweetness.

You may also notice that I used milk as the liquid in the ganache instead of the usual cream. I felt that the white chocolate was fatty enough and any more fat would make it too greasy and slick in the mouth, and I think that was the right choice, considering how buttery-moist this cake recipe is.

Half sweet, half savory, totally awesome.

Toasted White Chocolate Cherry-Almond Cupcakes

First, Make the Ganache:

1. 200 g chopped white chocolate, divided
2. 75 g milk

Caramelize half of the white chocolate in a shallow baking dish or sheet pan set in an oven at 250F. Stir every ten minutes and bake until the chocolate is a deep peanut butter color and fragrantly caramelized (don’t worry if it looks grainy, that’s normal). Allow to cool, then transfer to a double boiler over simmering water. Add the rest of the white chocolate and melt both together completely. Meanwhile, heat the milk in the microwave until it’s steaming hot (less than 30 seconds). Remove the melted chocolate from over the simmering water and gently stir in the hot milk until it is completely combined and emulsified. Chill in the refrigerator, stirring once every hour or so, until it is thick, spreadable and no longer runny.

Then, Make the Cakes:

1. 68 g almond flour
2. 4 oz butter
3. 4 oz sugar
4. 2 eggs
5. 1/4 tsp vanilla
6. 46 g AP flour
7. 1/2 tsp baking powder
8. Pinch salt
9. 1/3 cup chopped fresh cherries (from about 8 cherries)

Preheat the oven to 325F. Spread the almond flour out on a small baking sheet (I put mine in a pie tin so I wouldn’t accidentally sweep any away when I was stirring it) and toast, stirring every 2 minutes or so, until it’s fragrant and moderately browned. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Slowly beat in the eggs and vanilla, scraping down the bowl between additions. Sift together the dry ingredients and, with the mixer off, add all but about 1 Tbsp at once, then mix slowly until the dry is just incorporated. Scrape down the bowl, then toss the chopped cherries with the leftover 1 Tbsp of dry mixture. Gently fold the cherries into the batter. Bake in lined muffin tins for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

To Assemble:

1. Cupcakes
2. Ganache
3. Sanding sugar
4. Coarse sea salt

Use a small spatula or butter knife to smoothly spread a layer of ganache on each cupcake. Sprinkle lightly with both sugar and salt. Keep refrigerated (the ganache will set up fully once refrigerated overnight).

Makes 8 cupcakes with some ganache left over.

The winner of August’s Mystery Box Cupcake Challenge will receive prizes from:

• Bake It Pretty; $5 electronic gift card
• Beanilla; 3 Indian + 3 Tahitian vanilla beans & a jar of Ground Vanilla
• CT2Designs; a cupcake ring
• Miss Kitty Creations; a cupcake charm of your choice
• Sweet Cuppin Cakes; a prize pack worth $25

Thank you to all our prize sponsors!

Can you guess what it is?

A definite favorite color combination of mine.

You’d probably guess that’s chocolate cake, but you’d be wrong. There’s not a bit of chocolate anywhere in that cupcake. Think fragrant, roasted, strong, caffeinated…

Yes, these are raspberry coffee cupcakes. And they are ridiculously delicious.

You’ve never had coffee and raspberry before? You’re missing out. Ever had a cup of espresso with a particularly fruity finish? Imagine if that finish kept going into full berry flavor territory…

Like the foam on a very special cappuccino.

Early on I decided that I HAD to make the cake itself coffee flavored. I luckily came upon a great recipe fairly quickly in my search. It results in soft, fragrant little cakes that are sturdy enough for even thick fillings…we’ll get to that in a minute.

Happy yummy dust makes it all that much better.

In keeping with the coffee theme I decided to top the cupcakes with a simple raspberry foam frosting and a dusting of instant espresso powder. It’s almost marshmallowy and smells incredible. I figured a buttercream would be too rich and I really love the cloudlike, organic swirls of simple meringues.

Raspberries, distilled into pure jellied awesomeness.

Now back to that filling. It’s stupid easy. All you need is a heaping cup of really nice raspberries (preferably from a farmer’s market, or even wild if you can find them) and a cup of sugar. Simple small-batch jam is one of my favorite summer cupcake fillings and this one REALLY delivers. The best part is, there’s no pitting, cutting or pureeing involved, since raspberries are so naturally delicate. In fact these cupcakes are shockingly easy and simple to make – the hardest part is making sure you have the aforementioned tasty berries and some nice instant espresso.

