Looking a little seedy.

This burst of frugality was inspired by the theme ingredient: honey. I really love honey meringue frosting and since it would give me an opportunity to use up some extra egg whites, I figured I’d see how far I could take the concept of using only things I already had.

Seedy indeedy.

I thought about some things that go well with honey that I also happened to have. Lots of teas and flowers, obviously, but I wanted something different. Something special. Something that was just languishing in my kitchen cabinet.

It looks kind of fanciful.

A lone jar of tahini was my answer. Sesame and honey are awesome together! I boosted the intensely nutty sesame cake experience with a crunchy chewiness via some of the toasted sesame seeds that I always keep around.

A little monochromatic but look at that crumb!

Since the meringue frosting is so insanely sticky-sweet, I figured I’d tone it down by torching it a bit, but I wanted something else to cut through both the sweetness of the honey and the tender fatty richness of the cake itself.

Sunshiney!

I decided to go with  a nice sour lemon marmalade, with a little honey cooked into it to give it a nice floral note and tie the flavors together a bit. I think it does the trick quite nicely – though lemons were the only thing I didn’t have. Luckily they can be had cheaply in the store downstairs from my apartment, so it didn’t really matter.

Anyway, these cupcake are pretty crazy. The frosting is so light and billowy yet marshmallow-like in stickiness, and it completely collapses when you take a bite. The cake is just as insubstantial, due in part to the extreme fattiness of sesame seeds (also this recipe just makes crazy soft and tender nut or seed butter cake). This is why the directions call for repeatedly freezing the cupcakes during the decorating process. Altogether they’re a bit exotic and unusual, but definitely tasty. Don’t skip the torching step – even if you have to do it with a Bic lighter the toastedness is essential.

On a pedestal.

Burnt Honey Sesame Cupcakes with Sour Lemon Marmalade

First Make the Marmalade:

1. 1 lemon (weighing about 125g)
2. 250g water
3. 200g sugar (superfine if available)
4. 50g honey

Thoroughly wash the lemon. On a plate with a substantial rim (so you don’t lose any juice), use a sharp knife to slice the lemon very thinly, reserving the seeds. Chop the slices up further until you have very small pieces of outer skin attached to the flesh. Dump the lemon and juice into a small saucepan and cover with the water. Tie the seeds into a cheesecloth pouch and add to the pan. Bring to a simmer and cover, cooking gently until the rind is soft. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar and honey until the sugar is dissolved. Return to heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook on a low boil for about ten minutes, testing on chilled white plates to see if it’s set. Once it is, remove from heat and squeeze all the pectin you can out of the cheesecloth bag. Allow to cool fully before attempting to use.

Then Bake the Cakes:

1. 5 oz. (1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp) butter
2. 1 cup sugar
3. 1 egg
4. 2 tsp vanilla
5. 1 cup AP flour
6. 1/2 tsp baking soda
7. 1/4 tsp salt
8. 1/4 cup buttermilk (regular milk with a couple drops of lemon juice or white vinegar is fine)
9. 5 oz. (1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp) hot water
10. 1/2 cup tahini
11. 2 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Preheat the oven to 350F. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, scraping down the bowl and making sure it is fully emulsified into the creamed mixture. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add it to the batter alternately with the buttermilk and hot water, scraping down the bowl often. Add the tahini and sesame seeds and beat on medium-high for a couple of minutes, until light and fluffy. Spoon into a lined muffin tin and bake 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean. Allow to cool fully before assembling.

Finally, Make the Frosting:

1. 1 cup honey
2. 2 egg whites, room temperature
3. Pinch salt

Place the honey in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. In the meantime, whip the egg whites and salt to medium-stiff but not dry peaks. Reduce the whipping speed to medium and pour in the boiling honey in one continuous stream. Return the speed to high and whip until stiff, glossy peaks form and the meringue is about room temperature or a little warmer.

To Assemble:

Freeze the cupcakes solid and trim any excess cake overhang with kitchen shears. Using a small circle cutter, cut the center out of each cupcake, reserving the plugs of cake and trimming them down to 1/4″ thick lids. Fill each cupcake with marmalade and top with lids. Freeze again until solid. Using a small spatula or a butter knife, spread the frosting on the cupcakes, leaving the sides thick and the top fairly flat. Using a kitchen torch or just a high powered gas burner, brulee the outer edge of the frosting on each cupcake, then sprinkle more toasted sesame seeds in the middle. Makes 12.

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.

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!

It's like a one-cookie party!

First I had to get an appropriate cookie cutter. I went to a well-known cooking store but was disappointed in the option they sold – flimsy-looking, with a too-narrow stem in the design (it would definitely burn/fall apart) and no handle. I ended up turning to Etsy and finding a lovely handmade cutter (I picked up a teacup cutter too).

Not actually lime flavored.

My friend had included an example of someone else’s attempt at Margarita cookies, which had simply been sugar cookies flavored with orange zest – no lime to be seen! However I did like the idea of a nice orangey sugar cookie, so I kept that element, using Dorie‘s sugar cookie recipe.

Oh, salt.

