Yogurt Cupcakes with Strawberry filling topped with a Whipped Almond-Chocolate Ganache

See, look, I do bake every now and again. When you work all week and work out in the evenings, sometimes it's hard to find spare time to bake, but the occasional Friday off just begs for a new baking project. This yogurt cake with strawberries has been sitting on my 'list of things to bake' for months now and so, here I am, up to my elbows in batter, filling, and ganache. What could be better?

Usually I start off with the cake part of a cupcake, but this time around, the Ganache gets top billing. Mostly because it needs to cool and then be refrigerated for a good bit of time. What use is a cupcake if you have no icing? That's right, none. Ok, that's not true, who doesn't love a good naked icing-less cupcake every now and again? Right, now, back to the Ganache.

I used a very basic recipe from theKitchn.

Chocolate Almond Ganache
makes a lot - enough to frost 24 cupcakes plus at least 2 cups more (leftovers are very good on vanilla ice cream)
 
- 3 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1 lb semi-sweet chocolate (I used Newman's Own Organic 54% Dark Chocolate)
- pinch salt
- 2-3 tsps almond extract

First things first, break up the chocolate into smaller pieces. And when you have half a square over that 1 pound... well, you know what to do. Eat it! The chocolate can be placed in a heat proof bowl, I just used the bowl of my KitchenAid, and set aside.

Next, set up a pot with the heavy cream and set that to boil over medium heat. I have a gas stove so it's hard to really say what 'medium heat' is, but if you picture the flames at their largest, go about half way down and then just a tad bit more. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pot regularly so the cream doesn't do anything funky. Once the cream gets up to a boil, remove immediately and pour over the chocolate. Then, sit. Yep, that's right, stare at that creamy chocolatey goodness for a good ten minutes.

After ten minutes, add in the salt and flavoring and stir it up with a spoon, spatula, hand mixer, stand mixer, whatever. Just get it nice and mixed together. Once it's all mixed together, let it sit. Yes, again. Let it cool down to about room temperature and then place in the fridge to chill all the way. I pressed a sheet of saran wrap over the top once it's cooled down a bit to prevent people from dipping their fingers in to taste any sort of weird skin or something from forming.

One comment on the amount of almond extract... it might have been too much. It was hard to tell at first when the chocolate was still warm, as it cooled, I started to get nervous... the almond flavor came out more and more. Unless you really really like the flavor of almonds, I would potentially decrease it down to 1 teaspoon or so.

After sharing the cupcakes with some folks, everyone said that the amount of almond was just fine... so, suit yourself. 

Once the ganache is thoroughly chilled (I left it to chill for a good 6 hours or so) take it out of the fridge and whip it up until it's nice and fluffy. I would do this just before you're ready to assemble the cupcakes. 

I read a few different recommendations on how long to chill the ganache. Some said it should be chilled and solid all the way through. Others that just getting to room temp is enough. Some even recommended freezing for a few hours. I decided on a combination. I let it set in the fridge for a good four or five hours, then shoved it in the freezer about an hour before I was to assemble the cakes.

Now, on to the cake!

Yogurt Cake
makes 24 cupcakes

- 1 1/2 cups full-fat yogurt
- 2/3 cup olive oil
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 2 1/2 tsps baking powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- pinch nutmeg (the original recipe calls for fresh, but I don't have that sitting around... please tell me I'm not the only one)

So this may very well be the easiest cake batter I have ever made. Literally, it's just whisk all the wet ingredients, plus the sugar, until nice and mixed. Then, add in all the dry ingredients and whisk again.

 Really. It's that easy. It took me five minutes, maybe. This could turn into my go to vanilla cake. I would recommend though, a light olive oil. 2/3 cup is a fair amount, and while olive oil is delicious, it's not the flavor I want to be most prominent in a cupcake.

You'll want to preheat the oven to 350°. Fill up those cupcake tins about 2/3 of the way and shove lovingly place the tray in the oven. Depending on your oven, cupcakes are generally 18-20 minutes cooking time. My oven can be temperamental, I blame the fact that it's a gas oven, so I start checking around 15 minutes or so. Once a tester comes out clean, remove and let cool on a rack. And voila, cupcakes (naked though they may be).

Strawberry Filling

made about a third of a cup over what I needed for 24 cupcakes

And now for the last step. I've been on this kick of filling cupcakes for the past... oh say, year or so. Not sure why, as regular cupcakes are just as tasty, plus they're one less step. Maybe I like the challenge? Anyways. For this cupcake I chose to  do a marshmallow-y strawberry filling. I kind of butchered a recipe for a peppermint marshmallow cream (those cupcakes by the way, were wonderful) to fit my strawberry needs.

For this we'll need

- 1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp and cut to pieces
- 2 tsp strawberry flavor (I used a strawberry soda)
- 4 large strawberries

 Ok, so this filling is pretty darn easy.

The first thing you'll want to do is prep the strawberries.

Basically, you're going to mince them. You could probably get away with puree-ing them as well. What I did was very similar to how I was recently taught how to mince garlic or onions. Place the strawberry stem side down on the cutting board, make vertical slices, not cutting all the way through. Than make horizontal slices, also not cutting all the way through to the stem. Then flip the whole thing on its side, and starting from the non stem end, cut slices going towards the stem. Hopefully that made sense... do not cut yourself.

Once you have that done, go ahead and blend the butter and marshmallow together until it's all nice and fluffy. Add in the flavoring and minced strawberries and mix in. That's it! Well, then you need to cover and let it chill for 20 minutes or so, but, that doesn't really count.

                                                              mmm, strawberries and cream

For the strawberry flavoring, I couldn't find a real strawberry soda. I ended up settling for a strawberry seltzer, which in the end, wasn't as much flavor as I was hoping for. Next time I might try making it a 'mixed berry' filling, using a more prevalent, and flavorful, berry soda. 

