I love pie pumpkins. They're just so cute and bright and they always feel special because they're so seasonal. You can get butternut squash all year round, but pie pumpkins are only available for a fairly narrow window in the fall.

The fact that they'll only be around for a limited time makes me really want to make the most of pumpkin season and get a bunch and cook lots of delicious pumpkin things. But I haven't been very good at it the last couple of years. And the only thing worse than missing your chance to get a pie pumpkin during pumpkin season is getting one and letting it go to waste because you couldn't get your act together enough to do anything with it.

I was reluctantly intending to abstain for getting any pumpkins this year because I didn't trust myself to use them up before they went bad. I've been having a lot of trouble staying on top of food and meal planning this year. But then I dropped the ball on one of the produce baskets and we ended up with a pie pumpkin anyway. I've spent the last few weeks alternately forgetting it existed and trying to figure out what to do with it. Pie is, of course, always an option, but I kind of wanted to try something different. And, after flipping through a few different recipes, I settled on this cayenne-pumpkin cupcake recipe.

I wasn't sure what the Kidlet would think of the cayenne in these cupcakes, so I dialed it way back. Having tasted the cupcakes, TF thinks I probably should've put the full amount in after all. With 1/2 tsp. of cayenne, I find it makes a gentle but noticeable impression. TF and the Kidlet both say they can barely taste it. I've called for 3/4 tsp. of cayenne in the recipe below, but feel free to use a bit more or a bit less according to your tastes. (The original recipe called for 1 1/4 tsp.)

Cayenne-Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

Slightly adapted from C&C Cakery

Ingredients

Cupcakes

• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 3/4 tsp. ground cayenne
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. allspice berries, ground
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 c. yogurt
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 c. mashed roasted pumpkin

Icing

• 250g cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 c. icing (powdered/confectioners') sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon

Directions

Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a muffin tin (or line with papers).
2. Sift baking powder and baking soda into flour.
3. Add salt, cinnamon, ginger, cayenne, nutmeg, allspice, and pepper and stir to combine.
4. In a separate bowl, cream butter with the sugar and mix until light and fluffy.
5. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
6. Add half the flour mixture and stir until mostly combined.
7. Stir in the yogurt and the vanilla.
8. Add the remaining flour mixture and stir until almost combined.
9. Add the pumpkin and mix until just combined.
10. Spoon into prepared muffin wells. (I had more batter than would comfortably fit into twelve 5-cm wells.)
11. Bake at 180°C (350°F) until toothpic/skewer poked into centre comes out clean (~20 minutes or a bit more if you overfilled your pans like me).
Let cool in pan for 5 minutes then turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.

Icing

1. Beat cream cheese with butter until mixed well.
2. Beat in the vanilla.
3. Mix the cinnamon with 1/2 c. of the flour and add it to the cream cheese mixture.
4. Continue adding icing sugar to the cream cheese mixture, half a cup at a time until it's all been incorporated.
5. Once the cupcakes are completely cool, spoon a big dollop of frosting on top of each one.

The Kidlet and I wanted to try this funfetti cupcake recipe. I already have a good one, but I wanted to give this one a go and see how it compared. Overall, I think I like the America's Test Kitchen recipe better, but this one is still nice. The cupcakes rise fairly well, and they're tender. They are very sweet. So sweet that the Kidlet and I decided that we didn't want to ice them after all. That said, flavour is nice and they do work quite well as an uniced cupcake.

In future I'll probably go back to the ATK recipe for my future confetti cupcake needs, but I'm glad I gave this one a try.

Funfetti Cupcakes

slightly adapted from C&C Cakery via the Something Awful Forums

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• 1 c. sugar
• 3 large egg whites
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. almond extract
• 1/4 c. milk
• 2 Tbsp. plain yogurt
• 1/4 c. sprinkles

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a miffin tin with cupcake liners/papers.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Beat in egg whites one at a time.
5. Beat in vanilla and almond extracts.
6. In a small measuring cup, whisk together milk and yogurt.
7. Add half of the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and stir to combine.
8. Pour in the milk mixture and stir to combine.
9. Stir in the remaining flour mixture along with the sprinkles.
10. Spoon into cupcake liners. Do not overfill. This recipe should just make 12 cupcakes. It may look like the wells are underfulled, but they should rise fairly well during baking.
11. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for ~20 minutes.
12. Remove from oven and transfer to wire rack to cool.
13. Once completely cooled, ice if desired. The original recipe recommends a Swiss meringue buttercream, but I would be inclined to try a French buttercream to help use up the excess egg yolks.
14. Garnish with additional sprinkles.

