Hummingbird Cupcakes: Cake in Augusta, GA

Good morning!

It has been a busy couple of weeks in my home, but especially in my kitchen.  Cupcakes, cakes, my first ever cream puffs, and hair and makeup (of course) have all but saturated the landscape of my weeks lately.

I am dropping in today to share with you my very favorite cake recipe: The Hummingbird Cake.

Hummingbird Cupcakes with Pineapple Flowers

Actually, it isn't my recipe at all.  It is actually Rosie's recipe.  She is one of my biggest inspirations, to be sure.

Hummingbird Cupcakes with Pineapple Flowers

Hummingbird Cake is very reminiscent of Carrot Cake, in my opinion.  Pineapple, banana, pecans, and a touch of cinnamon combine to make this cake incredibly moist, flavorful, and fragrant.  Top with Cream Cheese frosting and a sprinkle of cinnamon, and create a rustic and warm treat for what little is left of our winter.

Hummingbird Cupcakes with Pineapple Flowers

But of course, what makes this cupcake a showpiece are the pineapple flowers that I placed on top.  I discovered these while perusing Martha Stewart's site a year ago or more, and I decided to give them a go.  What I discovered is that I really have to like someone to feel an obligation to forge these little beauties, because a toasted pecan works fine for me.

They are a pain in the... train.

But if you are (as I am) a glutton for punishment, grab a few pineapples and slice away!  I place the flowers in muffin tins while they were still warm in order to set them in more of a floral shape.  And they actually do taste really delicious.  I must give an additional warning: you need a very sharp knife for this.  And no fresh scissor wounds on your knuckles.

Just saying.

Love to you all.

Rachel Bee

Happy Valentines Day, and I am not yelling!

Happy Valentines Day, my friends!

I hope you all have a sweetheart as kind, warm, loving, handsome, talented, thoughtful, and extra cute as mine!  If you are instead celebrating Single Awareness Day, please enjoy it!  Don't think of what you would be doing if you were married or dating, but instead think of all the things you can do because you are single!

So many exclamation points!  I am not yelling!

Ah-hem... I know I promised a post more thought out than yesterday's, but truly: this is not that post. I baked three cakes last night, and I need to frost and deliver them this morning.  I frantically dipped these early in the evening, and then I cut the creative process short.  No fancy plate, no ribbon, no explanatory set-up; just cake balls.

Strawberry Champagne Cake Balls

Strawberry Champagne Cake Balls, to be specific.

Strawberry Champagne Cake Balls

And photographic evidence that I am no good at dipping cake balls.

Strawberry Champagne Cake Balls

But this is true: they taste delicious.

Strawberry Champagne Cake Balls

 
And if I told you my 3 1/2 year-old dipped them, you'd think they were perfect.

I would give you a recipe, but I think I am going to save it for when I make the Strawberry Champagne  Cake again.  It was a spectacular cake, to be sure.

Enjoy your day!  God gave you hands to make beautiful things.

Rachel Bee

Pumpkin Apple Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

Again.  Again I have raging allergic aversions.  At least I think that is what is going on.  Moral of the story is to not skip a workout to clean out a closet that hasn't been cleaned out in four years.  At least not without a mask.  But here, as promised, is the recipe for my Pumpkin Apple Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Make them, have someone else make them- and eat them all until they are gone.  Amen.

Pumpkin Apple Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 t vanilla
2 cups minus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/4 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t kosher salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t ginger
1/8 t cloves
1/2 cup buttermilk, sour cream, or plain greek yogurt
1 Large Granny Smith Apple, chopped into 1/2" cubes
2 T granulated sugar + 2 t cinnamon + 1 t flour

Preheat he oven to 350.  Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners.

Cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy (this can take up to 8-10 minutes).  Add the eggs one at a time, fully incorporating into the batter.  Stir in the pumpkin and vanilla.  Yes, your batter just became nearly curdled-looking.  Do not worry.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.  Add to the batter alternatively with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour.  Your batter should no longer look curdled.  Be sure to scrape the sides and bottoms of the bowl between additions.

