imbb

Easter Bunny Cupcakes

maki — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 08:08:55 +0200

It seems that quite a few people have been trying out the kasutera/castella recipe recently, and running into problems. Castella is not an easy cake. So, since it's Easter, I thought I'd haul this out of the archives attic. These little Rich Tea Cupcakes are much easier to make, and while they have an entirely different texture they are really quite delicious. I hope you'll give them a try! The cupcakes are delicious unadorned, but the icing is dead easy, and the fondant is not too hard if you can get a hold of the glycerin. Alternatively you could use store bought Easter themed cake decorations. Originally published in March 2005, as part of the late lamented Is My Blog Burning food blog event; edited and updated.

One of the first attempts at baking that I remember tackling on my own was cupcakes iced with pale pastel icing. I had seen a picture of them in one of my mother's magazines, and they looked so elegant to me. The one thing I remember about those cupcakes is that they tasted peculiarly like uncooked egg - I think I hadn't whipped the eggs enough or something. But the whole process of making the icing, tinting it with food coloring that I had begged my mother to buy for me, and swirling it on the tops of those cakes, was quite fascinating.

This isn't quite an attempt to remake those cupcakes. For one thing I now know how not to make cakes that taste overly eggy. But I did want to make something pastel colored and kawaii (cute) -- and, since it's Easter time, pink and blue bunnies and pastel colored mini-eggs seemed like perfect embellishments.

I'm not a big fan of buttercream icing unless it's very chocolatey, but chocolate was out of the question since I wanted that pastel color scheme. So I've avoided this usual cupcake topping; instead I've used a much easier icing, which is just powdered or icing sugar mixed with lemon juice. It's appropriately shiny and translucent and adds a little tang to the whole experience. And it's dead easy to apply - just drizzle a spoonful or two on top of each cupcake. At this point you can just leave it as is, or use any kind of colorful decoration that strikes your fancy: the icing acts like a sort of glue for the embellishments too. I made some bunny heads and eggs with fondant, but this is a bit fiddly. In Nigella Lawson's How To Be A Domestic Goddess has all kinds of ideas for decorations on top of the icing (she uses plain water for the icing though) such as little candies, a cherry, a knot of cream, and so on. Of course standard cake decorations such as sprinkles and other sugar ornaments work too. I was originally planning on using small chocolate eggs, but then I thought of the bunny theme - and the cake decorating sections of the supermarket are sadly lacking in bunny-themed items. Besides, I just love that pale, half-translucent quality of fondant. The soft, melt-in-your-mouth sugariness is a perfect match for the top of this cupcake too.

I'm calling the base cake recipe without the adornments Rich Tea Cupcake, since the original cake recipe is adapted from one for a tea cake. I'm not sure what exactly a "tea cake" is -- I presume it means it's good for serving with tea. (For the matter, I'm unsure about what a "coffee cake" is either, and how it differs from any other cake....) This is rich yet fairly simple to make, apart from the beating the eggs and sugar vigorously over hot water (or bain marie ) part. This step is common in a lot of European cake recipes, and makes for a cake crumb that is quite crumbly and delicious, with not a trace of raw-egginess about it. The cupcake sans icing is delicious just plain or with an apricot or red currant jam glaze on top. It's very mildly spiced with lemon peel, nutmeg and vanilla, and is not overly sweet. Yes, it has 4 egg yolks plus 4 whole eggs in it.

Recipe: Rich Tea Cupcakes

250g / 8 oz unsalted or salted butter (I used unsalted, since salted butter is not common here)
2 tsp finely grated lemon peel
1 tsp real vanilla extract
4 egg yolks from 'large' eggs
4 whole 'large' eggs
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (plain white flour)
2 Tbs cornstarch (cornflour)
1 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt if you used unsalted butter
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 150°C / 350°F. Make ready the cupcake cups. Hint: if you stack 3 paper cupcake cups together, they are sturdy enough to hold their shape when you pour in the batter without needing muffin tins or something. Sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.

Put the butter in a bowl and microwave it on low setting for a minute to soften it. You don't want to totally melt it but it should be easy to cream. Add the lemon peel and vanilla.

Heat up a pan of water to simmering point. In another bowl, beat together the egg yolks, eggs and sugar. Put the bowl over the water, and let it come to lukewarm temperature. Beat this mixture over the hot water vigorously (an electric hand mixer helps a lot, or you can think of it as good toning exercise for your arms) until it's about tripled in bulk and is a pale lemon yellow. When you lift your beater, the batter should form a thick ribbon.

Take off the heat and add the sifted together flour mixture slowly, Don't overbeat. Add the butter mixture bit by bit too until it's all incorporated.