Does indeed go very well with a nice cup of coffee.

Raspberry Coffee Cupcakes

First, Make the Filling:

1. 1 heaping cup fresh or frozen raspberries
2. 1 cup sugar

Place the berries in a tall-sided medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Once the berries start getting juicy and bubbling slightly, mix in the sugar, mashing up the berries roughly, and bring up to a low boil. Keep boiling for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally with a silicone spatula or other heatproof instrument. Meanwhile, place a small white plate in the freezer. Once the 5 minutes of boiling have elapsed, place a small blob of the jam on the chilled plate. Once the jam on the plate is cool, poke it to see if it’s jelled or if it’s still liquidy. Repeat the cold plate test once every couple of minutes until the jam is sufficiently jelled. (If you happen to overcook it and make it too thick, you can always thin it out with a little hot water.) Remove the hot jam from the saucepan to a heatproof container and chill in a small ice bath to room temperature or cooler, then keep chilled in the refrigerator until needed.

Next, Make the Cakes:

1. 1/2 cup milk
2. 1/3 cup instant espresso (use something reasonably ok, not like instant Folger’s or something; I used some freshly-bought Medaglio D’Oro)
3. 8 oz butter
4. 1 1/2 cups sugar
5. 4 eggs
6. 1 tsp vanilla
7. 2 cups AP flour
8. 2 tsp baking powder
9. 1/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 375F. Place the milk and espresso in a small saucepan and heat until just steaming, stirring to dissolve the espresso. Set aside to cool. Cream together the butter and sugar in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer. Gradually add the eggs and vanilla, scraping down the bowl between additions. Sift together the dry ingredients and add to the batter alternately with the espresso milk, in 3 additions each, scraping down the bowl often and being careful not to overmix. Once everything is incorporated, bake in lined muffin tins for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into any of the cakes comes out clean. Cool completely before filling and frosting.

To fill the cakes as neatly as possible (tutorial coming soon!), freeze them solid once they are cool. Use a small circle cutter to remove the center of each and trim the “lid” of each cupcake to 1/2″ thick, reserving each alongside its cupcake. Fill the holes with the raspberry jam almost up to the top, then replace the lids and keep chilled until ready to frost.

When Your Filling is In, You Can Make the Frosting!:

1. 4 egg whites
2. 1 cup sugar
3. 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
4. 3 Tbsp raspberry juice (extracted from about 1/3 cup raspberries, strained of any seeds or chunks of fruit)
5. 1 tsp instant espresso

Place the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar into the bowl of a stand mixer. Place the bowl over simmering water (make sure that the bowl doesn’t actually tough the water) and whisk often. Once the bowl’s contents are hot to the touch, begin whipping to soft peaks, then turn the mixer to medium speed and drizzle in the raspberry juice. Continue whipping to stiff peaks. Dollop onto filled cupcakes, sprinkling with instant espresso. Keep chilled. Makes 20.

Hooray for berries!

However, there are exceptions to every rule, and sometimes even a least favorite something has its place. One good place to stick your raspberries is in this awesome ice cream.

Tangy, sweet and cold.

Time for a bit of a segue: Some time prior to the making of this ice cream (which admittedly was probably like a month ago…oops) I had picked up some gooseberries at the Green Market. I totally loved them but was unsure what to do with them, so I appealed to Twitter for help. In response I was offered a copy of the newly released The Berry Bible, from the always awesome Natalie (thank youuuuu). I gladly accepted, and though it didn’t arrive at my door in time for me to utilize it in my gooseberry experiment,* it sure came in handy later when raspberries began popping up all over. The book itself is indeed a veritable religious text of all things berries, and like most berry-driven guides originates in the Pacific Northwest. Though it’s quite dry reading and the recipes are very specific to obscure berries and local ingredients, it’s still a nice book to have on the shelf beside some of my other definitive titles.

I left in the seeds for crunch and appearances.

I ended up adapting a recipe for buttermilk-loganberry ice cream and it was absolutely wonderful, a really nice thing to have around during one of the early heat waves of this ridiculous summer. It would be great with some peach puree swirled in, or just topped with warm stewed peaches.