Chop up the apple and toss in the sugar/flour/cinnamon mixture.  Fold into the batter.  Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, almost to the top (these do not rise much).  Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until done.

Cream Cheese Frosting
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened but still cool
8 oz cream cheese, softened but still cool
3.5 cups powdered sugar
1 t vanilla extract
pinch of kosher salt

Beat the butter and cream cheese together until no longer lumpy.  Sift the powdered sugar into the mixture, and mix until combined.  Add the vanilla and salt, and mix again.  For fluffier frosting, you can beat for 3-5 minutes, but note that it will be full of small air bubbles and therefore not quite as pretty for frosting.

Frost after cooling completely, and decorate as desired.  I topped mine with Pumpkin Spice Hershey's Kisses and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Enjoy!

Halloween alternatives and baking in jars...

I told myself I would work out this morning, so at 4:00 AM I rose and threw on my workout clothes.  An hour later I sit here with half a slice of cake in my belly, and a very well organized closet.

And I am frustrated.  I want to work out, but the idea of giving an hour and a half of my day away to Tony Horton seems inexcusable.  There is simply too much to do.

Yesterday was Halloween, and it has received a cold shoulder from my family for a few decades.  We grew up as Christians, and my church always had a Halloween alternative.  In previous years we called it "Hallelujah Night," but in the the effort to make the peculiar seem less so, most churches simply call it a "Fall Festival."  My father is the children's pastor at my church, and he did an exquisite job with this year's event.  In times past we dressed up as Bible Characters, but now kids can dress up as just about anything tasteful.  Besides, there aren't very many notable female examples in the Bible (Ruth, Esther, Lydia, Rachel, etc.), and their costumes all look the same, generally speaking.

All games and candy aside, Halloween was something very different for our family, as it is also my little brother's birthday.  He lives in Washington DC, and this year he turned the very big 30.  I miss him desperately, and knowing he likes cake I decided to send him some.

My son and I are huge fans of Bonne Maman preserves, and the empty jars make great drinking glasses. To my husband's lament, I snagged four and baked some cake in them.

Yes, I baked cake right inside old jelly jars (le gasp! I called bonne maman "jelly").  You can bake cake in just about anything glass, and mason jars are quite popular as well.

But with no mason jars on hand, my Bonne Maman jars would have to do.   Here is a picture of them capped and ready to go.

I made some cupcakes with the remaining batter, stuck one in the mailbox, but can't figure out what to do with the rest.

I am sure I can find someone to eat them.  Pumpkin Apple Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Shouldn't be a problem.

Happy Birthday Frankie.  Hey.  Hope you like pumpkin.  I needed to use it up.

Recipe tomorrow...

Rachel Bee

Spice Cupcakes with Maple Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

My blog.  It is definitely not at the top of the totem pole right now, obviously.

I have been busy:  four weddings in three weeks, my church's annual women's retreat, and then another wedding.  What is the deal with October?  I love all we are doing, but I really wish we could spread a little love onto September.  It was just plain awful!

As I mentioned in my last post, I went to New York last weekend, and it was wonderful. I didn't write about it last week, as I felt like a girl who met a really hot boy for the first time and was completely and irrationally gaga over him.  Because I was (irrationally gaga over my time there).  And I sounded pretty ridiculous in my brain.  For a lover of film, travelling to New York for the first time is like finally meeting a pen pal who you know so well and yet have never met face to face.  I was sad that it was a wee bit chilly the day of our outing into the city.  I had the perfect outfit planned which was in turn covered up with a bulky sweater. Would anyone would notice me?  Of course not. I just sensed that the eyes of one of the most fashionable cities in the world would look down on me from the heights of impossibly colossal buildings and spew my South Carolina swagger straight out.

Those Yankees can sniff out a drawl faster than you can say... well, something stereotypically southern.  And how I hate to stand out when I travel!

My two hours in the city were however trumped by my 2.5 days at West Point, preparing for the wedding of one of the most generous and kind girls in the world.  I will say more about it another time, when I can show you in pictures.

