Ambrosia Cupcakes.

As I mentioned before, I was inspired this Christmas while eating my mother's famous ambrosia, or "Five Cup Salad," to create a cupcake worthy of representation.  After much deliberation, I came up with these little beauties...

Simple white cake, hollowed out and filled with a mixture of chopped and crushed pineapple, adorned with mallowy, cooked meringue frosting infused with orange zest, and crowned with toasted coconut and a maraschino cherry.  The tart pineapple was a brilliant contrast to the buttery sweetness of the cake, and the marshmallow frosting was light and almost refreshing.  The coconut gave an excellent crunch, as well as brilliant aesthetic.  I like the cherry, but after looking at these beige cupcakes, I wish I had put them in red papers.  What can a girl do?  Make more?  Sure, once everyone falls off of their diet wagons.  Mean?  Perhaps.  I know that no one wants to hear a thin girl talk about weight issues, but as most of you might know, I was not always so small.

What?  You don't know this?  Let me go back into the bedroom and fish out some old pictures to scan.  Hold on a minute.  Enjoy this, the most gorgeous baby picture ever taken while I look.

Ok.  No luck with the pre-weight loss pictures.  I have been looking for three days!  Or perhaps I did find them, but I am holding them for later.  But I do have a proper recipe for these gorgeous cupcakes!

Ambrosia Cupcakes

1 recipe White Butter Cake

1 large can crushed pineapple

1 recipe Marshmallow frosting*

1 T orange zest

1/2 cup toasted coconut**

15 maraschino cherries

I follow this recipe for my White Butter Cake, although I do not separate the eggs, whip them, and add them later.  I used to do that, but I tried adding the eggs unseparated, one at a time, and the cakes come out and rose perfectly, without being too dense.  Two notes:

1.  Double this recipe if you want to make a proper 8 or 9" round cake.  I use this recipe as is for my 6" layer cakes.  

2.  If you use these little nut cups for cupcakes, do not fill over half way.  If you overfill these, they will rise and then collapse into themselves, or pour over the side, dripping off of your baking pan and burn on the bottom of your oven.  And you will cry.  Especially when someone has paid you to make a large batch for a shower and you only have an hour after said tragedy to create, frost, and bedazzle 50 more.  And every time you turn on the oven for the following week you will be reminded of your failure by the sickening smell of burning sugar, unless you are the type of person who has the time to clean up after every little kitchen snafu, but I digress.  Don't overfill the cups. 

After your cakes have completely cooled, grab a can of crushed pineapple, and drain WELL.  Like extra well.  I also chopped up a bit of fresh pineapple after the fact, as I wasn't satisfied with the texture of the crushed pineapple; but I am sure the crushed alone is fine.  Now, with a small knife, cut little "plugs" out of the center of your cupcakes, pinching off and discarding the bottom halves of the plugs.  Fill the cavities with a tablespoon of the pineapple, and then cover with the remaining plug.  It doesn't have to be pretty, as you will cover it with frosting.

Pipe with Marshmallow frosting (or just spoon it on), and sprinkle with toasted coconut.  I also topped mine with a maraschino cherry, which I blotted completely clean of it's red juices.  I put them on toothpicks and shoved them into the cake, as I thought they might be a little heavy.  

Orange-Scented Marshmallow Frosting*

4 egg whites (room temperature) 

1 cup sugar

1/4 t cream of tartar

1 t vanilla extract

1 T orange zest

In a large heatproof bowl (I used my stand mixer bowl), add the egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar together.  Place bowl over just simmering water, and whisking all the while, heat until a thermometer reads 160 degrees.  Transfer bowl to a stand mixer (you can use a handheld model as well), beat on high until glossy, stiff peaks form.  Beat in vanilla extract and zest until just combined, and frost as desired.  Yum!

Toasted Coconut**

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  On a baking sheet, spread coconut to a very, very even layer.  Place in oven, and watch it.  For my shaved coconut, it took 5 minutes.  Shredded might not take as long.  Good rule of thumb: if you can smell it, it is probably done.  

And there you have it.  Ambrosia Cupcakes.  Perfect for, well, whenever!

Have a beautiful day! 

Rachel Bee

Winter Wonderland...

At work the other day, I overheard a conversation referring to "North Carolina" as "up North," and by reference anyone who has lived there should be used to this weather.  Having grown up in Kentucky and North Carolina, let me say, as a "Northerner," that I would rather do a lot of things than bear these temperatures.  I do not like the snow in my front yard, the ice on my driveway, nor do I like having my heater on in this old house and not see a thermostat read above 65.  When conversing about the South, the only item that I take a large amount of pride in is our warmer climate, and will refer to this weather as my fellow Southerner Stephen Colbert did in last night's show as "the storm of Northern aggression."

So, to make "lemonade out of lemons," or ice cream out of ice...I guess, I chose to search through my cabinets yesterday for a reason to turn on my oven.  Sore about Sunday's bread disaster, I decided to make brownies instead.

Ordinarily, I am not for boxes, as they contain an insane amount of everything in this world that is bad for you, but when it comes to brownies- I admittedly have a long line of kitchen flops.  They are gritty, cakey, dry, gloppy- you name it.  I have even managed to cut open brownies and find scrambled egg whites.

