St Patrick's Day Cupcakes

Happy St. Patrick's Eve to all of you.
If you want to do up your cake correctly for the The Big Day, just add a cup of Guiness.
Thank you Cousin Stacey for the recipe.
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Glazed Guiness Cupcakes

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IngredientsServingsIngredientEdit/Substitutions CancelSave
1 cup guinness
1 stick unsalted butter (plus one tablespoon)
3
4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cup dark brown sugar
3
4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 cup all-purpose flour
2 1
2 tsp baking soda
8 oz cream cheese
1 1
4 cup confectioners sugar
1
3 cup milk

Method1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Place liners in cupcake tin.
2 Combine the Guinness and the butter, chopped into 1-inch chunks, in a large sauce pan, and heat to melt the butter.
3 Remove from heat, and whisk in the cocoa and sugar.
4 In a separate bowl, whisk the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla, then add to the beer mixture.
5 Sift together the flour and baking soda, and fold into the batter.
6 Pour batter into cupcake tin and bake for 25 minutes, or until inserted cake tester comes out clean.
7 Let stand 10 minutes, remove from muffin tin, and cool completely on a rack.
8 To Make Glaze: Using a mixer, whip cream cheese until smooth, sift in sugar, and beat. Add milk, and beat until smooth. Spread glaze over cooled cupcakes.

Bored on a Friday Night??? Why Not Bake A Cake

Happy 1st Friday of Lent to all of you.
Since it is a day of Fast and Abstinance, Rosie and I are going to stay in eat a small portion of Blackbeans for our only meal today and bake
Blackberry Jam Cake with Buttercream frosting and Caramel.

I've made several different recipes and swear by Paula Deen.
This is her Holiday Spice Cake Recipe, which I have modified to be the Perfect Blackberry Jam Cake.

Use 3 eggs, 1 cup buttermilk, instead of her measurements for these ingredients, and add 1 cup Blackberry Jam.
Also, drizzle caramel syrup on top of the buttercream, or mix it in, depending on your own liking.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/holiday-spice-cake-recipe/index.html

Holiday Spice Cake
Paula Deen

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen, 2008

Show: Paula's PartyEpisode: Butter Than Ever Christmas Party

Rated: 4 stars out of 5Rate itRead users' reviews (14)

* Filed under: Dairy, Buttermilk, Flour, Nuts, Sugar,
more
o Dish : Cake
o Technique : Baking
o Occasion : Holiday , Christmas , Holiday
o Herbs & Spices : Ginger , Clove , Cinnamon
o Who's Dining : For a Crowd

* RECIPE
* RATINGS & REVIEWS(14)
* VIDEOS(1)

*
Cook Time:

25 min
*
Level:

Easy
*
Yield:

8 servings

Close
Times:

Prep
20 min
Inactive Prep
10 min
Cook
25 min
Total:
55 min

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Ingredients
Cake:

* 3 cups cake flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
* 2 sticks butter, softened
* 2 cups sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 4 eggs
* 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
*
* Quick Butter Cream, recipe follows
* Finely chopped nuts, for garnish
* Cocoa powder, for garnish

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour 3 (8-inch) round cake pans.

In a small mixing bowl whisk together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground nutmeg, ground cinnamon, ground ginger and ground cloves.

Cream the butter, sugar and salt until light and fluffy with an electric mixer. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the dry ingredients and the buttermilk alternately beginning and ending with the dry.

When the batter is well mixed and smooth, divide it amongst the 3 prepared cake pans and bake about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes come out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes then turn out to cool completely. If the cake layers have domed a little during the baking process, slice off the tops with a long serrated knife so they are flat and even.

Place the first layer, cut side down, on a cake pedestal or serving plate. Spoon about 3/4 cup of butter cream onto the center of the cake. Spread it almost to the very edges with an offset spatula. Repeat with the remaining 2 layers. Garnish the top of the cake with finely chopped nuts and cocoa powder.
Quick Butter Cream:

* 3/4 cup butter, softened
* 1/4 cup shortening
* Pinch salt
* 6 cups confectioners' sugar
* 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1/2 cup heavy cream

Beat the butter, shortening and salt together until creamy with an electric mixer. Add half the confectioners' sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Combine the vanilla extract and heavy cream. Gradually beat in the remaining confectioners' sugar alternating with the cream mixture until it is all incorporated and the frosting is very light and fluffy.