I have been back to my normal life for over a week now, baking and again knitting misshapen hats, doing a lot of hair and makeup, and loving on a family I left for 4 days and 3 whole nights.  Wow.

So as it has been awhile since I have tempted you with sweet treats, here is what has been smelling up my kitchen recently...

Spice Cupcakes with Maple Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting.

And they were heavenly.  And in the words of a young woman who ate one, "they taste like October."

And I would have to agree.

Spice Cake

So here you go.  A recipe:

Spice Cake with Maple Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
2 cups cake flour
3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cups brown sugar
3/4 t baking soda
1.5 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t cloves
2 Tbsp. ground ginger
3/4 t kosher salt
3/4 c sour cream
1 stick of butter, completely softened
1 t vanilla extract
2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 350.  Prepare 2 cupcake tins with liners.
Whisk together all of the dry ingredients (including sugars).  Add the sour cream and butter and beat on medium until they are fully incorporated. Add the eggs together and beat on medium until they are incorporated, and beat another 20 seconds or so.

Spoon batter into cups until they are somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 full.  Bake at 350 for 18-22 minutes.  Pull out of tins immediately and cool on a rack.

Maple Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
2 sticks butter softened, but still cool
1 block name-brand cream cheese, softened but still cool
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 t pure maple flavoring (or 1 T real maple syrup)
1 t vanilla extract or paste
3.5 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Beat the butter, cream cheese, and brown sugar on medium high for 3 minutes.  Scrape down the sides.  Add the powdered sugar and mix until incorporated, and then beat on medium high for another 2 minutes.  Add the extracts and mix until incorporated.

I sometimes add a bit of good ol' pancake syrup to this, as few Americans know how real maple tastes.  Just be sure you use a syrup made without high fructose corn syrup:)

Fall is here, despite our 88 degree weather.  Wedding stress aside, make some of these and bring some comforting warmth to your high-strung self.

Rachel Bee

Get into the van...

As you all may have gathered, I am a busy girl.  I am a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, stylist, knitter, baker, and song writer.  I like to picture myself as a mother of 9, driving all of my kids around in a gigantic blue van.  Each of my children gets her time in the front seat.  We chit-chat; labouring over dreams, successes, and failures.  Our heart-to-heart lasts until either one of my other babies clamours for attention, or I am simply annoyed, fed up, or even disappointed with our time.

Usually, life in the van is without major incident, but last week we picked up a pesky little hitch-hiker, by name: "The Cold."  He was malodorous, obnoxious, and selfish; not willing to share the front seat with anyone.  Sometime yesterday we pried him from the vehicle, and now I have 9 neglected and malnourished babies to care for.

Yikes.

So lets begin with a strawberry cake recipe, shall we?

Strawberry Cupcakes

Strawberry Cake

2 cups white sugar
1 package strawberry gelatin
1 cup butter, softened
4 eggs (room temperature)
2 3/4 cake flour
2.5 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 c whole buttermilk
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 cup strawberry puree

Preheat oven to 350.  Prepare your pans.

Cream together sugar, gelatin, and butter for 5-7 minutes, until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated.  Stir in vanilla.

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.  In another, mix together buttermilk and puree.  Add the dry and wet ingredients to the butter mixture, alternating between the two; beginning and ending with the flour.  Scrape the bowl between additions.

Divide between pans and toss into the oven, baking...

25 (or so) minutes for 2 8" rounds
15 (or so) for cupcakes

I say "or so" because I do not trust my oven sometimes, so I always start checking for doneness about 5 minutes beforehand.  These cakes look very moist, almost undone when they are finished.  Make sure you check with a tooth pick.

For the frosting I used the recipe found here for Marshmallow Frosting, but I added some pink food color.  You could also do a Cream Cheese Frosting (without the lime zest), or a Swiss Meringue Buttercream, but please, do not be fancy and try to add  too much strawberry puree to butter-based frosting.  It will separate and end up in the trash.

And you will cry.

Couldn't you just leave well enough alone?  It was pink!  It was sweet!  It had little strawberry seeds in it, making it adorable!

But you just had to add another tablespoon, didn't you?

Oh.  Sorry.  I digress.