Spoon or pipe the batter into the cupcake linings about 2/3rds full. (Hint: this goes a lot faster if you use a plastic bag as a "piping bag". Put the batter into a plastic zip bag, push the batter towards one corner, and holding the bag ready to go over a cupcake liner quickly cut off that corner with scissors - just a small hole does it! You'll fill the cupcakes up in no time.)

Bake in the preheated oven for about 15-25 minutes, depending on the size of the cupcakes, until a skewer inserted in the middle of one comes out clean. Let cool completely before applying the icing.

Recipe: Lemon Icing

This amount will be enough to cover 12-16 medium sized cupcakes, depending on how generous you are with the icing.

250g / 8 oz icing (powdered) sugar
2-3 Tbs lemon juice, strained of all pips and pulp
additional water or lemon juice if necessary

Mix together the sugar and juice until it's quite runny. The amount of juice or water seems to vary on how humid the weather is. It should form a slightly runny paste, and drop slowly but easily off your spoon when it's ready to go. You can color it with food coloring if you like.

Drizzle with a spoon over the tops of the cupcakes.

Recipe: Fondant

Fondant is the stuff that covers those almost unreal-looking, smooth wedding cakes that you see in glossy magazines. It's also used to cover petit fours. It's not that hard to make, though a bit fiddly. The only special ingredient you need is liquid glycerine, which you can get at a pharmacy (drugstore). Be sure you get pure liquid glycerine, which is safe to eat, not something pre-formulated for cosmetic use! You can use this as a cake icing, or to make cake decorations as I have here, or even on their own as little 'fancies' or candies.

500g / 8 oz icing (powdered) sugar
50g / 2oz liquid glycerine
1 Tbs. egg white (approximately the egg white of one 'large' egg)
Food coloring of your choice

Mix together the ingredients until all the liquid is incorporated. Knead for a few minutes until totally smooth. Don't worry if it's a bit sticky, but if it's too dry add a tiny bit more egg white. Let rest in a plastic bag for at least an hour or overnight in the refrigerator (this seems to make it a bit easier to handle).

To make the fondant decorations, take a small bit of the fondant and color with the food coloring. There are different kinds of coloring, but the key is to always add a tiny bit at a time. I prefer to use paste or powdered food coloring, which gives me more control than the liquid kind.

The bunny heads are made by making a small, thick sausage with a fat middle and tapering ends. Fold this over and pinch the middle to make the face. Pinch the ends to make the ears. Smooth out any cracks with your fingers. Prick out the eyes and mouth with a toothpick.

The eggs are rolled balls shaped a bit to resemble eggs.

Prepare these in advance and leave out to dry a bit. Apply to the cupcakes while the lemon icing is still wet.

Leftover fondant can be frozen; just defrost at room temperature - never defrost in the microwave! Knead well after it's defrosted until it's supple. Or, it will keep for a couple of days well wrapped in the refrigerator.

IMBB 25: Good uses for Stale Bread: A Simple Bread Soup

Guruman — Mon, 01 May 2006 02:00:00 +0200

Posted by Max

In the small household I grew up, there was always an issue with bread. Either it was gone because it was fresh and very good, or it was not that fresh anymore, and stayed until stale. To clear up this stale bread, my mother made a simple soup out of it. This simple recipe fits very well in Is My Blog Burning, edition 25, hosted by Derrick Schneider's An Obsession with Food.

Even now, in my own small household, it can happen that bread is left over, and accumulates over a few days, which means that I occasionally dig out that recipe and take care of that bread. The soup is really warming, and quite filling. And, because of the variety of bread I have available, the results are never exactly the same.

A Simple Breadsoup

Hard stale bread
50 g butter
Soup stock cubes
Freshly grated mature Gruyère cheese

Cut the bread into cubes, about 1 inch wide. It does not matter that much if the pieces get smaller.

Put a soup pot on high heat and melt the butter.

Pour the bread in the pot and stir it, trying to cover every piece with some butter. Continue stirring, dry roasting the bread. This is a bit a smoky matter, therefore make sure that the exhaust fan is working.

When every piece of bread has some charred spots (that will be the case after about 10 minutes), pull the pot off the heat and add water until the bread pieces are well covered. Put the pot back on heat and bring it to boil.

Crumble soup stock cubes for the amount of liquid into the soup. It does not really matter what kind of soup base you are using. Beef makes it a bit stronger, but vegetable or chicken works equally well.

Reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. The bread pieces will soak up the liquid, and it might be necessary to add a bit more water.

Taste, season if needed (mainly pepper, as the soup stock has brought in enough salt), serve into bowls and sprinkle a little freshly grated mature Gruyère on it. Enjoy.

There are possible variations with this recipe. If the look of the soaked up bread pieces is offending to your eye, you can puree the soup. In fact, this might be the more likely way it is served in a restaurant. You might also crush the bread or grind it up coarsely before roasting.