I have not tried this recipe yet. I'm posting it because it's a component in another recipe I recently made. I ended up using a different type of icing for the cupcakes, but I still wanted to record the canonical icing for anyone else who wants to make them or in case I want to try these again and feel like making the "proper" icing for them next time around.

Cashew-Cream Cheese Icing

From C&C Cakery

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. raw cashews, toasted
• 1-2 Tbsp. peanut oil
• 1/4 c. salted butter, softened
• 125g cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2-2 c. icing (powdered/confectioners') sugar

Directions

1. Chop cashews in a food processor.
2. Drizzle in oil a little at a time until mixture reaches chunky peanut butter consistency.
3. Whip butter and cream cheese together.
4. Beat in cashew butter.
5. Mix in icing sugar 1/2 c. at a time until icing reaches desired consistency.

These cupcakes have a lot of moving parts. Here's how it works if you're making them to spec: first you have the cupcake (with homemade halwa incorporated into the batter), then you have the cashew-cream cheese icing, then you have the homemade pistachio kulfi, then you have even more icing, and finally the cashew-lime cookie with a lime glaze and sugar-coated fennel seeds for sprinkles. Definitely not an every day affair! But they are really good.

I'll admit, I did cheat a bit when making mine. I didn't want to wait for the kulfi to freeze overnight, so I just bought some ready-made kulfi and used that. I also used some leftover vanilla French buttercream I had in the fridge rather than making a fresh batch of cashew icing for this recipe. I'm sure the cashew icing would've been amazing, but the French buttercream got the job done, made my life easier, and used up some stuff out of the fridge that needed used.

I was worried that there'd be too much going on in these cupcakes and they'd end up being more "sensory overload" than delicious, but the combo actually works really well. I do think the cupcake itself gets overshadowed a bit, but the icing-kulfi-cookie combination is amazing! Definitely a more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts situation. That said, the cookies are also excellent on their own. And I think the cupcakes would be great with just the cashew icing if you didn't feel like making the kulfi and the cookies to go on top. I think a lightly iced cupcake without the other components would also allow the cupcake itself to shine a little more. It was fun to try something so ridiculously over-the-top though!

NB: If you're using pre-ground cardamom, double all the amounts called for in the recipe. Freshly ground tends to have a much more potent kick, so I dailed it way back.

Halwa Cupcakes

Adapted from C&C Cakery

Ingredients

Halwa

• 1 1/2 Tbsp. ghee
• 225g carrots, finely grated
• 1/4 c. water
• 1/2 c. whole (3.25%) milk or light (5%) cream
• 3/4 tsp. cardamom seeds (from green pods), ground
• 1/4 c. sugar

Cupcakes

• 195g flour¹
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 tsp. cardamom seeds (from green pods), ground
• 2 medium eggs or 1 large egg + 1 egg white
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. oil
• 1/4 c. milk
• 1/2 c. raw cashews, toasted and chopped

Assembly

• ~3 c. Cashew-Cream Cheese Icing or buttercream icing of your choice
• 3/4 c. Pistachio Kulfi (homemade or store-bought)
• 12 Cashew-Lime Cookies

Directions

Halwa

1. Melt ghee over medium heat.
2. Add grated carrot, cover, and cook for 3 minutes.
3. Add water and cook, covered, for another 3 minutes.
4. Uncover and cook for a minute or two to cook off excess moisture.
5. Add milk and cardamom, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and cook, covered, for 15 minutes.
6. Stir in sugar and cook, uncovered, for another 5 minutes.
7. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
2. Sift baking powder and baking soda into flour and mix.
3. Stir in salt and cardamom.
4. Stir eggs, vanilla, sugar, oil and milk into cooled halwa and mix well.
5. Add dry ingredients to halwa mixture and stir until just combined.
6. Spoon batter into lined muffin wells. (This made a dozen 5cm diameter cupcakes for me, but I filled the wells nearly to the top.)
7. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 20-25 minutes. (Mine took 20.)
8. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Assembly

1. Once cupcakes have cooled, spread a little icing on each one. Use a piping bag if you want it to look fancy.
2. Add about a Tbsp. of kulfi on top of the icing. If the kulfi seems to be getting too soft or melt-y, pop the cupcakes in the freezer for a few minutes before continuing.
3. Spread (or pipe) a little more icing on top of the kulfi.
4. Place a cookie on top.
5. Only assemble as many cupcakes as you plan to eat right away and serve immediately!