Assembling

Ok, so now you have cupcakes, filling, and ganache.

Sit down with all your cupcakes, and dig out their guts. Yep, that's right. I like using a little cappuccino spoon for this. Make a small hole slightly larger than like, a nickel in the top. Remove the circle of cake, you'll be needing this so don't eat it. Then go ahead and scoop out some of the middle, more or less depending on the cake/filling ratio you want.

Pipe, or spoon, the filling in and replace the little circle of cupcake that you saved from above. Then frost the cupcakes. And voila, beautiful little cupcakes.  


The completed product, a day later. Here is where I learned my lesson. Whipped ganache does not love a hot and humid atmosphere. It tends to melt. So while still quite tasty, the appearance wasn't quite what I had hoped for. Good thing most of my friends don't really care what cupcakes look like =)

Earthquake?

Who knew DC could get earthquakes? Not me, that's for sure. And believe you me, my childhood 'earthquake drills' did me no good. When it first started, I honestly thought there was just an unusually heavy cart rolling by my desk this afternoon. Things tend to shake a bit in our building when things go by. Whether it's the flimsy cubicle walls or what, even people walking by can sometimes cause little rattles. I was so not prepared for the larger tremors that caused floors to shake, things to fall over, and cars out in the garage to jump.

Now, I realize that in the grand scheme of things, this was probably a pretty tame earthquake. Folks out in earthquake zones are probably shaking their heads; much akin to when I giggle at the overreactions to snow in southern states.

After evacuating and standing around for a good half hour we were finally let back in, only to be told to get our things and leave. Afternoon off? Ok!

My roomie and I celebrated our afternoon off with a trip to the farmers market that is usually winding down by the time we can get there after work. It was unusually sparse... could it be the earthquake kept some of the vendors away? I did manage to buy myself some Bison jerky, which I've never had before. Don't worry, I'll report back once I've had a chance to try it.

After reports of pictures falling off walls and knick-knacks off bookcases, I was a little afraid to survey the damage to the apartment. When I walked in... wasn't sure there had even been an earthquake. We must have been very lucky, the only evidence I found was this

Poor little German doll fell over, her arm twisted out of socket. 

All things considered, a little doll surgery is nothing compared to what others have experienced in the aftermath of an earthquake. Let us all thank our lucky stars that we got out of this mainly unscathed.

Lavender Moon Cupcakery

The DC area has an over-abundance of cupcake shops, much to my delight. Someone has to go and try each and every one, and I am more than willing to take one for the team in this case.

My sister is coming into town this weekend, and to celebrate I popped out to Old Town and walked down to what is, so far, my favorite of the many cupcake shops around; Lavender Moon. I decided between the two of us, four cupcakes would be plenty... at least for the first night.

Now, I tend to be a traditionalist when it comes to cupcakes. Rosewater? Lilac? No thank you, I'll take my chocolate with chocolate, and a little more chocolate if you've got it. Thank you very much. And Lavender Moon does not disappoint, with plenty of delicious flavors that they rotate through. For this trip I decided on four different flavors

• Flourless Chocolate with Almonds and Sea Salt
• Chocolate with Peanut Butter
• S'mores
• Blood Orange Dreamsicle

I'm kind of sucker for flourless chocolate anything. So rich, so dense, so delicious. Lavender Moon has a good variation here. Though we were both expecting a little more from the 'almonds and sea salt' part of that cupcake. While it was a perfectly good chocolate cupcake, these two flavors could have used a bit more representation.

Now, I don't do peanut butter (yes, I know, it's weird. I'm sorry). So this one was all for my sister. Her first words after taking a bite, "Wow. Peanut butter." I assume that's a good thing when one buys a chocolate peanut butter cupcake.

The s'mores cupcake is by far one of my favorites from Lavender Moon. That meringue-y marshmallow-y frosting? Oh. My. Goodness. Light and fluffy and the thin layer of brulee'd frosting is just perfect. Possibly my second favorite cupcake topping ever (The first is a certain boiled frosting, more on that at some point I'm sure). The cupcakes here have always been soft and moist, unlike certain other cupcake shops I've been too *cough cough* Georgetown Cupcakes *cough cough*.

And finally, the last cupcake. Yes, yes, I know. Blood Orange Dreamsicle? No chocolate at all. This was my 'reach' cupcake of the purchase. After all, I could be proven wrong. Fancy new cupcake flavors could in fact be just as good, in their own right, as the chocolatey goodness that I tend to prefer. The cake part of this cupcake was, actually, very good. Light and airy, a nice citrus-y flavor. While the frosting was good, both my sister and I thought it over powered the lightness of the cupcake just a tad. 

In the end I would give Lavender Moon an A for the cake part of the cupcakes. As for the frostings, the marshmallow on the s'mores was by far my favorite. If you enjoy a good buttercream, the others were good too. Personally I prefer a lighter icing, possibly due to too much buttercream as a child...

Oh Oreo, what have they done to you?

So I get online this afternoon, all innocent and carefree. And what do I see but this...

What is that? It's... an Oreo? I don't believe you... this must be one of those things from the onion. But no. That's an actual cookie. I hardly ever buy cookies anymore, what with all the deliciousness that comes from making your own, but... I hate to admit it... I'm a little curious about this little guy.

Anyone tried one yet? Is it a must for all of us Oreo lovers, or will it ruin all of my childhood memories?

I need to distract myself from this newfound Oreo conundrum. Good thing Borders is going out of business and I was able to snag this book on Whoopie Pies. Another childhood favorite. I don't know about you, but when my mom drove all us kids out to the Amish market, a whoopie pie was the one thing I always begged for. And now I have a whole book full of them!

I think I'll tackle the oatmeal ones first...