Best Cupcakes in the Burgh?!

WPXI right here in Pittsburgh does a great job at hosting frequent "You Pick 'em" contest for the best of the best in the Burgh chosen by all of you! This month, they're looking for the best cupcakes in the burgh.

 Now I know darn well that I'm no Vanilla or Dozen or Prantl's or Oakmont or Bethel... but I also know I can bake a mean cupcake!

So if any of you have tried my cupcakes, I'd love for you to nominate Blake's Cakes to become a finalist so I can show off my skills at the WPXI studios!

Want to check out some of the cupcakes I've made? You can view them here!

Even if I don't make it as a finalist, I'm excited to see who wins! ALL of our local cupcakeries are amazing!

Brie and Fig Cupcakes with Candied Walnuts

PID and I have recently (and somewhat reluctantly) consented to becoming grown-ups. We engage in rotating dinner parties thrice monthly with a few of our closest friends and tomorrow is one of those  parties. Because we're attending rather than hosting this time, I decided it was about time to put my brand new convection over to work and make some cupcakes to offer for dessert!

Chocolate Maple Bacon Cupcakes

We were visiting Papa PID for Father's day and I knew it was up to me to come up with the perfect  cupcake. Papa PID is a man's man. He likes hunting, building things and going on lengthy, political rants - which is exactly why I love him. So I racked my brain to think of the manliest possible ingredient.

Bacon it was.

St. Paddy's Day Cupcake Inspiration

It's very likely that this year, I'll be trying my hand at a whole new set of festive cupcakes for our annual St. Paddy's Day celebration.  But it's occurred to me that you might be looking for some inspiration of your own!  With that, I wanted to share two VERY successful cupcake recipes of St. Paddy's-past for your enjoyment!

Chocolate Avocado Honey Mango Cupcakes

For a while now I've been trying to dream up a way to incorporate avocado into a cupcake recipe.  I've somewhat recently become an avocado fanatic attempting to weasel it into every salad, sandwich, hot dog, chip dip, fish filet and general savory dish on my radar.  But cupcakes are my thing. So as avocados slowly become my... other thing... I thought it was time to give it a shot as an ingredient.

I'll warn you, this adventure was riddled with trial and error and even after my third go, I still feel it has room for improvement. But at least it was a start.

I had originally intended to simply make my chocolate chili cupcake until I did some digging online and found a recipe at ItsyBitsyFoodies.com using mashed avocado in place of butter.  It may not be any fewer calories, but it's a way to substitute good fats for bad and certainly added to the "avocado-yness" of my cupcake.  So I made a few tweaks and gave it a shot!

If you've never pitted an avocado, I'll give you a brief tutorial. Stand the avocado right-side up and slice around the pit. When you have your slit, simply grab each side of the fruit in the palms of your hand and twist!  It should pop right in half.  When it does, you can remove the pit by (CAREFULLY!) slapping the thick part of your knife blade against it, so it sticks.

Then simply twist and pull and the pit will come right out!

Here's what you'll need for the cupcakes:

2 squares unsweetened (Baker's) chocolate
1/4 c. cocoa
1.2 c. boiling water
1 fully ripe avocado
1 c. sugar
3 eggs, room temperature -- 2 full, 1 yolk
1.5 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1.5 tsp. baking powder
1 tbs. potato starch
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. plain yogurt (or Greek yogurt or sour cream)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together your flour, baking soda, baking powder, potato starch, salt and cayenne pepper.  Set aside.

Place your chocolate squares and cocoa into a small bowl and pour in the boiling water, stirring until the chocolate is melted together and smooth. Set aside.

Cream your avocado on medium-high until smooth like butter, stopping occasionally to scrape the sides of the bowl and mush large chunks.  Add sugar and eggs, one at a time and continue to cream on medium-low.

Add in your chocolate mixture, then gradually begin to add in your dry mixture - alternating with the yogurt and vanilla until fully incorporated.

Fill 12 baking cups and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Now I played with a few options for the frosting. At first, I tried to completely substitute avocado for butter as I had in the cake batter, but for reasons I can't explain, the frosting was more like a glaze and adding more confectioners only made it like glue.  Literal glue.  Check this out:

So I tried again, this time only using half an avocado and 1/4 c. shortening to level the playing field - and it worked!

So here's what you'll need for the frosting:

1/2 fully ripened avocado
1/4 c. shortening
2.5 c. confectioners sugar
1/8 c. heavy whipping cream
Juice from 1/3 of a lime
1 tsp. vanilla
dash of salt

Begin by creaming your avocado and shortening on high, stopping occasionally to scrape the sides of the bowl and mush out any chunks.

