Banana and Nut Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream

I just got a new book (ok, again and again, but I just can't stop buying haha),Martha Stewart's Cupcakes: 175 Inspired Ideas for Everyone's Favorite Treat . Well, most of you might have it on your shelf too, I think ^ ^.

Actually the recipes in the book is not new, most of them can be found in Martha Stewart's website but when print in a book it's easy to search for the one that you want or take a look for the inspiration.
The book is full of pictures and that is better than print them out by ourselves haha ! As you know the recipes are trustworthy (will if you're not sure about the recipes, you can try them by choose some of them from the website).

This time I choose the banana and nut cupcakes with caramel buttercream, as a sample. The reason is easy, I love banana cake and my sister is crazy for everything caramel, so when two of them are together, it must be yummy!
I make a little change in the recipe (due to the fact that I have whipping cream in my fridge and I think it will make the cupcake softer), I use a mix of milk, cider vinegar and cream instead of the buttermilk.
And for the buttercream, I add a bit of salt to balance the sweetness of the buttercream.
I make a full batch of buttercream, but make only 2/3 batch of the cupcake. Because I need a lot of bettercream for decorate the cupcake this way (well, I use almost all of the buttercream, only 1/2 cup of it left but it's delicious and you can use it on other cake.)
This cake is best eating at room temperature, because refrigerate it harden both the buttercream and the cake.

Banana and Nut Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream
Makes 18 standard muffin pans

Cupcake
200g sifted cake flour (not self-rising)
1 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
120g unsalted butter, softened
200g light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 1/2 very ripe large bananas, mashed
60ml milk
60ml whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup chopped nuts

Caramel buttercream
200g + 2 tablespoons sugar
50ml water
50ml whipping cream
1teaspoon cider vinegar
340g unsalted butter, softened
4 large egg whites, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Beat together the banana, vanilla extract, milk, whipping cream and cider vinegar.

Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition.

Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture to butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with banana mixture and ending with dry.

Scrape sides of bowl, stir pecans into batter Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.

Bake cupcakes until testers inserted into centers come out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks.

1. Bring 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar and the water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Wash sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to prevent sugar crystals from forming. Cook, undisturbed, until caramel is dark amber. Remove from heat, and slowly add cream, stirring with a wooden spoon until smooth. Let cool.
2. Beat butter with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl.

1. Place whites and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a heatproof mixer bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Whisk until sugar dissolves and mixture registers 160 degrees on a candy thermometer.
2. Remove from heat, and attach bowl to a mixer. Whisk on medium speed for 5 minutes. Increase speed to medium-high, and whisk until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 6 minutes. Reduce speed to medium, and add beaten butter, cup at a time, whisking well after each addition. Whisk in vanilla and salt.
3. Switch to paddle attachment. With mixer on low speed, add caramel, and beat until smooth, 3 to 5 minutes. Use immediately, or cover, and refrigerate for up to 3 days. (Bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth before using.)

Banana and Nut Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream

Tortano: Italian Bread with Ham, Cheese and Olive Filling!

Ham and cheese again ^ ^, couldn't help if I have a lot of this combination in my blog haha! Because they are so good together, right?

This time, the dough is the Italian bread that uses durum flour which gives the bread a golden color and good crumb. The filling is the combination of ham, mozzarella cheese, olive and basil (actually, I think there could be a lot of possibility, sauté onion can be great too, or fill it up with whatever your heart decide ^ ^. But beware of the saltiness of the filling, as the dough is a bit salty, or you can reduce the salt from 1 tbsp to 2 tsp, and your bread will be rising a bit faster than the giving time.)

If you don't have the durum flour, you can use all bread flour, but the texture of the bread will be more like foccacia.

Anyway, this bread is really great esp. when you going to a picnic, because the dough cover all the filling inside, just slice it when you ready to eat, and enjoy the freshness and deliciousness of this bread.

Adaptation from: A Piece of Cake by Leila Lindholm,

Tortano: Italian Bread with Ham, Cheese and Olive Filling
Makes 1 loaf

7g	Instant yeast
300 ml (1/2 pint)	Tepid water
2 tablespoons	Olive oil
1 tablespoon	Honey
1 tablespoon	Flaked salt
150 g (5 oz)	Durum wheat flour
270 g (9 1/2 oz)	Bread flour
FILLING
200 g (7 oz)	Mozzarella cheese
200 g (7 oz)	Ham
	1 handful of pitted olives
	1 bunch of fresh basil

Put the bread flour, durum flour and yeast in a bowl, whisk to combine, add and salt whisk again. Pour the liquids mixture into the bowl.

Use large spoon (or pastry scraper) to mix everything together, and knead briefly to bring all the ingredients together.
Take the dough out of the bowl and knead.

Knead by using the heel of your hands to compress and push the dough away from you, then fold it back over itself (see the picture here). Give the dough a little turn and repeat. Put the weight of your body into the motion and get into a rhythm. Keep folding over and compressing the dough.

Knead for 10-15 minutes or until the dough is soft, pliable, smooth and slightly shiny, almost satiny, the dough will stop sticking to your hand but it will be a bit blister from the grain of the durum flour.

Cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave the dough to prove for about 30 minutes.