A note about the pot. Roasting can be a bit hard on the pot, therefore, I would recommend to not use a non-stick pot, but better a rather robust stainless steel pot. When roasting the cubes, crumbs break off and get burned and stick to the bottom. A stainless steel pot is easier to clean...

Technorati Tags: IMBB 25, bread stale bread,

IMBB 23: Brandade de Morue

maki — Sun, 26 Feb 2006 22:33:13 +0100

This is my entry for Is My Blog Burning #23, hosted by Cucina Testa Rossa. The theme is Vive La France. I cogitated over this for a while, but settled on something extremely simple to make, figuring that the other entries might go more elaborate. I'm also a bit cooked-out at the moment due to the Masterchef cooking! But anyway...onwards we go.

The picture above is a little misleading. The star of the show is not the golden brown crêpes. It's the unprepossessing little bowl of white sauce. This is a Provençal staple called brandade de morue. It hasn't become as trendy around the world as other delicious sauces from this much lauded region such as tapenade or pistou, but is, in my opinion, one of the most delicious tastes in the world.

It's possible that brandade de morue is not as renowned because its star ingredient is salt cod. Any seafaring culture has a tradition of heavily salted fish, and since cod has always been a popular fish, there are variation of salted cod everywhere: Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, and of course France. Marseilles was at one point the major salt cod manufacturing point for the whole of Europe, and it still produces a lot of it. Salted fish does not really fit well into our modern lifestyle, since it needs an extended period of soaking. I love the taste of it though, coming from a culture (Japanese) that has always relied on salting and drying to preserve seafood. I also love the slowness of it: soaking the fish overnight, planning ahead for the meal that it will be the basis of. It's an entirely different experience from popping a frozen dinner tray into the microwave.

Making a brandade is so easy with our modern food processors and mixers, it's almost not a recipe. The one key to it is to soak the fish in cold water beforehand for at least 24 hours, changing the water several times, to reconstitute the cod and to remove much of its salt. You should also use a good, fruity olive oil, preferably from Provence (but any good extra virgin olive oil will do). A brandade can be used for any number of things: as a dipping sauce for raw or steamed vegetables; on crusty bread; even as an interesting pasta sauce. Here I have used it as a stuffing for crepes. This isn't very traditionally Provençal I admit, but the very first time I had brandade was in a creperie in the small, charming town of Grillon, in the northern part of Provence. It was simply spread onto a large, crispy Galette Bretonnière (a buckwheat crêpe from Brittany) which was folded over at the edges, the dark brown lacy edges framing the white sauce so inticingly. One mouthful, and I was a brandade convert for life. It is salty, just slightly fishy (but in a good way, like the freshest anchovies, but less so), garlicky, and full of fruity olive oil flavor, with the slight acidic edge provided by the creme fraiche, that elevates it to the highest level of taste.

As for a wine to accompany a meal with brandade, why not a rosé? There are many rosés in Provence; light and refreshing, to cut through the sometimes intense flavors of the food of the region. Nothing is quite as evocative of summer as a chilled glass of rosé and a meal redolent of olive oil and garlic. The one we had on hand is Domaine de Montine, from the Tricastin region, which is near Montélimar, the self-proclaimed nougat capital in the northwestern corner of Provence.

This area is not nearly as touristy as southern Provence, but I almost prefer it over the more famous areas near Arles or Aix or Marseilles. If you want to see the Provence cliché of lavender fields stretching out as far as the eye can see, go to the north.

Brandade de morue

200g / 7 oz. piece of salt cod
3 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil, preferably from Provence (it should be a bright green, and mildly flavored)
4 garlic cloves
150g / 5 oz. creme fraiche

Soak the salt cod in cold water, changing the water several times, for at least 24 hours beforehand.

Gently poach the drained cod in water to cover for about 10-15 minutes.

Take out the cod, let it cool and take off the skin if there is a skin. Carefully go over it and pick out any bones.

Roughly flake the cod into the bowl of a food processor or mixer, with the garlic cloves. Pulse to chop it up, then add the olive oil and creme fraiche. Puree intil smooth. The consistency should be that of thick mayonnaise. Add a little more olive oil if necessary.

This makes about 2 cups. Store any left over sauce well covered in the refrigerator, and use up within a few days.

For the crêpes, please refer to this recipe for a good all-around version.

Technorati Tags: brandade de morue, imbb23

Is My Blog Burning? IMBB 13: Cupcakes and Muffins Galore!

maki — Fri, 25 Mar 2005 23:04:44 +0100

Update posted late Sunday, March 27th: I wasn't at my computer most of the weekend, and there were a few late or inadvertently omitted entries waiting in my mailbox. They've now all been posted I think, bringing the total to 89 entries. Wow.