---

¹ The original recipe called for "1 1/2 c. flour". I used all-purpose since I know the author is Canadian and the default flour type here is all-purpose. Given the nature of the recipe, though, I think soft/cake/plain/standard flour would work very well. My all-purpose flour comes in at ~130g per cup, so 1 1/2 c. comes out at right around 195g. Feel free to use whatever type of flour you prefer. ^Back

These cookies were actually originally posted as part of a cupcake recipe. They're meant to be a garnish on top of the cupcake. And I can now confirm that they are delicious served that way. However, they are also wonderful on their own. And posting them as a separate recipe makes the cupcake recipe a little more manageable.

Cashew-Lime Cookies

Slightly adapted from C&C Cakery

Ingredients

Cookies

• 1/4 c. raw cashews, toasted
• 1 c. all-purpose flour
• 3/8 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 tsp. lime zest¹
• 1/2 tsp. cardamom seeds (from green pods), ground
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne powder
• 1/4 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp. lime juice
• 1 small or medium egg

Glaze

• 1 Tbsp. lime juice
• 1/8 tsp. lime zest
• 1/4 c. icing (powdered/confectioners') sugar
• sugar-coated fennel seeds, to garnish (optional)

Directions

Cookies

1. Grind the cashews to a fine powder. It may be helpful to add up to 1/4 c. of the flour while grinding to help absorb some of the oil and prevent the cashews from turning into cashew butter.
2. Combine ground cashews with remaining flour.
3. Sift in baking soda.
4. Add salt, lime zest, cardamom, and cayenne and mix well.
5. In a separate bowl, cream the sugar with the butter until light and fluffy.
6. Beat in lime juice.
7. Beat in the egg.
8. Add the dry ingredients and stir until fully incorporated.
9. Shape dough into a log ~3cm in diameter, wrap, and place in the freezer for 30 minutes.
10. Slice dough into 1cm thick discs and place on a parchment-lined baking tray.
11. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 10-13 minutes.
12. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Glaze

1. Combine lime juice, lime zest, and icing sugar in a bowl and mix well.
2. Dip cooled cookies in the glaze and top with fennel seeds.

---

¹ I would be tempted to double this next time. The cookies were good and the lime glaze helped ot give them a nice citrus-y tang, but I feel like the lime flavour could've stood to have been punched up even more. ^Back

This is one of the many, many cupcake recipes posted in the Something Awful cake thread. PezMaster also posted it on her own blog. I'm glad to finally get the chance to try this one. It came out really well.

The cupcakes were simultaneously dark and rich while also being light and fluffy. If you really like your chocolate (cup)cakes dense and heavy, this might not be the recipe for you. But I really enjoyed the texture. Even if it did confuse my mouth a bit at first. With a chocolate that dark and intense, my mouth was expecting a close, dense texture. The first bite was a little disorienting. But once I got used to the fact that these were light, airy cupcakes that somehow had the rich flavour of a dense chocolate cake, I liked them quite a lot!

The icing was also lovely. This was my first attempt at a Swiss meringue. I've only ever made French meringues before. The cooking process for Swiss meringues has always intimidated me. And my buttercreams have always been American. Again, because I've never been confident in my ability to make any of the more involved buttercreams. I tend to go with very simple icings, when I bother to ice my cakes at all: glacé, royal, American buttercream, or a simple glaze. I was really pleased with how this one came out. And the Swiss meringue wasn't as tricky as I'd feared. My one complaint with this recipe is that the author recommended a bit of orange juice as an optional extra. As soon as I added the orange juice, the mixture instantly seized and curdled and no amount of warming, chilling, or beating could salvage it. I had to start over again from scratch. And when I started over, I also doubled the recipe. There's no way that the original amount would've been enough to decorate all the cupcakes!