So, enjoy this Strawberry Cake.  It tastes like spring.  It is pink.  It is delicious.

And maybe a skein or two of yarn can make it into the front seat of the van this evening.

Have a beautiful Monday.

Rachel Bee

Pink frosting makes everything better...

Yesterday I had one of those very, very rare full days off, and I got into some trouble.

As I mentioned before, my husband and I are saving for some very important items, and I find that the best way for me to save money is to remain in the confines of my big, fluffy robe.  Well, it is not so fluffy anymore.  I flee to it's permissive comforts way too often.

C'mon!  Don't we all have a fluffy robe?  Scrubs?  Fat pants?  Our husband's sweatshirts? Are these comforts not our modern day moo-moos?  Gasp!  The horror!

So comfy!

But I digress.

In my robe I tend toward the kitchen.  This soft commiseration is like a time warp, straight back to 1999, when my friend and I spent our nights with a tube of cookie dough or tub of "cream cheese frosting."  2AM jaunts to the Waffle House were the norm, along with stuffing leftover biscuits into our apron pockets on the way out of work.  I mean, they wanted to charge us 15 cents.  Ridiculous, right?

Oh boy.

So, at 8AM yesterday morning it began, first with a batch of chocolate chip cookies.  Chocolate chip cookies are in the same category with brownies for me.  They can be a thick, chewy success; or a flat, crispy failure.

Note: there are no cookie pictures in this post.

Beaten down, but not broken; I searched through my cabinets for some flavor combination- something that was light and airy- something that reminded me of Spring or Summer.  Most of all, I searched for something that would not involve stripping my robe off, shaking me out of my sugar delirium.  I found one, small Persian lime, and some leftover desiccated coconut.  I came up with this:

Pink, fuzzy deliciousness!

Coconut Cake with Lime Cream Cheese Frosting.

This little 6" cake- I intended to give a few slices away, but then I intended to greedily eat all that remained.

Well, gradually.  My tummy is aching now from a too big slice.  I wrapped it up and put it in the freezer.

But what I have tried was very delicious going down.  And the icing is pink.  And pink frosting makes everything better.  I say that I "got into trouble" because I cannot resist eating every spare dollop of fluffy pink frosting.  I looked around to be sure that P wasn't watching as I wiped the remaining creaminess clean from the bowl.  I felt like a kid, sneaking Cheetos from the pantry when my parents weren't looking.

Mmm...Cheetos- I mean, frosting...

Coconut Lime Cake

And another...

Lumpy, I know.  

A recipe?  Sure.  Why not?

Coconut Cake (adapted from Joy of Baking)

Enough for 2 6" rounds.

2 eggs, separated (separated when cold, but be sure they are room temp)
1 3/4 c cake flour
2 t baking powder
1/4 t kosher salt
1/3 c desiccated coconut
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar, divided
1 t vanilla
1/2 c coconut milk
1/4 t cream of tartar

Cream butter and 1 1/2 c of sugar for 5 minutes, scraping down the bowl occasionally.  Cream until very light and fluffy.

In the meantime, sift together the flour, soda, and salt.  Stir the coconut into the mixture.  Set aside.

To the butter, add the egg yolks one at a time, and beat until they are fully incorporated.  Stir in the vanilla.

Beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, add the flour mixture, alternating with the milk.  Scrape down after each addition.  Don't get it?  OK.  Here we go...

Add 1/3 of the dry to the butter mixture.  Incorporate, scrape.
Add 1/2 milk.  Incorporate.  Scrape.
Add 1/3 dry.  Incorporate.  Scrape.
Add 1/2 milk.  Incorporate.  Scrape.
Add 1/3 dry.  Incorporate.  Scrape.

OK.  Now, in a separate bowl, add the two egg whites, and beat on high until foamy.  Add your cream of tartar.  Continue beating, gradually adding the rest of the sugar until you have very stiff, shiny peaks.  Add a third of this to the batter, to lighten it.  Then, gently fold the rest of the whites, fully incorporating them into the batter.  Divide and place in two 6" pans, with parchment circles on the bottom.