It seems that this month's IMBB theme really struck a chord with many food bloggers, since there are, if I've managed to count correctly, 84 89 entries! Several people made more than one muffin or cupcake too, so there are 100 or so different cupcakes and muffins to try.

It's impossible for me to pick any favorites out of the wonderful entries. I'll be enjoying many, many hours trying out the different recipes.

Thanks to everyone who participated! I did get a bit overwhelmed by the number of submissions (to put it mildly), so my apologies for not replying to all your individual emails. If your entry is not listed, please let me know and I'll correct that ASAP.

And once again, a big thanks goes out to Alberto for starting IMBB. Every IMBB allows people to discover new food blogs and re-visit old favorites, and that's just a great thing. Also big thanks to Ronald for helping everyone keep track of all the food blogging events out there.

I've grouped the entries into groups by general category: sweet cupcakes, sweet muffins, savory muffins (and a couple of savory cupcakes), and last but not least, cupcakes that are probably not edible. So without further ado, here are the links to all the cupcakes and muffins.

Part One: Cupcakes

Samer made deep dark chocolate cupcakes with vanilla icing.
Stephanie of Dispensing Happiness made Dulce De Leche-Filled Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Frosting.
snackish made Pumpkin Cupcake (or muffin: I have arbitrarily put it in the cupcake category since it has an interesting coconut-custard topping.)
Alan and Jenny of Sweet & Savory made Banana Cupcake Surprise.
Tanvi of from the pantry made Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting.
Matt made Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcakes.
Mia of The Skinny Epicurean made My Little Vanilla Gem. She's going to use these to kickstart her food business. Good luck Mia!
Nikiof Esurientes made Lazy persons' Black Forest Cakes.
Jocelyn aka McAuliflower of Brownie Points made Marzipan Topped Raspberry Filled Mocha Cupcakes, with gorgeous marzipan daffodils on top.
Stella of baby rambutan made two cupcakes: cocoa-cashew babycakes with raspberry puree and cashew-chocolate bark, and lemon poppyseed babycakes: plain, and with chocolate frosting and pearl suga. Check them both out here. She seems to have had a very good assistant!
Pickles of Pickles & Jams made Marble cupcakes with a Twist.
Mariko of super eggplant made Easy Birthday Cupcakes.
Nicole of delicious:days made Pasteis de Nata.
Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar made Triple Lemon Cupcakes.
Andy of Minor Gourmandry made Chocolate Cupcakes with Coffee Buttercream.
Alicat of Something So Clever made Lemon Cupcakes with lovely flower decorations.
Lyn of Lex Culinaria made Cupcakey Goodness, and recounts past encounters with cupcakes. (Let's hope the cupcakes don't cost her her job..)
pinkcocoa from Pinkcocoa Tabetai made My Little Chocolate Surprise Cupcake. See below for her muffins too.
Jessica of Su Good Eats made Fluffernutter Cupcakes.
bbrug of Brooklyn Bridge User Blog made Semolina Cupcakes with Rose Frosting: the icing is flavored with rose water.
Lynn of To Short Term Memories made Ginger Cupcake Triple Play.
Annalyn of ajay's writings on the wall made Peanut Butter Cupcakes, and banana macaroons too.
Dreska of Little Fancies made Easter Basket Cupcakes.
Santos of the scent of green bananas made matcha cupcakes with pistachio cream and totoro "truffles". Totoro truffles!!
He also made i should cocoa and naga cupcake.
Nicole of bakingsheet made Neapolitan Buttermilk Cupcakes.
Sarah of Cooking With The Headhunter made Decadent Blueberry Muffins.
Jenni of Pertelote made milk chocolate cupcakes with a passionfruit cheesecake filling. (Note: I couldn't find a permalink, so just look for the March 24th entry.)
Zara Maria of Food & Thoughts made Magnolia Cupcakes.
Molly of spicetart made Orange Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Lemon Cream-Cheese Frosting and a Star On Top and Sprinkles.
Caryn of Delicious! Delicious! made very colorful Flower Cupcakes.
Alan of ma'ona made Chocolate Curry Cupcakes with Lemongrass Infused Coconut Buttercream Frosting.
Carolyn of 18thC Cuisine made Biscuits de Chocolat (Small Cakes of Chocolate Biscuit).
Lisa made David Lebowitz's Black Bottoms Cupcakes: she doesn't hae a blog yet, so here is a picture of her holding a trayful of them.
Emily of baking beast made Marcel Desaulniers' Granny Twichell's Secret Chocolate Cupcake Recipe.
Moira of Who Wants Seconds? made Black Bottom Cupcakes.
Nicola of A Sprinkle of Sequins made Nigella Lawson's Carrot Cupcakes with Cream-Cheese Icing.
Gillian of The Queen of Tarts made Mrs. White's Cupcakes. The name does not adequately describe the visual impact of teal-colored cake with peach colored frosting!
Kate of Accidental Hedonist made Cream filled Cupcake with Dark Chocolate Ganache frosting.
Kelli Ann of avoir une famille n'est pas comme un téléroman made Everyday Food Easy Chocolate Cupcakes.
Alice of My Epicurean Debauchery made Tea Cupcakes with Anko filling. (Anko is a Japanese sweet bean paste.)
Robyn of Food Chronicles made dark chocolate cupcakes with white buttercream and chocolate buttercream frosting.
Brigitte of Sweetnicks made Cherry Baby Cakes.
Viv of Seattle Bon Vivant made Dark Chocolate Cupcakes.
Reid of 'Ono Kine Grindz made Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate Cupcakes.
Kelli of Lovescool made Easter Egg Cupcakes.
Chefdoc of A Perfect Pear made Rhubarb Streusel Cakes.
ST of Cheat Eat made Huat Kueh, Chinese Prosperity Cake.
Mollie, the 8 year old niece of Sam of Becks & Posh, made Fairy Cakes.
Here are my Easter Bunny Cupcakes.