Press the dough into a rectangle about 1 cm (1/2 in) thick. Don’t roll it as then the air trapped in the dough wilt be squeezed out.

Place the mozzarella cheese and put in layers with the hams, olives and basil on top of the dough.
Brush the edges with water and roll up the dough as you would a Swiss roll. Shape it into a circle.

Preheat the oven to 250°C/500°F/9as 10.

Put the loaf onto a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper, and leave to prove under a tea towel for about 30 minutes.

Put the bread in the oven, then reduce the temperature to 200°C/400°F/gas 6 and bake for 20—25 minutes or until golden brown.

Tortano: Italian Bread with Ham, Cheese and Olive Filling!

June 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge #31: Bakewell Tart…er…pudding

The time has come for the challenge of the month from the daring bakers. This month is a Bakewell tart, one of the tart that I really want to try but it seen like I have too many things which I want to do on my list haha!.
So, I take this challenge as an opportunity to make this tart, and I'm really glad that it comes out very very good (Thank you Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar, this month is one of the best for me).

The tart contains three parts of the work, first the tart dough, the sweeten shortcrust pasty, the second is the jam (and I'm happy to say that I make the jam myself, ^ ^, which it's a good decision, because if I use the commercial one, this tart will be too sweet for me: I use Home made low sugar strawberry jam).

The last part is the Frangipane, the sweeten almond and butter mixture, easy to make and delicious, it can be use in other recipe too, (I think about the tart with Frangipane and fruit, it would be very good too).
You can make this tart with ease but if using commercial jam, I suggest choose the low sugar one or use only half of the giving amount. The pastry can be prepared ahead of time and assemble when you ready to make.
Serve this tart arm with a lot of sweeten whipped cream, and you will love this tart as I do!

Note by dailydelicious: If your tart pan is not deep, I suggest using the 10 inch instead, I use 10 inch tart pan for this time.

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

Bakewell Tart …er…pudding
Makes 9 inch tart

Sweet shortcrust pastry

Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)
Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film

225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Frangipane

Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Equipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again.

With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.

Assembling the tart

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, (my tip by dailydelicious: Using piping bag will make this task very easy, and your frangipane will be evenly spread), spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.

Note by dailydelicious: My tart become brown on the top very quickly, about 18-20 minutes after putting it in the oven, so I suggest you watch your tart carefully, cover with foil if the the top is starting become brown.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

June 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge #31:
Bakewell Tart…er…pudding

Chocolate Ganache Muffin with Chocolate Ganache: Double chocolate double delicious!

Chocolate and chocolate, well, I never have enough chocolate in my life ^ ^. This time, for the best morning, why don't we serve something warm and indulgence, like this chocolate muffin with the ganache.
Even the look seen like you need to do a lot of work to create this muffin, the truth is it's very easy to prepare.
The ganache that use for the muffin can be prepared ahead and while baking the muffin, you just make another batch of the ganahe. The power of the muffin and the ganache depend on the type of the chocolate that you use. This time, I use only 55% cocoa mass type, which make the muffin a bit light (well, accept the truth, not everyone love deep dark chocolate >*<), but you can use 70% type if you like. I find the muffin is soft and this is a bit like cupcake than muffin (you can see from how it's prepared, the method is the same as butter cake). If eating the muffin alone, the taste will be like a light chocolate cake but when you have a ganache on top, the taste is more intense and very very good. Serve this muffin while still warm and the ganche still gooey (and a bit sticky haha), and your morning will be one of the best morning of the year! Adaptation from:偉人が愛したスイーツ―クリムとドリムの冒険 吉田菊次郎先生のお菓子レシピ

Chocolate Ganache Muffin with Chocolate Ganache
Makes 8 (6cm muffin)

Ganache for use in muffin
65 ml	Whipping cream
35g	Dark chocolate (chopped)
Muffin
100g	Unsalted butter
70g	Sugar
1½	Eggs
1g	Salt
½ tsp	Vanilla extract
210g	Cake flour
5g	Baking powder
70ml	Milk
40g	Chocolate chips
100g	Ganache
Ganache for topping
50ml	Whipping cream
50g	Dark chocolate (chopped)

First make the ganache for the muffin:

Bring the cream to boil then take out of the heat, pour the chocolate into the pan.
Stir slowly until all the chocolate melt and the ganache is smooth.
Pour the ganche into small bowl and let it cool completely.

Make the muffin:

Preheat the oven to180°C
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Cream the butter and sugar , until the mixture is smooth and light in color.
Add the egg in 2 additions, mixing until fully incorporated after each addition and scarp down the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla.

Add the sifted dry ingredients alternately with the milk in 3 additions, until just incorporated.
Pour the ganache and chocolate chips into the batter, mix until just combine (there will be a little marble effect).
Pour the batter into the paper cases.
Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the muffin spring back when lightly touched and a skewer inserted near the center come out clean.

While baking the muffin make the ganache:

Bring the cream to boil then take out of the heat, pour the chocolate into the pan.
Stir slowly until all the chocolate melt and the ganache is smooth.

While the muffin just come out of the oven, poke the top of the muffin with the stick.
Pour the hot ganache over the muffin, serve warm with more ganache if you want.

Chocolate Ganache Muffin with Chocolate Ganache:
Double chocolate double delicious!