A Fat Kid on Fat Tuesday

Amy & I have decided that this year for Lent that we are both going on a Vegan diet. This means that we will be giving up "ALL" meat & animal bi products, in honor of this season of reflection and sacrifice. However, before Lent begins, all Fat Kids get one last chance to get their "eat" on. It is called Mardi Gras in French, Carnival in Portuguese, and FAT TUESDAY in English.
So whether you a partying it up in Rio, New Orleans, Northside, or on top of a Rocky Mountain, where cakes don't rise, the one thing we all have in common is that we all have a Fat Side to enjoy.
Here is Emeril's King Cake Recipe in order to do it up right... and from one fat kid to another...
HAPPY FAT TUESDAY!!!
http://www.gumbopages.com/food/dessert/king-cake.html





KING CAKE


What's a King Cake, you ask? Well, let's find out. From the King Cake section of the Carnival FAQ:
"The King Cake tradition came to New Orleans with the first French settlers and has stayed ever since. Like the rest of Mardi Gras during those early days, the king cake was a part of the family's celebration, and really didn't take on a public role until after the Civil War. In 1870, the Twelfth Night Revelers held their ball, with a large king cake as the main attraction. Instead of choosing a sacred king to be sacrificed, the TNR used the bean in the cake to choose the queen of the ball. This tradition has carried on to this day, although the TNR now use a wooden replica of a large king cake. The ladies of the court pull open little drawers in the cake's lower layer which contain the silver and gold beans. Silver means you're on the court; gold is for the queen.

"With the TNR making a big deal over the king cake in the society circles, others in the city started having king cake parties. These parties particularly among children, became very popular and have also continued to today. The focus of today's king cake party for kids has shifted more to the school classroom than the home, however. Up through the 1950s, neighborhoods would have parties. One family would start the ball rolling after Twelfth Night, and they'd continue on weekends through Carnival. Whoever got the baby (the coin or bean had changed to a ceramic or porcelain baby about an inch long by then) in the king cake was to hold the next party. You can still hear stories from folks who were kids during the Great Depression of what their mommas would do to them if they came home with the baby from a king cake party, since so many families were short on money then.

"[Today,] schools and offices are the main sites for king cake parties these days. Someone will pick up a cake at the bakery on the way downtown and leave it out for everyone to grab a piece, or mom will send one to school on a Friday for the kids to share. You an always tell the locals from the transfers in any given office because the local knows what to do when he or she gets the baby. The foreigner just drops it on the counter or some such, and possibly might not even bring the next cake. Sacrilege."


NOTE! You may NOT prepare and serve this before Twelfth Night (Jan. 6) or after Mardi Gras Day!

For more information and history on King Cakes, see the Carnival FAQ.

If you're not in New Orleans and you don't feel like mail-ordering, you can always make your own. Here's an excellent King Cake recipe, provided courtesy of Chef Emeril Lagasse.


2 envelopes active dry yeast
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1-1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup warm milk (about 110°F)
5 large egg yolks, at room temperature
4 1/2 cups bleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 pound cream cheese, at room temperature
4 cups confectioner's sugar
1 plastic king cake baby or a pecan half
5 tablespoons milk, at room temperature
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Purple-, green-, and gold-tinted sugar sprinkles
Combine the yeast and granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the melted butter and warm milk. Beat at low speed for 1 minute. With the mixer running, add the egg yolks, then beat for 1 minute at medium-low speed. Add the flour, salt, nutmeg, and lemon zest and beat until everything is incorporated. Increase the speed to high and beat until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, forms a ball, and starts to climb up the dough hook. (If the dough is uncooperative in coming together, add a bit of warm water (110 degrees), a tablespoon at a time, until it does.)
Remove the dough from the bowl. Using your hands, form the dough into a smooth ball. Lightly oil a bowl with the vegetable oil. Place the dough in the bowl and turn it to oil all sides. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

Meanwhile, make the filling. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese and 1 cup of the confectioner's sugar. Blend by hand or with an electric mixer on low speed. Set aside.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Using your fingers, pat it out into a rectangle about 30 inches long and 6 inches wide.

Spread the filling lengthwise over the bottom half of the dough, then flip the top half of the dough over the filling. Seal the edges, pinching the dough together. Shape the dough into a cylinder and place it on the prepared baking sheet seam side down. Shape the dough into a ring and pinch the ends together so there isn't a seam. Insert the king cake baby or pecan half into the ring from the bottom so that it is completely hidden by the dough.

Cover the ring with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and place in a warm, draft-free place. Let the dough rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Brush the top of the risen cake with 2 tablespoons of the milk. Bake until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Make the icing. Combine the remaining 3 tablespoons milk, the lemon juice, and the remaining 3 cups confectioner's sugar in medium-size mixing bowl. Stir to blend well. With a rubber spatula, spread the icing evenly over the top of the cake. Sprinkle with the sugar crystals, alternating colors around the cake.

The cake is traditionally cut into 2-inch-thick slices with all the guests in attendance.

YIELD: 20 to 22 servings