Place in an oven, preheated to 350.  Bake for @25-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Don't move them around too much if you are not sure they are done, as they will sink in the middle.

Set on a baking rack to cool for 10 minutes.  With a small knife, scrape around the sides of the pan.  Turn out onto the rack, and cool completely.

Lime Cream Cheese Frosting

1 package cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
zest of one lime
juice of one lime
1 t vanilla
3 c powdered sugar, sifted

Beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Add the lime juice, zest, and extract and beat until incorporated.  Add the powdered sugar and stir until all mixed up (soooo tired of the word "incorporated")

Add food color if you desire.

And I did.

There you go.  It feeds 4-5 adults in jeans, or two girls in moo-moos.

Don't judge the crookedness of the dots.  Just stop.  STOP IT, NOW!

Yum.  Have a beautiful day.

Rachel Bee

Oreo Cake: the Recipe

Making this one short and sweet, folks.  Here is how you make an Oreo Cake:

Oreo Cake (it's an Oreo Cake)

One recipe Beatty's Chocolate Cake

One and a half sleeves of Oreos

1/2 stick butter, melted

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Butter the bottom of 2 8" or 9" pans, and place a round of parchment paper in each.

Crush the heck out of some Oreos.  Use a plastic bag, 2 sheets of wax paper, a food processor, a two year old- whatever you have on hand.  Crush them until they are fine crumbs.  Pour into a bowl, along with the melted butter, and stir.  Divide the mixture in two equal parts, placing each part in a prepared pan.  Using a spatula, spread and pack down the crumbs.  If you find that there is some negative space, that is OK, or you could mash up some more cookies, melt some more butter- you get the picture.

Make your cake batter, and divide equally between the two pans.  Yep, pour it right on top of those cookie crumbs.  Bake for nearly 30 minutes, until done in the middle.  Put pans on a cooling rack.

Now, after 10 minutes have passed (or so), take a knife and scrape along the inside of the pans, separating any cake that is stuck to the sides.  Really get down there.  I mean, really.  Go around three or four times.

Brace yourself.  Take a pan, place your hand over the cake, tip it over (so the cake is in your hand), and quickly flip back over, as gently as possible so that the crumbs don't explode all over your counter.  Your hand will get covered in sticky cake goo, but that's OK.  You will cover it in frosting.  The cake.  Not your hand...

Understanding that your cakes are still in one(ish) piece, let cool completely.  Cover in plastic wrap, and stick in the freezer (overnight, if possible).

The next day, make your chocolate frosting.  You can find the recipe here. 
When your frosting is thick enough, go ahead and make your filling.

Oreo Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick unsalted butter (softened)
2/3 package cream cheese (softened)
8 oz. powdered sugar, sifted
1 t vanilla
1/4 c +2 tbsp. crushed Oreos

Cream the butter and cheese together, and then scrape down the sides.  Add powdered sugar and mix, just until incorporated.  Stir in vanilla, and then fold in the crumbs.  If your mixture seems too thin, put in the freezer for ten minutes.

Pull your cakes out, and unwrap one.  If necessary, take out a serrated knife and saw down any weird or bumpy edges of the cake.  Be prepared, you may curse.  That cookie crust can be a... well, anyway.

Spread a thick layer of the cream cheese frosting onto the middle of the cake, reserving some for decorating later.  Leave about a 1" space around the edges of the cake, as when you are frosting the outside, you don't want a big smear of white frosting in the center of the cake.

Think about it.  It does make sense.

Take the chocolate frosting and fill in that space around the edges, making it one flat and smooth layer of frosting all the way across.

Unwrap your second cake, and on a flat surface, cut down the bumps and level the top- when you are satisfied, place it on the first layer.  Normally I would shave them both off together for a completely uniform look, but that cookie crust... curses!

Start the frosting process, keeping a cup of hot water beside you.  I cannot tell you how much a metal offset spatula has changed my life here.  Get one.

When you are finished, decorate as desired.  Make it as gaudy as possible.  We all love Oreos.

Have a beautiful day.

Rachel Bee