Part Two: Sweet Muffins

Zorra of Kochtopf made Raffaello muffins (Raffaellos are white chocolate truffles covered with coconut.)
Laurie made fruity Muffins Tropicaux.
Christina of peasprout sprouts made sourdough muffins.
Augustus Gloop of Grab Your Fork made the very exotic sounding lime, white chocolate and coconut muffins.
Celia of English Patis made Simnel Muffins.
Julie of A Finger In Every Pie made two kinds of muffins: Chocolate-filled Chocolate Chip Chocolate Crumb Muffins and Apple Crumble Muffins.
Meg of Too Many Chefs also made two muffins: Coconut Banana Muffins and Apple Crumble Muffins.
pinkcocoa from Pinkcocoa Tabetai made Volcano Muffins. See above for her cupcakes!
Alberto of Il Forno made Hazelnut flavored Cinnamon Apple Muffins.
Clotilde of Chocolate and Zucchini made Muffins à la Framboise, Eclats de Fève de Cacao (Raspberry Muffins with Cacao Nibs, but of course it sounds much better in French.)
Stephanie of The Adventures of Pie Queen made A Bran Muffin That Doesn't Suck.
Petra of Chili und Ciabatta made Bee Sting Muffins.
Kathi aka Froschköningen made Egg liqueur muffins or muffins for princesses.
Amy of Cooking With Amy made Cranberry Zinger Muffins.
Ronald of Love Sicily made Muffin “Cioccolato Modicano agli Agrumi” e salsa di zabaione, which is chocolate muffins (he uses a special chocolate) in a zabaione (warm foamy custard) sauce, but of course it sounds much better in Italian.
Elise of Simply Recipes made Blackberry Muffins.
Anne of Anne's Food made Raspberry Marzipan Muffins.
Peggy of bouquet garni made Cherry Muffins.
Katie of Sharp Cookie made Orange Chocolate Chip Muffins.
knit wit of domestic affairs made Apple Oat Bran Muffins.
Miss Tenacity of Tenacity Flog made My Terrifying Bran Muffins, aka Tenacity of the Colon.
Gemma of Part-Time Pro Bono Baker made Banana Muffins.
Jacquez of Upside-Down-Pear made Banana Breakfast Muffins.
Sigfrid of Il Cavoletto di Bruxelles made Strawberry, balsamico & pink pepper muffins.

Part Three: Savory Muffins (or Cupcakes)

FoodNerd made ham-scallion-parmesan mini cakes.
Yoko of The Ballad of Yoko made her favorite muffins, corn muffins with green onions and sour cream.
Jeanne of Cook, Sister! made Peppadew and Parmesan muffins. She explains that peppadews are sweet piquant peppers from South Africa.
Dr. Biggles of MeatHenge made Chicken Curry Muffins.
Anthony of spiceblog made Manly Muffins, avoiding sugariness and thus preserving his manliness. :)
Irene of Cuisine Capers made Bacon and Cheese Puff Muffins.
Karen of The Pilgrim's Pots and Pans (what a great blog name!) made Savoury Tomato Muffins.
Daphne of Kitchen Crazy made the definitely not-crappy looking Crappy Cheese Carrot Cupcakes.
Gastronomie made Melted Leek Muffins with Cheddar, and adjusted the recipe later too.
Alice of My Adventures In The Breadbox made Radish Sandwiches on Zucchini Basil Muffins, turning muffins into sandwiches.
Mia of Nosh made The End-All Muffin, which has pears, goat cheese, and nuts in it...wow.

And finally, the not-quite-edible department...

Robyn of The Girl Who Ate Everything made this adorable felt cupcake. I'm in love!
Kelli Ann, who made edible cupcakes also (see above) also posted a picture of this extremely cute paper (?) cupcake.