Since all good Margaritas must have a nice, salty rim, I incorporated that by brushing the “rim” of the cookies with agave nectar (because it’s the tequila plant) and affixing large crystals of Bali smoked coconut-lime salt that my mom had sent me.

These cookies were Serious.

Finally, because you REALLY can’t have a Margarita without bitter, tangy lime, I decided to make sandwiches with the cookies, sticking them together with homemade lime marmalade.

Green, sticky, bitter...and absolutely perfect.

These cookies were pretty awesome. The sugar cookies bake up very crisp, almost crackery, but after they’re sandwiched and have a night or so to sit in the fridge, they soften and the lime flavor permeates both cookies, creating a really limetastical treat.

It's Margarita time!

Margarita Cookies

First, Make some Marmalade!

1. 2 limes
2. 2/3 cup water
3. 1 cup sugar
4. Pinch salt

Wash and slice the limes. Roughly puree them, leaving some chunks of skin intact. Place the puree and the water into a small saucepan and cover. Simmer for 30 minutes. Uncover and add the sugar and salt. Bring to a boil and allow to boil for at least 5 minutes, then test a small amount of the marmalade on a chilled white plate, letting it sit for a minute and then poking it. If it acts like jam (not watery, wrinkles when poked) then it’s done; if not, boil for another 5 minutes and try again, repeating until it’s perfect. Transfer to a glass jar, Pyrex container or restaurant-quality plastic quart container, allow to cool slightly, then refrigerate until chilled. Cover for storage.

Also Make Cookies! (adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan)

1. 2 cups AP flour
2. 1/2 tsp salt
3. 1/2 tsp baking powder
4. 5 oz. (10 Tbsp, or 1 stick plus 2 Tbsp) unsalted butter
5. 1 cup sugar
6. Zest of 1 orange
7. 1 egg
8. 1 egg yolk
9. 1/4 tsp vanilla
10. Green liquid food coloring

Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder, set aside. Cream the butter with the sugar and orange zest. Once light and fluffy, add the egg, yolk and vanilla and beat until combined and emulsified. Gradually beat in the flour on low speed, being careful not to overmix it. Divide the dough in half and pat into discs. Wrap tightly and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350F. Roll the discs out one at a time, to about 1/4″ thick. Chill the rolled out dough in the freezer briefly before cutting the cookies (your dough will be firmer and won’t bend or tear when you move the cookies to the baking sheet). For every 2 Margarita cookies you cut out, cut out one half-moon shape and brush it lightly with food coloring (diluted with water if it’s very dark). Bake on a lined baking sheet for about 10 minutes, until very lightly browned around the edges. Allow to cool on the sheet for a minute before transferring to a rack. Cool completely before assembling.

To Assemble:

1. Cooled cookies
2. Marmalade
3. Agave nectar
4. Some manner of limey salt, or at the very least a nice crunchy sea salt

Spread a layer of marmalade on half of the Margarita cookies and sandwich with the other half. Chill for a little while to allow the marmalade to set back up so the cookies don’t shift around on top of each other. Brush a small amount of agave nectar along the “rim” of the cookies and sprinkle with salt crystals, making sure to press them in slightly. Add a small amount of marmalade to the backs of the lime cookies and stick them onto the “glasses” to complete the Margarita cookie experience.

Though they ended up being slightly belated (oh, work) these cookies were VERY well-received, and totally delicious. Plus, as I pointed out in the accompanying note I sent along, belated birthday presents are actually great – you get to stretch out the potential gift-getting timespan!

I thought this cake would make a pretty, rustic-ish loaf. I was right.

Luckily, I only had to wonder what I was going to do with all that marmalade for just a couple of days, because the very fabulous Alejandra posted a perfect solution – marmalade cake!

I love the crumb in this cake, so crumbly yet moist.

I didn’t really need to tweak the recipe at all to suit my needs. In fact the only thing I did, beyond using grapefruit marmalade (and changing the shape from cupcake to loaf), was omit the almond extract and add some ground ginger, which I really like with grapefruit.

How to take a marmalade cake over the top? Spread it with MORE MARMALADE!!

This cake turned out lovely and moist, and I really loved the little bits of chewy candied grapefruit peel all throughout. It was great with tea or on its own and tasted like sliced sunshine.

Bits o' marmalade all up in it.

Grapefruit Marmalade Cake (adapted from Always Order Dessert)

1. 3/4 cup unsalted butter
2. 3/4 cup sugar
3. 3 eggs
4. 6 oz. grapefruit marmalade
5. 1 tsp vanilla
6. 1 tsp ground ginger
7. 1 1/2 cup AP flour
8. 1 tsp baking powder
9. 1 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease and flour a loaf pan. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the eggs one at time, fully incorporating each one and scraping down the bowl in between additions. Beat in the marmalade and vanilla. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine, then add it to the batter and mix until incorporated. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 45-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool slightly in the pan, then turn out on a rack to finish cooling.

Though this did make a reasonable dent in my marmalade supply, I fear I may have to make more. There is still a LOT of marmalade, and this cake was so easy and simply tasty that I’d eagerly make it again.