What a way to cool off.

Raspberry Buttermilk Ice Cream (adapted from The Berry Bible)

1. 1 pint raspberries
2. 1 1/2 cups sugar
3. 2 cups buttermilk
4. 1 Tbsp vodka

Thoroughly but gently rinse the raspberries, then drain and pat dry. Puree just until there are no whole berries left. Pour the puree into a mixing bowl and whisk in the other ingredients. Churn in an ice cream machine or by hand and freeze until firm and scoopable.

* Zack ended up suggesting gooseberry pancakes (since gooseberries are somewhat blueberry-like), which I made using the standard pancake recipe in The Joy of Cooking and serving with homemade elderflower syrup. They were really tasty and something I’ll make again next year when gooseberries pop up again for a week or two…though I have a tweak intended for the pancakes, if I can get a special flour. Ooooo….

Like a tasty flower.

Luckily, there’s a new cupcake competition starting this month, and it’s called Mystery Box. I happened to come across a tweet announcing it while I was coincidentally thinking about searching for cupcake inspiration. The timing couldn’t be better, and the first month’s theme? Totally my thing.

Floating in the clouds?

The theme for July 2010 is tea, something I enjoy immensely. I’m drinking tea right now, as a matter of fact. The hardest part was deciding on a tea to use – since you can only enter once per month, I knew I’d have to come up with something really good. I think I did just that.

Everything is better with toasted coconut!

I chose to flavor the cupcakes themselves with Thai tea, which is a fun choice because not only does Thai tea have an addictive, mysterious flavor (ingredients vary but there’s always some anise or other licorice-y spice in the mix, though it doesn’t taste like licorice), it also contains red and yellow dyes which make the tea bright orange when steeped. I hoped that both the color and flavor would carry over into the cupcakes once they were baked. As you can see, the color definitely shows. I’ve never seen cupcakes this color before!

Mmmm sweet tangy spicy pineapple jamminess.

I steeped the tea into the milk for my standard white cupcake recipe, using a lot to keep both the color and flavor strong. Happily, it worked perfectly and I was rewarded with bright orange, feathery-light cakes with a distinct Thai tea flavor.

In keeping with the Thai theme, I filled the cupcakes with pineapple jam. Since it was so sweet, I added a little tang by way of a smidge of tamarind paste, and a kick of spice via a pinch of cayenne pepper. I made a white chocolate coconut ganache to frost them with, though I wasn’t quite patient enough with it and it ended up as more of a glaze. It’s very sweet, though, so I think the glaze-y amount is perfect. To emphasize the coconut flavor and add texture, I also sprinkled them with toasted shredded coconut.

I wish you could taste this through the screen.

Thai Tea Cupcakes

First, Make the Frosting:

1. 150 g good quality white chocolate
2. 75 g coconut milk

Melt the chocolate over a double boiler. Heat the coconut milk until it steams, either in the microwave or in a saucepan. Pour the coconut milk into the white chocolate and gently whisk until fully emulsified. Chill until thick and almost set up, stirring a couple of times to ensure even thickening.

Then, Make the Cakes:

1. 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp milk
2. 1 1/2 Tbsp loose Thai tea (I bought mine at Kalustyan’s and it’s incredible)
3. 1/4 cup unsalted butter
4. 1/2 cup sugar
5. 1 cup cake flour
6. 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
7. 1/4 tsp salt
8. 2 egg whites

Pour the milk into a small saucepan and heat until boiling little bubbles begin to form around the edge of the pan. Remove from heat and stir in the tea. Cover and let steep for 5-7 minutes. Strain thoroughly into a measuring cup, measuring out 1/2 cup. Cool thoroughly.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the milk and dry mixture alternately in thirds, mixing slowly and scraping down the bowl between additions. Once everything is blended, add the egg whites and mix on a medium-high speed for no more than 2 minutes, until the batter becomes somewhat fluffy. Spoon into lined muffin tins and bake 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean and before the cupcakes start to brown at all. Allow to cool fully before filling or frosting.