Update: the cupcakes and muffins are pouring in!

maki — Thu, 24 Mar 2005 18:40:03 +0100

A quick note: the entries for IMBB 13 are coming in in waves! So far there are well over 50 entries, and the deadline isn't past yet. I'll try to post them all as soon as possible. Oh..and write up my entry too. Stay tuned for a deluge of cupcakes and muffins!

A week to go...

maki — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 20:08:15 +0100

Just a reminder that there is a week to go until the deadline for IMBB 13. Already a few entries are in, and I'm looking forward to seeing more. I'm not sure myself what I am going to do...I'm torn between one amazing, over-the-top, or a cupcake and a muffin. We'll see! Some experimenting to do this weekend.

IMBB 13: My Little Cupcake (or muffin)

maki — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 14:23:50 +0100

I was just really very hungry (the site you are reading right now) is proud to host the lucky 13th edition of Is My Blog Burning, the mother (father?) of blogging food events originated by Alberto of Il Forno. The theme for this month is: My Little Cupcake (or muffin).

I was originally going to do a chocolate theme, but cupcakes have been on my brain recently. Perhaps it's because Easter is close, and I have visions of little "fairy cakes", as they are called in England, with white icing and pale pink buttercream flowers. Or maybe I am just a food fashion victim caught up in the trendiness of cupcakes. In any case, cupcakes it is. And since I sort of regard a muffin (the American style muffin, not the English kind) as sort of a nude cupcake, they are included here too.

Should you choose to participate, the only requirements as follows:

Your creation should be approximately shaped like the cupcake-silhouette pictured in the logo for this event (above).
Please post a picture if possible, and the recipe if you made it yourself.
It can be sweet, or savory. (A savory 'cupcake' with a matching 'icing'? hmm...)
Pictures of particularly attractive cupcakes made by someone other than yourself are accepted, as long as it is accompanied by a story relating said cupcake(s) to yourself.

The deadline for this edition of IMBB is Thursday, March 24th. This will give me a day to compile and report the results, so that we may rush out to gather the ingredients for our favorites in time for Easter.

As usual, please email me the link to your entry (or your whole entry if you don't have a blog) or just do a trackback ping to this post.

Let's make cupcakes!

Gyoza dumplings

maki — Mon, 23 Aug 2004 01:27:50 +0200

I've missed 2 IMBB days, so this time I had to jump in. When the theme for this month, You're Just The Cutest Dumpling was announced by Jarrett of Food Porn Watch, there was only one dumpling I could make: the gyoza. Specifically, this is a Japanese-style gyoza dumpling.

My family has deep emotional ties to the gyoza. My sister Mayumi loved gyoza when she was a teenager. While her schoolmates put little Hello Kitty dolls and such on their school bags, she made a felt gyoza dumpling and hung that from the handle of her bag. I didn't go that far, but I've always loved this little meat-and-vegetable filled dumpling.

Gyoza originated in China, but as with many other things it's gotten assimilated into everyday Japanese cooking. It is closely related to shumai and wonton. The filling is usually pork based, with cabbage, green onion, garlic or garlic chives, and ginger, though there are variations. I've even had gyoza filled with lettuce and tuna, and it was pretty good. In Japan we usually use thin, ready-made gyoza skins rather than handmade ones, because a thin skin is considered to be desirable. Besides, making all those little dumplings is quite a job so not having to make the skins too saves some time. You can get the skins from Japanese, Korean or Chinese food stores. Try to get ones that are a bit big in diameter, especially if you are a beginner, since it does take a bit of experience to form the dumplings.

Gyoza dumplings can be boiled or deep-fried, but the usual way is to steam-fry them so that they are crispy on the bottom and smooth and slippery on the top. This makes for a wonderful texture. To achieve this please read through the cooking directions; it can be a bit tricky, and these dumpling can stick hard to the frying pan if not done right.

Japanese-style gyoza dumplings

This makes 72 dumplings (3 packs of 24-piece gyoza skins worth). I like to make a lot at one time and freeze batches.

250g / about 8 oz. ground pork (ground veal can also work well)
3 bunches of green onions
6-8 cabbage leaves
1 thumb-size piece of ginger
2 garlic cloves
2 Tbs. soy sauce
1 Tbs. dark sesame oil
4 packs of gyoza skins (24 skins in each pack)
Peanut oil for frying

Blanch the cabbage leaves until wilted in boiling water. Drain, let cool then squeeze hard to get out as much moisture as possible. Finely chop the cabbage and the green onions. Grate the ginger and garlic cloves. Mix all the ingredients except for the gyoza skins and oil for frying in a bowl thoroughly. Let marinate for about and hour if possible.

Make your dumpling assembly station ready: you'll need a little cup of water, a large platter, the gyoza skins, the filling and a teaspoon. Keep the skins under a damp cloth or in the plastic pack they come in to keep them from drying out.