And my last comment on this recipe is that I was in a bit of a flap and totally forgot to add the semisweet chocolate that was supposed to get sprinkled over the cupcakes just before they went in the oven. I'm sure they would've been even richer and more chocolate-y with it, but they were beautiful and delicious without it. So, use it if you have it, but don't worry about it if you don't. You'll get lovely cupcakes either way.

Chocolate-Coconut Cupcakes with Orange Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Slightly adapted from C&C Cakery

Ingredients

Cupcakes

• 1/2 c. cocoa powder, preferably Dutched
• 1/2 c. boiling water
• 1 3/4 c. soft (cake/plain/standard) flour
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 c. coconut milk¹
• 1/2 Tbsp. vanilla extract
• 3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 3/4 c. sugar, divided
• 3 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
• 3/4 c. shredded coconut²
• 85g (3 oz.) semisweet chocolate, chopped (optional)

Icing

• 4 large egg whites
• 1 c. sugar
• 3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 tsp. orange oil³
• zest of 2 oranges

Garnishes

These are optional. I left a few cupcakes plain and then tried out different toppings on the rest.

• chocolate sprinkles
• chocolate shavings
• shredded coconut (toast it if you feel like being extra fancy)
• giant orange "sprinkles" (the bottle says sprinkles, but they're the size of small blueberries!)
• chocolate fudge sprinkle mix
• candied orange slices

Directions

Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
2. Combine cocoa with boiling water and set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
4. In a measuring cup, combine coconut milk and vanilla. Set aside.
5. In a large bowl, beat butter, brown sugar, and 1/2 c. of the granulated sugar until light and fluffy.
6. Add egg yolks to butter mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition.
7. Add cooled cocoa mixture and beat until well-combined.
8. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture followed by 1/2 of the coconut milk mixture. Repeat this, ending with the final 1/3 of the flour mixture. Set aside.
9. Clean and dry your beaters very well.
10. In a clean bowl, beat egg whites until frothy.
11. Add remaining 1/4 c. sugar, 1 Tbsp. at a time, until whites hold firm peaks. (You should be able to hold the bowl upside down without it dripping or sliding around.)
12. Mix about 1/3 of the meringue into the batter to loosen it. (You don't need to worry about knocking the air out at this point.)
13. Gently fold in the remaining meringue being careful to mix it in thoroughly while deflating it as little as possible. Toward the end of the folding process, sprinkle in the shredded coconut.
14. Spoon batter into lined cupcake tin(s). (This made two dozen 2" cupcakes for me.)
15. Optional: Sprinkle with chopped semisweet chocolate.
16. Bake at 350°F (180°C) for ~20 minutes.
17. Remove to wire rack to cool.

Icing

1. Combine egg whites and sugar in a large heatproof bowl.
2. Place bowl over a pot of boiling water and whisk egg whites until sugar is completely dissolved and egg whites have gone from clear to white.
3. Remove from heat and beat until stiff glossy peaks form.
4. If meringue is still hot, allow to cool to about body temperature before continuing.
5. Beat in softened butter, a little at a time.
6. Beat in the orange zest and oil.

Assembly

1. Once cupcakes are completely cool, pipe on the icing and decorate with garnish(es) of your choice.

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¹ The recipe specifically calls for full-fat coconut milk, but I only had "lite" coconut milk in the pantry so I just used that. I was very happy with my results. I wouldn't hesitate to use lite/light/low-fat coconut milk for this recipe in the future. ^Back
2 The recipe doesn't specify whether the coconut should be sweetened or unsweetened. I only keep unsweetened coconut on hand as a general rule, so I just used that. If you're going to use sweetened coconut, it might be wise to cut back on the sugar a little. I found the sweetness just right with the unsweetened coconut. Also, if you want the coconut to have a bit more presence, use a medium or large/coarse shred. I used fine which pretty much just disappeared into the batter. You could still taste it, but you couldn't see it or feel it. For some, that might be a selling point. For others, it might be a detraction. Adjust accordingly. ^Back
3 The original recipe calls for 2 Tbsp. orange concentrate. (Well, 1 Tbsp. actually, but for half as much icing as I made. So, scaled up, it would be 2 Tbsp.) I have no idea what that means. Perhaps orange juice concentrate? I'd be wary of putting that in though, considering how my experiments with adding orange juice went. Perhaps orange extract? I couldn't find that. The best I could do was orange oil. But that came in tiny little one dram bottles, so I assumed it was quite a bit more potent than orange extract. Zest from two oranges + 1/2 tsp. of orange oil seems to have done the job nicely. If you have some orange extract on hand, try putting in a teaspoon or two and see how it tastes. If you feel like experimenting with orange juice concentrate, go ahead, but be aware that your icing might curdle. ^Back