Next, gradually begin adding your confectioners sugar 1/2 c. at a time, stopping and scraping the sides of the bowl as you go. Alternate your sugar with your whipping cream, vanilla and lime juice as you go.

Continue whipping on high until your frosting reaches a desirable consistency.


The cupcake toppings were an adventure all their own.  I knew the cupcake needed something more and sprinkles just weren't going to do the job. PID suggested crushing lime infused tortilla chips to complement the chili pepper and avocado flavors.

It wasn't terrible, but it just wasn't right.

So I whipped up a batch of mango-scented chocolate ganache.  I'll tell you how I made it, but it wound up not doing the trick. There was too much chocolate...if you can believe that.

8 oz. bitter sweet chocolate
1/2 c. heavy whipping cream
2 tbs. butter
1/8 c. mango rum

Boil 1 c. of water in a small pot.  Place your chocolate in a glass bowl and set it on top of the boiling water, allowing it to melt.

Meanwhile, heat your heavy whipping cream in a skillet until it begins to bubble. When it does, pour it on top of your chocolate, removing from heat and allow it to set without stirring for 1 minute.

Add your butter and mango rum and stir until all incorporated.

I glazed one of my cupcakes with it before icing, then drizzled it on top.  But it just didn't give it enough depth. I still had work to do.

I happened to have one leftover mango in the fridge, so I sliced it and pureed it, simply placing that on top of the cupcake.  I tried it and it was better...but still missing SOMETHING. So I opened my cabinets and stared...and stared...and stared. Then finally it hit me.  I drizzled a little bit of honey on top of the mango and voila! It was a perfect combination of flavors.

The cake recipe turned out to be a little dry, so the juiciness of the mango and stickiness of the honey wound up giving it some much needed moisture and texture.  And the avocado frosting was surprisingly delicious!  The lime juice really helped to call out the creamy flavor of the avocado.

I'll work to perfect the cupcake recipe and when I do I'll update!

Enjoy!

Salted Caramel Pretzel Cupcakes

This week's props have got to go to the fine folks at Burgatory Bar who inspired my most recent cupcakeventure.

PID and I celebrated yet another anniversary this past week and (being the super-amazing doll that he is) he surprised me with Penguins tickets to celebrate!  We strategically planned to head to the arena early so we could check out the Burgatory satellite shop on the upper level. And it turned out to be a pretty darn good idea.  We each had the Morty's Steakhouse burger and shared a Caramel Pretzel shake.  I loved the burger, PID thought it tasted reminiscent to meatloaf, but we both instantly became obsessed with that shake. 

There were tiny chunks of real pretzel to give it a surprising (in a good way) texture.  I immediately knew I wanted to be a copy cat and put this delicious combination of salty and sweet to the test in a cupcake. And so I did.

 

I was a little nervous to give them a shot -- I had high expectations after that amazing shake and I didn't want to come out disappointed.  But I have to tell you, PID and I both agreed that these are some of the best cupcakes I've made. Ever.  And now it's your turn.

Here's what you'll need for the cupcakes:

1.5 c. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1.5 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1.5 tbs. potato starch
1/2 c. butter, room temperature
1 c. sugar
3 eggs, room temperature -- 2 whole eggs, 1 yolk
1/3 c. plain yogurt (or Greek yogurt or sour cream)
1.5 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp caramel flavoring -- or -- 1/8 c. caramel sauce
1 c. crushed, salted pretzels (reserve about 1/8 cup for garnish)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Start by sifting together all of your dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and potato starch) into a medium bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream your butter and sugar, then add your eggs one at a time. Add your vanilla and continue to cream on low.

Gradually begin to add your dry mixture, about 1/2 cup at a time, alternating spoonfuls of yogurt and your caramel flavoring until they've all been integrated.

Stop mixing and add your crushed pretzels, gently folding until evenly dispersed in your batter.

Fill 12 baking cups 3/4 of the way full (or I use an ice-cream scooper as measurement) and bake on the middle rack for 18-20 minutes.

Test with a toothpick, which should come out clean when they are done.

Here's what you''ll need for the buttercream:

1/2 c. butter-flavored shortening
3 c. sifted confectioners sugar
1/4 c. heavy whipping cream
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. caramel flavoring -- or -- 1 tsp. caramel sauce

And for the decor:
Caramel sauce
Sea salt
Reserved crushed pretzels
12 mini pretzels

Start by creaming your shortening on medium-high speed and gradually add in your confectioners sugar, 1/2 c. at a time (you'll want to use the lid on your electric mixer if you've got one!).