Put a skin on your palm and moisten half of the edge with water. Put a teaspoonful of filling in the middle--don't overfill them or you'll have trouble closing them up. Fold over in half and pinch firmly in the middle. Now, fold over the skin on the side facing you, from both sides, pinching firmly as you go. Your aim is to create a dumpling that is flat on one side and plump on the other. Note: if the filling is a bit watery and dribbling out of the dumpling, mix in a little cornstarch.

To steam-fry the dumplings, heat up a frying pan with a little peanut or other vegetable oil in it. A non-stick pan is very good for this. Put the dumplings flat side down into the pan, slightly overlapping. Cook over high heat for a couple of minutes untl the bottoms have started to crisp up. Lower the heat to low.

Now, get a cup with about 1/2 cup of water, and a lid for the frying pan. Hold the water in one hand and the lid in the other, and rapidly pour the water into the pan and immediately put the lid on. Let the dumplings cook on low for about 10 minutes, until the tops looks sort of transparent and puffy (when you open the pan the dumplings will rapidly un-puff.) When the water is almost all gone, turn the heat up to high to evaporate the rest and really crisp up the bottoms. Pry the dumplings carefully off the pan with a spatula and serve crispy side up on a plate.

To eat, dip the dumplings into a soy sauce and vinegar mixture or soy sauce and a few drops of hot chili oil called Ra-yu. Plain soy sauce will work too, or even soy sauce with some Tabasco in it.

The traditional accompaniment for gyoza is shredded raw cabbage, but I prefer to serve a plain green salad with it. And rice, of course.

If you prefer to boil the gyoza, simply drop into boiling water and cook for a few minutes. Boiled gyoza seems to go better with a soy sauce and vinegar dipping sauce.

Tip: to freeze extra gyoza, put them on a tray (metal is best) in a single layer; once frozen you can put them in a freezer bag or plastic container. This way they are not stuck together, and you can take out just as many as you want.

Is my blog burning: tartine edition (with a recipe for hummus)

maki — Sun, 07 Mar 2004 18:09:47 +0100

I wasn't too well prepared for the tartine edition (hosted by Clotilde of Chocolate and Zucchini) of Is My Blog Burning? (conceived by Alberto of Il Forno). I forgot to buy any special bread, so had to make do with regular toast bread and some pumpernickel. The pumpernickel was not toasted but the sliced white bread was. Then there was the matter of what to put on the bread. We sort of improvised, with mixed results. Therefore, a 2-for-1: choose the one that appeals to you the most!

Tartine 1: Luusesalbi. "I'll make some Luusesalbi" declared Max. Luusesalbi literally means Lice Cream...a somewhat worrisome name. It is made with a very strange Swiss cheese called Schabziger (there is a variety of it called Sapsago which may be more readily available outside of Switzerland). It originates in the canton of Glarus. It's made of skimmed milk, salt, and a mixture of alpine herbs. It is a pale lime green, and comes in little cones wrapped in foil:

Max grated the Schabziger into a bowl, and blended it with about 25 grams (about 2 tablespoons) of softened butter and a tablespoon of milk, with a fork. What emerged was this pale green paste, which was spread on the pumpernickel:

I took a bite - and suddenly remembered why I hadn't had this for more than 5 years. To me, it tastes somewhat like soap. Max however loves it. Maybe it's an acquired (Swiss) taste. If you want to try a very unusual cheese, you may want to give this a go. The ideal bread for this is a rye bread, such as Waliserbrot, lightly toasted. Spread the Luusesalbi on while the toast is still hot for maximum...impact.

Tartine 2: Hummus. Having taken just one bite of the Luusesalbi concoction, I was still hungry. Then it hit me - we still had a bag of hummus in the freezer. We took it out and defrosted it, and spread it on toast. Voila! a delicious hummus tartine.

The red stripe decoration is simply sweet paprika powder. Place two straight knives back to back on the toast, and sprinkle the powder in between. Remove the knives carefully to maintain the clean lines of the stripes. If you are doing a whole party tray full of them, cut long strips of paper and lay them across the whole batch of neatly lined up slices, and sprinkle away. You can use another fairly neutrally flavored powdered herb or spice, such as dried parsley or dill.

Following is my recipe for hummus, to be used as a dip, or as sandwich spread or filling. It is quite garlicky, so beware. This makes a huge batch, which I then freeze: put one cup of hummus into a plastic zip bag, flatten the bag and seal. Take a bag out about an hour before you want to eat it - if you defrost in the microwave it may get a bit watery, but you can just drain that off. Weeks' worth of hummus in one go.

[Update: Clotilde has posted a list of all the Is My Blog Burning participants.]