Chocolate-Rooibos Cupcakes (from Something Awful)

I loved the Something Awful cake thread when it was active. There were so many great recipes and beautiful cake decorating projects shared there. It's a shame that it kind of fizzled, but it had a good run.

I've been craving baked goods lately, so I decided to look to the cake thread for inspiration. Sadly, this recipe didn't turn out quite as well as I'd hoped, but it has given me inspiration for future baking adventures, so... stay tuned!

Chocolate-Rooibos Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream

Adapted slightly from C&C Cakery (via Something Awful)

2 Tbsp. rooibos tea (I used rooibos chai)

1 c. boiling water

1 2/3 c. all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. cocoa powder

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 c. canola oil

4 eggs, separated

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

pinch cream of tartar

0. Place egg whites in a large bowl and place in fridge until needed.

1. Pour boiling water over tea and set aside to steep for ~15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, combine cocoa powder, vanilla, and oil.

4. When the tea is done steeping, strain it (or remove the bags).

5. In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugars together.

6. Pour the cocoa mixture into the sugar and mix until blended.

7. Pour the tea in, a bit at a time, and mix until blended.

8. Gradually add the flour.

9. WASH YOUR BEATERS.

10. Get the egg whites out of the fridge and add a pinch of cream of tartar.

11. Whip until they form soft peaks. (I think mine were closer to stiff peak stage. Seems to have worked out okay though.)

12. Scoop about 1/4 of the whipped egg whites into the batter and stir them in well to loosen the batter.

13. Add the rest of the egg whites and very gently fold them in.

14. Pour ~1/3 c. batter into cupcake liners (in a muffin tin) and bake at 350F for 16-18 minutes.

15. Allow to cool completely before icing.

Caramel Buttercream

6 Tbsp. heavy cream

1 tsp. rooibos tea

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

6 Tbsp. sugar

3 Tbsp. water

3/4 c. unsalted butter, room temperature

2 1/2 c. icing sugar

1. Warm cream in the microwave (20-30 seconds).

2. Stir in tea leaves and set aside to steep for 15 minutes or so.

3. When tea is done steeping, strain and stir in vanilla.

4. Combine sugar and water in a small pot or pan and cook over medium heat until mixture just begins to brown.

5. Remove from heat and pour in cream while whisking.

6. Cream butter. Sift in icing sugar while continuing to beat.

7. Pour in caramel and mix until blended.

The actual cake part of these cupcakes was fine. They had a nice texture. Were light, but chocolate-y. And the rooibos did come through a bit. The icing, on the other hand, was a disaster. First of all, the original recipe calls for 1 1/2 CUPS of butter! Seeing as I didn't want to use up 3/4 of a pound of butter in one go, I decided to just do a half batch of icing and deal with maybe not having enough for all the cupcakes. All I can say is it's a good thing I decided to start with a half batch!

I can only assume that the recipe author had a brain fart and actually meant 1 1/2 STICKS of butter. I did up a half batch of the icing according to the recipe and it just tasted like butter. After adding the full amount of icing sugar, it was actually starting to taste like icing, if somewhat bland. So I figured that it must've been a typo and made up another batch of caramel to add to it as well. Since the first bit of caramel didn't really seem to have much presence in the icing, I decided to do the second batch with brown sugar to boost the flavour a little bit.

It still just tasted like vanilla icing.

So, now I had twice as much icing as I'd originally intended to make and, while it was inoffensive, it didn't really seem to have much going on. It was very sweet and very bland.

What I probably should've done at this point was make up another small batch of caramel to mix in. But I was tired and frustrated and I had a little bit of condensed milk sitting in the fridge. So, I decided to try making dulce de leche. And then, because I wanted to make sure that the icing actually tasted of something this time, I added an extra Tbsp. of brown sugar to the milk while it cooked. And then, in my quest to get it just a bit darker and just a bit more flavourful... I went a bit too far and ended up cooking the milk right down to a sort of stiff, extremely chewy caramel candy. Which, needless to say, did not mix into the buttercream terribly well.