After adding about 1.5 c. of sugar, pour in half of your whipping cream, salt, vanilla and caramel flavoring.

Continue adding the rest of your confectioners sugar, followed by the rest of your whipping cream, salt, vanilla and caramel flavoring.

Whip on high for 2-3 minutes, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl intermittently.

Frost your cupcakes (I use a piping bag, but you can fill a gallon ziplock bag and cut the bottom corner OR frost traditionally with a butter knife).

Drizzle caramel sauce on top of your frosted cupcakes, then sprinkle sea-salt and remaining crushed pretzels on top, finishing off with a whole mini-pretzel!

So if you find yourself in need of a salty-sweet fix like I did, set aside 50 minutes of your day and whip up a batch of these delicious Salted Caramel Pretzel Cupcakes. I promise you'll be glad you did!

The First Loser

Growing up a competitive athlete, I've acclimated myself through the years with the highs and lows of winning and losing.  But soccer, softball and volleyball are all team sports and we always had each other to lean on and the next big game to look to for redemption if the odds didn't fall in our favor. So this weekend, as I stood alone in front of dozens of food fanatics and a few critically acclaimed, famous chefs in the final leg of a local competition hosted by GoodTaste! Pittsburgh, I had absolutely no intention of experiencing the agony of losing on my own for the first time.

But I did it anyway.

Going head-to-head with a connoisseur of Caribbean cuisine like KDKA's Olga George was certainly an amazing experience that I will never forget.

After confidently making my way through the first two stages of the competition I knew there was a lot of pressure going up against someone as talented (and as hard to hate...) as Olga.

So for the finals of this competition, I stepped up my game and pushed my limits, committing to cooking TWO dishes in only thirty minutes -- both of the baked variety.  And although I technically pulled it off, I believe (at the risk of using cliche food terminology too early on in this post) I bit off more than I could chew.

I don't know about you, but November hit me like a ton of bricks (wasn't it just June a few minutes ago?) and the moment Halloween is over I immediately morph in to Thanksgiving mode, so I decided to go with a "leftovers" theme for my dishes.  That way, I could creatively brainstorm for what I was going to do with my own Thanksgiving leftovers while spreading my love of creative baking to a few innocent by-standers.

My first go? A Turkey & Stuffing Leftovers Cake-Cup with Mashed Potato Topping.

Wanna give it a try? Here's the recipe:

Yield: 12 "Cake-Cups"

• 15 oz. (5-7 slices) cooked, leftover turkey meat, diced
• 1 1/2-2 c.leftover stuffing (from a box or your favorite home made)
• 1 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 c. milk 
• 1 large egg
• dry herbs, salt and pepper to taste
• 2 c. leftover mashed potatoes
• 1/3 c. heavy cream
• 1/4 c. sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Mix together all of the ingredients in a large bowl
3. Line 12 cupcake tins with wrappers (preferably foil)
4. Fill each wrapper to the brim with your mixture
5. Bake for 45 minutes
6. While cakes are baking, whisk mashed potatoes, heavy cream and sour cream together until you get a smooth consistency
7. Fill a piping bag (or ziplock bag with a snipped corner) with the mashed potatoes and pipe on the finished mashed to resemble frosting on a cupcake.
8. If desired, drizzle gravy on top of your finished product for a little added texture and flavor!

OK I'm just gonna say it.  This may technically be a losing dish, but it was absolutely DELICIOUS.  I have to apologize to my poor, poor judges who received a cold version of this dish since there was no working microwave on set to heat up my mashed potatoes and gravy.  You seriously missed out, and I'm so bummed about that. But I certainly can't wait to make these again after Thanksgiving is over. Cuz........ yum.

While these guys were baking away, I got started on my second dish -- which I have way fewer pictures of but was just as good..........if not better.  We all know that there is always leftover Sweet Potato Casserole that never gets eaten. So, what to do with it?  Just use it as-is -- brown sugar, marshmallows and all -- and make yourself a DARN good cupcake. No seriously. It's good. I appropriately paired it with a Toasted Marshmallow Meringue and made myself swoon.  You may be questioning how a Sweet Potato Cupcake could be that delicious, but I promise you. Give it a try this year and you won't be disappointed.