Now Get That Filling Ready:

1. 3 Tbsp pineapple jam (you can make your own or use store bought, just find a good quality jam that only contains fruit, sugar, water, pectin, etc….no HFCS or anything)
2. Pinch of cayenne pepper
3. 1/8 tsp tamarind paste (optional but awesome)

Use a spatula to fold the pepper and tamarind thoroughly into the jam.

Let’s Toast Some Coconut:

1. 1/4 cup unsweetened dessicated coconut (that’s the really tiny stuff)

Preheat the oven to 350F. Spread the coconut out on a small baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes. Stir thoroughly to evenly distribute any browned areas, and continue toasting for another 3 minutes or so, until most of the coconut is a light golden brown. Set aside to cool.

Time to Put Them Together:

If you’re not used to working with extra soft cupcakes you might want to chill or even freeze them first to make the cake less crumbly. Use a small round cutter to punch out the middle of each cupcake, reserving the “lid” to each one and trimming them to 1/4″ thick. Place a blob of filling in each cupcake and replace the lid.

Prepare the frosting in a piping bag. Pipe some onto each cupcake in any style you wish, or let it become more fluid and “flood” the tops (you’ll have some serious cleanup to do on the paper if you go this route but it’s awfully pretty). Top each cupcake with a generous amount of toasted coconut.

Keeps well refrigerated up to a week or well-wrapped and frozen for a month or more. Allow to come to room temperature before devouring. Makes 10 full sized cupcakes.

For all the info on Mystery Box, head on over to Sweetest Kitchen.

The winner of July’s Mystery Box Cupcake Challenge will receive prizes from:

• Bake It Pretty; $5 electronic gift card
• Beanilla; Tahitian vanilla fleur de sel & 3 organic Indonesian vanilla beans
• Rishi Tea; the new Tsuki tea pot and 2 tins of tea
• Soapylove Glycerin Soap Design; a Soapy Pop
• Sweet Cuppin Cakes; a prize pack worth $25

Thank you to all our prize sponsors!

…Well, they’re not. At least not in the way I promised. See, I just don’t have the energy, or honestly, the interest to be as hardcore into blogging as I was a year ago. Priorities change. So instead of stressing myself out over (and just plain forgetting) all the neato stuff I was going to do (which other bloggers are doing better anyway) I decided to think about what it was that I missed about blogging. And I do miss a lot! I decided that I missed sharing things when they went 100% right, and that I missed making up cupcakes. The latter will be addressed in one of the, uh, at least two other entries planned for this month. The former, however, is right below this sentence!

Not actually cherries :O

A couple of weeks ago I was flopped on the couch, positively melting, as Z and I discussed potential sorbet flavors. We had overdosed on mango while watching the last few episodes of LOST, and that had been my go-to flavor for some time. I was probably flipping through The Perfect Scoop when I thought of cherries. But not just any cherries.

No artificial coloring. NONE.

I wanted to make sour cherry sorbet. But that wasn’t quite enough. I wanted lime, too. Lots of tart, acidic lime with the sour red cherries. I noted the idea both mentally and literally, knowing that sour cherries were not far off and all I had to do was wait (and sweep the Green Market vigilantly once in a while).

By the way, those aren't cherry stems. They're basil stems.

I imagined a gorgeous, bright red color and a puckery sour flavor, and the cherries I picked up delivered. They were actually darker in color than other sour cherries, but were a bit cheaper, and make an equally sexy crimson sorbet.

But wait! There’s more…

What else tastes a bit like cherries and sourness? And liquor? That’s right – an amaretto sour. I’m happy to report that this sorbet is awesome when topped with a nice dose of amaretto.

I call it the Frigid Amaretto Tart.

Sour Cherry Lime Sorbet

1. 1 lb. sour cherries, washed & pitted
2. 3/4 cup sugar
3. Juice of 6 limes
4. 1 cup water
5. 1 Tbsp vodka

Mix together the cherries and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil, covered, then simmer for 5 minutes, until the cherries are soft and juicy (they’ll taste like cherry pie filling). Allow to cool fully, then place in a blender and add the rest of the ingredients. Puree thoroughly and strain to remove the bits of cherry skin. Churn in an ice cream maker or by hand and freeze until firm and scoopable.

This flavor combination would also make excellent ice pops; just omit the vodka and freeze in molds. You could also make a Mixed Up Frigid Amaretto Tart by combining the sorbet and amaretto in the blender.