Really?

And when one looks for a decent brownie recipe, they tend to be made with melted chocolate, which is just plain expensive and wasteful for someone like me to incessantly throw into the garbage.  There is a recipe on joyofbaking.com that calls for an entire pound of chocolate.  Now, lets say you buy a bar of Lindt chocolate at 4.5 oz a bar: at $2.50 apiece, plus- I mean- if you are going to spend that much on chocolate, you aren't going to put low-grade butter in your batter-

You see what I mean.  And I guarantee that in my case, it would go in the trash.  So, the search was on for the perfect, step by step, cocoa powder-using brownie recipe that would end in fudgy, chewy, and downright delicious brownies.  And I found it.  I found it here: Technicolor Kitchen Brownies.

They are everything and more, and I decided to make them even more special with a small flower cookie cutter.

Here is a picture...

Warm, fudgy, and in my tummy.

Have a beautiful day, and keep warm.  I will be in my pjs and fluffy socks, knitting a bow for tomorrow's post (I hope).  And maybe a loaf of bread.  I don't stay down for long.

Rachel Bee

You're so vain...I bet you think item 4 is about you.

I have to admit, from Friday until now I have experienced more let-downs than victories.  Let me explain...

Item 1.  Before I left Friday morning to drop Langston off at school, I text-messaged the young man who owns the studio where I have been recording to let him know I was on my way.  Nearly 20 minutes later, I received a frantic call from him to let me know he was not going to be able to meet me.  Now, now...now.  Let me give you a little insight into who I really am: anything but laid back.  I believe that maybe at one time I was, or at least claimed to be as I saw it in a movie once, but I am not.  I take most things pretty seriously, especially now when I have so very little free time.  Am I patient?  Yes.  Do I generally have good perspective when things don't work out?  Yes.  But only after the event.  During, I cry; and Friday morning was no exception.  The thing is, this isn't the first time he has let me down.  It is the third.  The third phone call asking me to come another time.  The second time he "wrote it on the wrong date."  The other time he thought I was someone else.  Really?  We have recorded the entire song, minus 2 vocal tracks...

I am frustrated.  Now our appointment is Wednesday.  Gracious.  This thing is gonna be very, very good (perspective:)

Item 2.  How hard is it to give away a cupcake in January?  Darn near impossible.  Ok, peoples.  They are cupcakes.  Delicate little morsels of sweet goodness!  And the thing is, they didn't have the usual, rich buttercream adorning their pillowy tops.  It was meringue.  Egg whites, orange zest...think of the protein; the vitamin C!  I even hollowed out the middles and filled them with pineapple.  I am quite sure that consuming one cupcake put me back 230 calories.  Skip the afternoon snack and eat one. *

Item 3.  I intentionally turned someone's hair magenta, and then decided I didn't like it on a 47 year-old woman.  So we turned it red (although I am convinced it will be pink again in a week).  Yuck...

Item 4.  I don't want to offend anyone with item 4.  **

Item 5.  I spent 2 and a half hours on baking bread today, only to turn out a dense, doughy flop.  Meatball subs turned into meatballs and cheese on some frost-bitten hamburger buns.  What can you do?

Through all of my weekend's adversity, although my son is taking a moment to poke at the flab that is hanging over my pants, my life is just beautiful.  And when I think of all that could have happened, what others might be going through...I mean- get over yourself, Rachel.

Really.

God is faithful.

Rachel Bee

* If you specifically refused a cupcake and are upset that I am upset that you refused a cupcake, lets both get over it right now.  I love you.  Done.  Ok?  Ok.

**Item 4 is not about you.  I promise.  :)

What do you think?

Ok, cupcakes are obscenely popular right now, and I really prefer presenting a spectacular layer cake at parties, but I am not sure that certain flavors belong in a giant cake.

For instance, my mother has a recipe that she has used for ambrosia since I was a little girl, which includes pineapple, marshmallows, coconut, mandarin oranges, and sour cream.  While I was eating it this Christmas, I was thinking about how perfectly balanced it's flavors are, and how texturally satisfying it is.  The marshmallows become all mousse-like, the coconut retains its bite, the sour cream adds a tang that counteracts the mallowy (made it up) sweetness.  I love the mandarin oranges, and growing up I assumed that they must be expensive, otherwise we'd eat them all the time (thought the same about cauliflower).  As I finished the last bite, I thought about replicating all of those flavors in a baked confection, but I think a whole cake would be way too overpowering.  So, tomorrow, look out for (what I hope will be) a delicious post on...

The Ambrosia Cupcake.

Yum.

Also coming next week...a finished song (recorded, mastered, yadda yadda).  This, I am truly nervous about, so please be nice.  You can be critical on the next one.  Ok?

Ok.  Off to the studio.

Rachel Bee

PS- Any favorite flavor combos you'd like to see in a cake?  Inspiration, anyone?

Before it's too late...