Here's how you'd do it:

Yield: 24 cupcakes

For the Cupcakes:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tbs. potato starch
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 8 tbsp. (one stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1½ cups leftover sweet potato casserole or sweet potato puree
• ½ tsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, potato starch and salt into a medium bowl and add the cinnamon.
3. Cream your butter on medium-low speed, add the eggs, one at a time, then add the sugar.  Mix until smooth
4. Add in the sweet potato casserole or puree and continue mixing on medium-low as you gradually add in the flour mixture and vanilla until incorporated.
5. Evenly distribute among 24 baking cupcakes and bake for 20-24 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

For the Frosting:

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• ½ cup cold water
• 8 egg whites
• 1½ tsp Cream of Tartar
• ½ tsp. vanilla extract
• 2-3 drops marshmallow flavoring (if desired)

1. Heat the sugar and water in a saucer on high (on stovetop) until it reaches 265 F. (use a candy thermometer)
2. As you wait for the sugar to reach desired temperature, use an electric stand mixer with the whisk attachment to beat your egg whites and Cream of Tartar on medium-high speed.  Keep a close eye on your sugar water.
3. When your sugar reaches 265 F, quickly remove it from the heat and immediately (but slowly!) add it to your whisking eggs, still on medium-high speed. 
4. Add vanilla and marshmallow flavoring and beat on high for 3-5 minutes or until peaks start to form. 
5. When your meringue reaches desired consistency, immediately fill a piping bag and frost your cupcakes. 
6. Use a kitchen torch to lightly toast your frosted cupcakes and serve.

I tried, and loved, both of these "cupcakes" and wouldn't change a single thing about my recipes, though I have to admit, I'd probably try to be SLIGHTLY less messy in the kitchen and maybe not so ambitious for a 30 minute competition next time (Ha. Next time...).  I was so blessed to have cooked my heart out on stage in front of a LIVE audience who were there to learn from me.  It was exhilarating and competing against Olga in front strangers, but more importantly my family and friends who gave up their Saturday mornings and traveled hours to see me compete, was such an amazing feeling.

Did I win? Nope. At first, I felt completely defeated. Like a failure.  I was standing in front of people whose cookbooks I own and whose television shows I'd followed religiously.  I had the opportunity to knock their famous socks off, and I just didn't do it. But when I looked back on the competition, the day and the fact that I was given the opportunity to do this, my opinion began to change. The hugs and praises I received from my friends and family (who I've always known but was simply reaffirmed are the greatest people on the planet) and the random compliments I got from the woman I ran into in the bathroom after my performance were prize enough for me.  And I guess it's pretty cool that I dreamed up a few bad-ass recipes that I will definitely be using again, too.

So in the end, I learned myself a pretty good lesson. Winning really isn't everything.  Nor is it a greater majority of things. It's the memories that you create and can eventually look back on and say "wow, that was amazing" that really help you coast through life with the top down.

Glee Slushie Cupcakes!

It's midnight...and you know what that means. IT'S GLEE DAY!!! 

We've been waiting an awfully long time for this. In fact, I've been jamming out to Glee CDs in my car all week long and officially know all the harmonies to the a capella version of Gaga's Poker Face.

So as my friends and I gather around our televisions and prepare to sing along with 27 year-olds disguised as 17 year-olds, I figured it only appropriate that we have delicious cupcakes to celebrate with.

This isn't a recipe post.  It's more or less an inspriation piece.  So long as you have a printer, twizzlers and red/blue food coloring, you've got yourself a Glee cupcake!

I started with a trip to the local CoGos for a bit of my own inspiration.

Next, I started baking.  I went with a simple vanilla cupcake. I tried dying my cupcakes to take on the same coloring as the buttercream...

 and I have one word of advice for you: DON'T!!  Trying to dye my cupcakes red resulted in the biggest bake fail of all time:

So we just uh...nixed these :)  But my "blue" cupcakes came out just fine and so I started on my buttercreams. 

I started with a plain vanilla buttercream and separated it in half.  In one half I poured the teensiest bit of blue-raspberry slushie with a few drops of raspberry flavoring and a drop of blue food coloring.  Next I added a bit of the cherry slushie to the second half with about a teaspoon or Maraschino Cherry juice and a few drops of Christmas Red food coloring and one drop of brown food coloring.

Then I tossed these graphics on to a Word doc 

and printed on a sheet of Avery 2"x4" label printing papers, cut and wrapped them around my cupcakes!  Slap a 1" piece of twizzler in the buttercream and....

VIOLA!  You're ready to get slushied and celebrate Season 3!

I hope you give them a try yourself.