At that point, I gave up on the idea of trying to get this icing to take on any sort of flavour and just decided to roll with sugary, slightly vanilla-scented frosting with chunks of chewy caramel embedded in it. Not ideal, but I wasn't really willing to keep fiddling with it.

Honestly, I think what I'd like to do is redesign the whole recipe from the ground up. I think the chocolate-rooibos-caramel flavour combo has potential, but none of them really got to shine here. So, here's what I'm thinking for round two:

Rooibos Velvet Cake with Dulce de Leche and Butterscotch Frosting

Adapted from a red velvet cake recipe in the Something Awful cake thread

1 1/4 c. buttermilk

2 Tbsp. rooibos

1 c. butter, room temperature

1 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vinegar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

3 Tbsp. cocoa powder

1/8 tsp. salt

1. In a small saucepan, gently warm the buttermilk.

2. Add the tea, set aside, and allow to steep.

3. In a separate bowl, cream the butter with the sugars until light and fluffy.

4. Beat in the egg.

5. Strain buttermilk and add to batter.

6. Stir in vinegar and vanilla.

7. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cocoa, and salt.

8. Stir dry ingredients into batter until just mixed.

9. Pour into two greased and floured 9" pans and bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes.

10. Let cool completely.

Butterscotch Frosting

1/2 c. brown sugar

2 large egg white

1/2 tsp. salt

12 Tbsp. butter

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Combine sugar, egg white, and salt in a heatproof bowl.

2. Heat mixture over simmering water, whisking constantly, for 2-3 minutes (until it reaches 150F).

3. Remove from heat and beat on medium speed for 1-2 minutes.

4. Add butter, one Tbsp. at a time, and beat until smooth.

5. Mix in vanilla.

6. Increase speed to medium high and beat until light and fluffy.

Assembly

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 layers cake

1 recipe butterscotch frosting

1. Pour the condensed milk into a baking dish and bake until darkened.

2. Place first layer upside down on plate.

3. Spread with dulce de leche.

3a. Optionally, spread a bit of frosting over the dulce de leche.

4. Place second layer (right way up) on top of dulce de leche filling.

5. Frost top and sides of cake.

Obviously I haven't tried out the above recipe yet, so I can't vouch for it. I just thought it might be interesting to replace the food colouring in a red velvet recipe with rooibos and see how it goes. Red velvet cakes already have the slightly chocolate-y thing going on. And I'm not a big fan of all the red food colouring anyway. So I figured this might be an interesting way to play with the chocolate-rooibos combo.

Meanwhile, the suggested butterscotch frosting for this particular red velvet cake sounds somewhat more promising than the caramel buttercream given above. It's got the same amount of butter, but much less sugar. And what sugar there is is brown. And the presence of the egg whites should hopefully give it some body without relying on either icing sugar or yet more butter. *fingers crossed!*

Hopefully I'll be able to take this particular combo for a test run soon and see how my theory pans out. I'll try to do another write-up for it and share the results when I do.

Dothraki Blood Pie

I'm a big fan of black pudding. And white pudding. And pretty much anything you'd find in a full Irish breakfast. But especially black pudding. I'm also generally a fan of pistachios, leeks, and chèvre. So, when I saw a Game of Thrones-inspired pie that involved all of these things, I was intrigued.

Dothraki Blood Pie
Adapted from C&C Cakery
1/2 c. pistachios, ground
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. chickpea flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. cold butter, cut into cubes
1 egg
1/4 c. cold water
2 leeks, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. dried rosemary
1/4 tsp. black pepper
2 large eggs
2/3 c. heavy cream
140g chèvre
225g black pudding, chopped

1. Combine pistachios, whole wheat flour, chickpea four, and 1/4 tsp. salt. Cut in cold butter until mixture has a uniform, crumbly texture.
2. Stir in egg. Add cold water 1 Tbsp. at a time until dough comes together into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, sauté the leeks and garlic in the remaining 2 Tbsp. of butter. Add thyme, rosemary, and pepper.
4. Once the dough has chilled, unwrap and roll out to ~1/4" thickness and line a pie plate (or in my case a square cake pan) with it. Prick the bottom with a fork and bake at 350F for 15 minutes.
5. Once the crust is baked, beat eggs until light and fluffy, then gradually add the cream.
6. Add the remaining 1/4 tsp. salt to the egg mixture and crumble in the chèvre.
7. Place the sautéed leeks in the bottom of the pie crust and top with chopped black pudding. Pour egg mixture over this and then bake at 350F for 30 minutes.