If anyone out there is like me, and in the middle of July craves cold weather and all of its delicacies, you are vastly disappointed to go into the store and find not a single can of pumpkin puree.  Not one is found, despite the magnanimous holiday displays, and the deepest discounts in November's turkey rush.  I can even find organic pumpkin at $1 a can at Walmart in December, and yet in July there is nothing.  NOTHING, I say.  This year, I am not going to be thwarted in the stickiness of summer.  I bought 3, 32 oz. cans of the stuff during my last trip to the grocery store (I had 4, but I put one back so that my guilt doesn't keep me up at night).  So, this summer, the pumpkin pancake party is at my 85 degree house.  Bring a chair, a bathing suit, and some blotting papers (hate for you to be dewy in the pics).

Calendar.  Mark it.

Or you can use your pumpkin now and make this delicious cake.  Really, really delicious.

This is a pumpkin cake, covered in maple cream cheese frosting.  I didn't vary the recipe one bit from the one found here: http://www.joyofbaking.com/PumpkinSpiceCake.html

I love this website.  It is sooo easy to use, and the back stories on the desserts are really interesting.  I don't recommend the pound cake recipe, and please don't try to make vanilla pudding with anything less than whole milk.  Just saying.

By the way, this cake does not bake up very thick.  I made some extra frosting and cut the two layers into four to give it some height.  I chopped up some dried cranberries and loaded the sides for some color, but that cranberry in the middle was a regret.  It looks like some sort of impolite protrusion from above.  Like a belly button, one you wish you didn't have.  By the way, here is the frosting recipe I use.

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese (full fat, softened)
1/4 c whipping cream, cold
1 t vanilla (I used 1/2 t vanilla and 1 t maple flavoring- not imitation)
1 box powdered sugar, SIFTED

Blend the butter and cream cheese together.  With your mixer on low, incorporate the powdered sugar until not lumpy.  Add the flavoring, and really whip that stuff for 20 seconds or so.  In a separate bowl, whip the cream until you have stiff peaks, and then gently fold it into the frosting.  I love this addition, as it detracts slightly from the sweetness, and gives what can be a very dense frosting some levity.

Sorry, giggle break while my two year-old sniffs my rear end.  I dunno.

Anyway, another picture...

Thanks, everyone.  Night night.

Rachel Bee

PS.  Belly button...

Through the lens of someone who loves...

I am a talented girl.  I know this because- I know this.  I know that sounds like an awfully haughty statement, but...it is true.  Now, I am not exactly sure how I got to be the way I am.  I was definitely not born a songbird, and even when I decided to start singing, I know for certain that every note was not music.  The first time I picked up a brush, it was not art; and cake, well...last night's mess in my oven is a testament to how human I am.  The Bible says very clearly that God has "put desires in our hearts" (Psalms 37:4), and I really believe that's how we as Christians develop our individual talents and skills.  It is up to us to take those desires, be diligent with them, and develop them into something beautiful, creative, and pleasing to God, and of course to others.

Now, among my many developed talents and skills, photography is lacking.  I would love to pick up a camera today and start learning to shoot.  I would love to be up at 2:00 am, in the kitchen, preparing a tutorial on how to make my fudgey, chocolate frosting, or trying to make my stand mixer look like art in print.  But the Bible is also very clear in stating that when we are married, the "two become one" (1 Corinthians 7, among others), and my husband has that talent more than covered.  Over the last 6 or 7 years, through the lens of my husbands camera, I have become so much more confident...

Diverse...

Sexy...

Oops.  Photo unavailable.  Can't post Bible verses and nudity together.  It's a rule.

A better cook...

And generally,

more...

complete.

It is easy to be photogenic when the photos are captured by the lens of someone who loves you.

Love him.

Rachel Bee

Still digesting...

Christmas was over a week ago, and I feel as if I am still digesting it's glorious meal.  Here is a little taste of what we had...

That's right, a big, delicious $67.00 hunk of red meat, roasted to rare perfection.  However, today's post is not about the prime rib that is still lodged in my arteries, it is about Christmas's decadent dessert!

This...

This was my attempt at a s'mores cake.  That's right, two layers of chocolate cake, with a graham cracker crust baked right into the bottom of the cake.  It worked!  Despite my worries, the crust came out with the cake layers in one piece.  I frosted it in gooey marshmallow icing, and then my husband showed me how to fire up the butane and torch that baby!

Yes.  Those are my manly hands.

Chocolate drizzle, plus a layer of melted chocolate between the layers made for an amazing mouth-feel.

Every bite contained cold, soft sweetness, rich chocolate cake, salty crunch from the graham cracker, and luscious dark chocolate.  It was heaven.  Absolute heaven.

Oh, I forgot to say, take extra care in cutting this cake.  The frosting is pretty gushy, and the crust in the middle makes for an interesting challenge with the knife.  We did OK.

Well, there you have it, folks.  I promise a tutorial in the very near future.  Really, I do.  And a recipe for the frosting.  The cake is the same I featured on the "i heart pot luck dinners" entry.

Hope you had a beautiful Christmas, and are experiencing wonderful New Year.  Oh, and why not?  One last picture of this gorgeous cake...

Wow.  Make one.

Rachel Bee