Hummus

1 kg / about 2 lbs of dried chickpeas
3 lemons
12 large garlic cloves, peeled (more if you can stand it)
1/2 - 1 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup of tahini (sesame paste)
1/2 cup of raw white sesame seeds
Salt to taste

Soak the chickpeas in cold water to cover for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.

Drain the chickpeas and re-cover with fresh water. Cook for about 3 hours until the peas are completely soft, and can be crushed easily between your fingers.

Drain the cooked chickpeas, reserving the cooking liquid. Mash the peas, with a potato masher, or in batches in the food processor or blender, or with a stick blender. (If you want it to be completely smooth, use the food processor or a blender. I don't mind it being a bit chunky.)

Toast the sesame seeds in a frying pan until the seeds start to pop and snap. Remove from the pan as soon as it looks lightly toasted - if you leave them in the pan they will get burned from the residual heat. Let cool, and in a coffee grinder or with a mortar and pestle grind them to a fine powder. Add the tahini and blend to a paste. (Toasted sesame seeds add a nice flavor, but you can omit them and just increase the amount of tahini.)

Crush the garlic cloves to a fine pulp, either with a garlic press, or with the tip of a knife on a cooking board sprinkled with salt. Or you can grate the garlic (your hands will smell like garlic for the next week though).

Juice the lemons, and add the juice to the mashed peas. Add the garlic, tahini and sesame, and olive oil. If it's too thick loosen it up with some of the cooking liquid (which will be rather gelatinous). Season to taste with salt.

If you want the hummus to be a bit more sour, add more lemon juice. If you prefer more sesame taste, increase the sesame seeds or the tahini. You can also try using peanut butter instead of tahini - it should work. Decrease the garlic if you must, but really, try it like this first.

Is my blog burning?: Spiced Spinach Soup

maki — Sun, 08 Feb 2004 23:12:27 +0100

Here is my entry for the the soup blogging day proposed by Alberto of Il Forno.

This is a spiced, rather than spicy, soup. Spicy implies that something is hot, usually from chili peppers or chili powder. This soup is not hot and does not contain any chili peppers or chili powder, but it has plenty of spice flavor, from cinnamon, cardamon, bay leaf, curry (just a tiny bit), cloves, and ginger, as well as onion and garlic. It's a very warming soup, perfect for a cold winter's dinner. It will not only warm your body, it will put you in mind of hot, exotic climates like India and Thailand and even Ethiopia (the spice mixture is quite reminiscent of the spice tea you can get at Ethiopian restaurants).

You can substitute other greens for the spinach, but spinach really looks the best. It really is quite green, especially if you use fresh spinach - but you can use frozen too.

For maximum spiced flavor, make sure your spices are as fresh as possible. You should really throw out any dried spices that are more than six months old (OK, I did recently find a jar of star anise that was dated 1990....yipes! I think I must have carried it from New York!)

What to have with this soup? A good bread always fits, or if you want to make it more "ethnic", try it with papadoums or naan bread or some flat Afghan bread or toasted pita triangles.

[Update: Alberto has posted a list of links to the first Is My Blog Burning participants.]

Spiced spinach soup

1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
4 cinnamon sticks
2 bay leaves
5-6 whole cardamon seeds (If you can't find whole cardamon, use ground cardamon and add it near the end of the cooking.)
Butter or vegetable oil
6 whole cloves
A piece of ginger about the size of your thumb
1/2 tsp of curry powder, or a handful of curry leaves
4-5 cups of vegetable or chicken stock (from stock cubes is ok, though real stock is better of course)
1 cup of evaporated milk or light cream
1 pound / 450g of fresh spinach leaves, washed, or 1 pound /450g of frozen spinach

Heat up the soup stock.

Slice the onion, the garlic cloves, and the ginger. Heat up a pan with some butter or oil, and sauté the onion, garlic and ginger until the onion is rather golden but not burned. Add the cinnamon, cardamon, cloves and bay, and curry leaves if you have them, and sauté a bit more.

Add the stock, and lower the heat. Simmer on med-low heat for about 45 minutes, until the onions are completely soft.

In the meantime, quickly microwave the washed spinach leaves for a couple of minutes in a plastic wrap-covered dish until the leaves are wilted. Or, you can steam them also (but let's face it, nuking them is faster!) If you are using frozen spinach, defrost it.

Strain the soup-spice mixture through a rather coarse sieve, food mill or "china cap" (called a chinois in French), pushing through the soft pulp but making sure you don't get any bits of cinnamon stick or cloves or so in the soup.

Add the evaporated milk or cream, and the spinach. Heat up, and then either in your blender or with a stick blender, puree the mixture until smooth.

Add the curry powder if you didn't use curry leaves, and season with salt and pepper to taste. This makes enough for 4 hungry people, or enough for 2 hungry people plus plenty of leftovers for lunch tomorrow.