A neat salad and a revelation

I find lots of recipes that I would love to try, but am pretty sure I would hate by because I detest goat cheese. That's right, I've said it. That ultimate, creamy, tangy topping for soups, salads, crostini, you name it - I just can't stand it. I've tried, I really have. I really wish I could like fresh goat cheese; every six months or so I convince myself that its not that I dislike it, I've just never had it prepared this way, or with these ingredients, or this is a smoother, sweeter variety... only to rediscover miliseconds later that the tangy-ness that other people appreciate in goat cheese, to me tastes simply acrid and reminds me of things too gross for a food blog. To date, the only way I have had goat cheese and not wanted to immediate spit it out is on pizza and baked into a pasta dish.

Which is too bad, because I really, really want to like goats cheese so I can enjoy this salad by Joy of Joyliciousand guest posted to 6 Bittersweets.


It has all the components I love in a salad - fresh greens, sweet, juicy fruit, crunchy nuts.... but that darned goat cheese just has to ruin the party for me. Its okay, goat cheese, its not you its me. Its just a shame that I can't hang out at the awesome party you're throwing because we just don't get along. I guess I'll go hang out with some cupcakes instead...

Root Beer!

Alright, alright.  I don't normally bake this much, but its reading week so I have some spare time on my hands.  On tonights agenda: Root Beer cupcakes.

Now, the idea struck me for root beer cupcakes when I was first reading about cola cupcakes on Bakerella's blog.  I didn't think to google them at that point, so came up with my own recipe, which was... okay at best, though not my worst attempt at creating a recipe.  I basically took the coca-cola cake recipe and combined it with the guiness cupcake recipe I used earlier this week, replacing the guiness/cola with root beer and root beer schnapps.  Like I said, they were okay.  I overbaked them slightly, and they have too much  baking soda, but with a dollop of vanilla icing, you can't hardly notice.  They needed more root beer flavour, however, so I set out via the world wide google and came across a couple of fantastic cupcake blogs with root beer recipes.  After settling on one that appeared to be simple, and easy to follow, I set to work.  I lacked root beer extract so I replaced it with schnapps.  Aside from that, they are quite good.  I still wish the root beer flavour was stronger, but that would probably be fixed by using root beer extract, or maybe doubling the amount of schnapps I used, or creating a reduction or something.  I'm not that talented yet, however.

After making the frosting (I made the Vanilla Bean ButterCream as suggested) I came to two very stunning realizations:

1.  Salted butter is not for icing

2.  Do not buy vanilla beans online via e-bay

My sister insists it tastes like ice cream.  I can only taste sweetened, vaguely vanilla-flavoured butter.  I am going to try researching a way to turn whipped cream into icing, but I want it to be denser than whipped cream.  And taste like my boyfriend's homemade vanilla bourbon ice cream.  Is that so much to ask, really?

Yes, I am that lucky that my boyfriend is not only sexy and well dressed but he also cooks and makes confections!  Not to mention spoiles me R-O-T-T-E-N!

Root Beer Cupcakes (Originally from BitterSweet)

makes 12 cupcakes

• 1 C rootbeer soda
• 1 t apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 C sugar
• 1/3 C canola oil
• 1/2 t vanilla extract
• 2 t rootbeer extract
• 1 1/3 C flour
• 3/4 t baking soda
• 1/2 t baking powder
• Pinch of Salt

1. Combine the soda and vinegar and let stand for a few minutes.
2. Add in the sugar and oil, whisking vigorously until slightly frothy.
   
3. Integrate your extracts, and gently introduce the flour, along with the baking powder / soda, and salt, being careful not to over mix.
   
4. Fill cupcake liners approximately 3/4 of the way to the top.
   
5. Bake at 350 F for about 18 - 22 minutes.

Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting Recipe

• 1 1/2 C confectioners' sugar (add more until it reaches your preferred consistency)
• 1/2 C butter (room temperature)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste (add more to taste)  (I used vanilla bean seeds right out of the pod)
• 1 tablespoon milk

Mix together sugar and butter until they are blended and creamy. Add vanilla bean paste and milk and continue to beat for another minute. If desired, add more vanilla bean paste to taste, or more confectioners' sugar to make it stiffer.

Chocolate Guiness Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Icing

My foray into the baking-blog world all started by my own obsession with wedding dresses.  Which then led to wedding cakes.  Which then led me to Cake Wrecks, which led me to Bakerella, and then to several other blogs which I now read religiously, most especially when they involve some kind of baked good.  All of this has led me to the discovery of several cake/cupcake recipes that I have been dying to try, including this one from Pinch My Salt which is the first one I decided to try.  (Up next week Cola Cupcakes, and Red Velvet Cake balls).

I made a couple of changes to it because of availability of ingredients.  Namely I didn't want to buy a 6 pack of Guiness (I can't drink much of it) and my local liquor store was out of singles, but had some singles of Road Dog Porter, which is dark and malty and worked quite well, I think, though it definitely lacks the chocolate undertones present in most stouts.   I also used Liberte Méditterranée Moka yoghurt in place of plain.  It was on sale at Safeway, and how could I possibly go wrong with a mere 8.5%MF?  Plus I figured the coffee flavour would support the chocolatey nature of these cupcakes.  Asside from those two small alternations, I stayed true to the recipe.  Oh, and my eggs were right out of the fridge (not room temperature) and it still worked wonderfully.

As for the flavour... well, the cupcakes were very moist once cooled.  The day after they seemed to have dried out a tad and gotten a bit denser, but I have several very good reasons to believe that the container they were in was not in fact air tight.  This is definitely not an ordinary chocolate cupcake - they have a complex flavour, and while the stout/porter is noticible, its subtle and not a sharp stick to the tastebuds overpowering everything.Oh, and I only used 3.5 cups of icing sugar instead of 4 for the icing because Edmont

on is so dry this time of year.  I actually had to give the icing two tries.  The first time I wasn't incorporating enough icing sugar at a time and I over beat it.  It turned into this runny mess with the consistency of warm yoghurt... not suitible for cupcakes but I couldn't let all that creamy cheese deliciousness go to waste so it is now sitting in my freezer until such a time as I make cinnamon buns (AKA, next week).  I plan to use it like the milk/icing sugar glazes a lot of grocery store cinnamon buns have on them, except when you bite in - Surprise! cream cheesey delight!  I can't wait.

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes (from Pinch My Salt)

2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup plain, thick yogurt, at room temperature
6 oz. dark stout, at room temperature
2 t. vanilla extract
1/2 cup dutch processed cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line a 12-cup cupcake pan with cupcake papers; spray the whole thing, cupcake papers and all, with nonstick spray. Set aside.
3. Melt butter in microwave or on stovetop, then set aside.
3. In a large bowl, preferably with a pouring spout, whisk together eggs and yogurt. Add beer and vanilla whisk until well combined.
4. Sift all the dry ingredients together (cocoa powder, sugar, flour, baking soda, and cinnamon) into a separate bowl.
5. Add about a third of the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and using a hand mixer, blend well. Add the rest of the flour mixture, a third at a time, mixing well after each addition. When all ingredients are blended, add the melted butter then continue mixing until very well combined.
6. Pour batter into the twelve cups, filling each only about 3/4 full.
7. Bake on center rack of the preheated 350 degree oven and for approximately 25 minutes.
8. When cupcakes are done (toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake will come out clean), remove the pan to a wire rack.  Let cool for ten minutes then remove cupcakes from pan and let them cool completely on wire rack.