TF really liked this pie (and so did the froglet)! He generally finds black pudding too heavy and intense to eat much of it in a sitting, so he found the blood pie to be a great way to enjoy it. For my part, it was okay... but I felt like it could've used some work.

I was initially intrigued by the unique crust recipe. However, I found the dough to be fairly difficult to handle and I didn't think it actually complemented the filling that well. I actually think that a traditional pie crust, puff pastry, or a whole wheat crust (without the chickpea flour pistachios) would've worked better here.

I also wasn't a huge fan of the layering effect with the leeks and black pudding staying quite separate. If I made this again, I'd actually combine the leeks and pudding (and maybe try mixing in the cheese once the mixture had cooled as well).

I had an extra leek and it was starting to look a little sad, so I decided to throw it in. I liked the extra leek and still felt that there was enough pudding and cheese to go with it; the egg was a little lacking though. I think I'd like to try adding an extra egg next time. I know the egg isn't really meant to be centre stage here, it's just there to hold everything else together and give it some cohesion, but I still think I would've liked a bit more of it.

It's certainly an interesting recipe, and I'm glad that I tried it. That said, I wasn't overly impressed with it. I'll definitely try to tweak it if I make it again. However, unless TF specifically requests it, I doubt I'll be revisiting this one.

Bacon Cupcakes

What can I say? I had to try these. How could I not? It's bacon... in a cupcake!

Maple-Bacon Cupcakes
From C&C Cakery (slightly modified)
8 slices of bacon (maple bacon if possible)
1/4 c. butter, softened
1 Tbsp. bacon fat, solidified
5 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/4 c. high-quality maple syrup
1 large egg
1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 3/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. milk

Maple-Bacon Frosting
1/4 c. butter, softened
1/4 c. bacon fat, solidified
1/4 c. maple syrup
2 c. icing sugar, sifted
turbinado sugar (optional)
coarse sea salt (optional)

1. Cook bacon until very crisp, reserving drippings. Crumble six of the slices and reserve the other two for garnishing the finished cupcakes.
2. Beat the butter with the bacon fat until combined then add the sugar and cream together until light and fluffy.
3. Blend in the maple syrup and the egg.
4. Combine the dry ingredients and add to the wet mix a little at a time, alternating with the milk and ending with a dry addition.
5. Stir in the crumbled bacon.
6. Spoon into cupcake liners and bake at 350F for 18-20 minutes. (C&C says this should make a dozen cupcakes, but I must've made mine slightly larger than she made hers because I only got nine.)
7. Combine butter, bacon fat, and maple syrup and beat until well-blended.
8. Gradually sift in icing sugar and beat until frosting is smooth and delicious.
9. Once cupcakes are cool, decorate with frosting. Sprinkle on a little turbinado sugar and/or sea salt as desired. (My bacon was pretty salty, so I didn't feel the need to add any extra salt.) Top each cupcake with ~1/6 of a slice of bacon. Enjoy your bacon-y dessert!

The maple flavour in these cupcakes is pretty subtle. It's definitely detectable, but bacon is definitely the dominant flavour here. And it works! That said, I think it would be nice with a stronger maple presence as well. I might try using a slightly darker syrup next time and/or replacing 1 Tbsp. of the brown sugar with a Tbsp. of maple syrup to try to pump up the maple-y goodness.

Another interesting option might be to try injecting the cupcakes with a little bit of maple syrup. It would help keep them delicious and moist for longer and definitely increase the maple quotient. I'd just have to make sure not to overdo it and end up with a sickly sweet, sticky mess rather than a delicious confection. Maybe the answer is to leave out a Tbsp. or two of sugar from the batter and then inject each cupcake with 1-2mL of syrup once they come out of the oven... Hmmm... I think this requires additional testing. For science!