my friend and i made these to celebrate/entice his new boyfriend. actually, i mostly made them, he mostly watched and kept me company, as my kitchen is spacious enough for one cook/baker. but, my point is: new boyfriend=big frackin’ deal, so cupcakes were a necessity. these are actually vanilla bean and cinnamon pound cakes with some chocolate frosting for good measure ;)

they were really tasty, but i think that the frosting may have been a bit much…i mean pound cake and frosting…really necessary? apparently so in this case. my friend told me the new bf loved them, “delicious” was the quote. i didn’t ask if he took all the credit, but i hope he did.

vanilla bean poundcakes
adapted from gourmet
i added a little cinnamon b/c i like cinnamon. you don’t have to…or you could rub some zest into the sugar for a citrus version (like the original version!)

2 cups sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, gutted
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 sticks room temperature butter, unsalted
4 large eggs, room temp
1 tablespoon milk

preheat oven to 325 F with rack in the center. either line a cupcake pans with paper liners (about 20) or butter an 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 inch loaf pan.

sift together flour, salt and baking powder.

mix sugar and cinnamon and rub vanilla bean guts into the sugar with your finger tips until fragrant. add sugar mixture and butter to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat at high speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down sides as needed, then beat in milk. at low speed, mix in flour until just combined, or fold in with a spatula. spread batter into pan and rap against counter to eliminate bubbles, or fill muffin cups about 1/2 full. for cupcakes bake for 25-30 minutes or until tester comes out clean. for loaf, bake for 1-1 1/4 hours. allow to cool completely before frosting.

pound cake improves its flavor over time…so these will last a few days if you can help it :)

chocolate sour cream frosting
from sky high
i love this frosting, it is yummy. the book recommends that you use while warm, but i find that difficult, so i let it chill to room temp (at least) before piping.

12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 stick unsalted butter
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 cup room temperature half and half
1/2 cup room temperature sour cream

melt chocolate, butter and corn syrup in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. remove from heat and whisk until smooth.

whisk in half and half and sour cream. use while soft, but not too.

i love strawberries, they are so darn cute i cannot resist them. i have a confession to make though…i don’t like strawberry flavored things or that gross strawberry goop that comes on top of waffles at breakfast places (i like to refer to that as tongue-berry stuff or gudb (ground up dead baby…i know, i know, i am a terrible, not funny person)).

that aside, i love the real deal when it comes to strawberries. my mom loves fruit. she loves it, like could eat her own weight in peaches, strawberries, you name it. she always buys in season, delicious, ripe fruit in large quantities…like by the case or flat. she always guards her fruit stash with great care and shakes her head in shame when anything over ripens and goes to waste. i mean tears practically glisten in her eyes…it’s tragic. luckily, she had my brother and i around to help her gobble it all up. she’s not much of a baker i think she thinks it is too fussy…she’s a cook. but whenever strawberries started to show up on the roadside stands in california, she would always buy a couple flats and we would have strawberry shortcake. now, to my mom, that consists of store bought angel food cake, sliced berrries and whipped cream. i, however, like the biscuit approach. the strawberry juices don’t dominate the cake that way. in any incarnation, i love it. it is springtime-turning-into-summer-time, long evenings and good company.

which makes this perfect for a bbq, which is exactly what it was intended for…had it not snowed on sunday, wind howling and everything, after a whole week of brilliant 65-70 degree weather. typical. it would have been the perfect bbq for the first weekend of spring if the weather had cooporated, but at the very least, dessert was a success.

balsamic strawberry syrup
instead of macerating the berries in sugar, i made a balsamic syrup…since balsamic and berries is one of my favorite combinations. i love, love it.

1 cup strawberries, stemmed, hulled and sliced
3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean

gut the vanilla bean (haha) and add seeds and pot along with other ingredients to a medium saucepan. heat over medium, mashing the berries as they begin to soften. cook until reduced by about a third (more if you want a thicker syrup), strain and cool. toss with fresh berries, i stored the extra in a jar in the refrigerator. i like to use a little in vinegarettes.

brown sugar almond biscuits
adapted from baking:from my home to yours

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar

5 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces

1/2 cup cold sour cream

1/4 cup cold whole milk

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1/3 cup slivered almonds

center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. get out a 2-inch biscuit cutter, and line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda together in a bowl. stir in the brown sugar, making certain there are no lumps. drop in the butter, and using your fingers, toss and coat the pieces of butter with the flour. quickly, working with your fingertips (my favorite method) or a pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly. you’ll have pea sized pieces, pieces the size of oatmeal flakes, and pieces the size of everything in between- and that’s just right.

stir the sour cream and milk and almond extract together and pour over the dry ingredients. grab a fork and gently toss and turn the ingredients together until you’ve got a nice soft dough. now reach into the bowl with your hands and give the dough a quick gently kneading- 3 or 4 turns should be enough to bring everything together. toss in the almonds and knead another 2 or 3 times to incorporate them.

lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough. dust the top of the dough very lightly with flour and pat the dough out with your hands or roll it with a pin until it is about 1/2 inch high. don’t worry if the dough isn’t completely even- a quick light touch is more important that accuracy.

use the biscuit cutter to cut out as many biscuits as you can. try to cut the biscuits close to one another so you get the most out of the first round. by hand, or with a small spatula, transfer the biscuits to a baking sheet. gather together the scraps, working them as little as possible, pat out to a 1/2 inch thickness and cut as many additional biscuits as you can; transfer to baking sheet. (the biscuits can be made at this point and frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight and kept in the freezer for up to 2 months. bake without defrosting, just add a couple more minutes to the oven time.)

bake the biscuits for 14-18 minutes, or until they are tall, puffed and golden brown. transfer them to a serving basket, and serve immediately topped with strawberries and fresh whipped cream.

sean l-o-v-e’s cheesecake, but i always find it such a process to make, i mean it takes days (not really, just hours) to chill and usually i don’t have that kind of time…so i made these cheesecake pots as a substitute and they seemed to suffice just fine, though they were pretty dense…next time i may fold in some whipped egg whites or something (ahem, suggestions…)
i think that lemon and cheesecake are perfect for one another, the tartness of the lemon really balances the richness and creaminess of cheesecake. plus, i am a fiend for lemon curd. i love to just eat a spoonful (albeit guiltily). it is everything i want in a lemon confection…so this lemon cream seemed like a natural, and let me tell you it is wonderful. tart, creamy, buttery and somewhat lighter than lemon curd.

anyway, i don’t really have much to say right now…or maybe i do have too much to say and can’t gather it all…so here are the recipes and for the tuiles, i followed this recipe (vanilla tuiles) i found on tartlette. enjoy!

cheesecake pots
like i said before, these were a bit denser than i had wanted, but delicious all the same. also, i used vanilla sugar…it isn’t necessary, i just had some.

1 bar of cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tbsp. half and half
1/4 cup sugar
zest of one lemon
1 egg

preheat oven to 350 F.

beat cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment with lemon zest until creamy. add sour cream, half and half and sugar. blend well. add the egg and combine, scraping down bowl as needed.

pour mixture into ramekins (i used tea cups…i believe they are 4 oz. each and i used about 5) and bake in a water bath for 30 minutes, until centers only wiggle slightly. cool completely and chill for at least 1 hour before serving.

lemon cream
found in baking: from my home to yours

1 cup sugar
grated zest of 3 lemons
4 large eggs
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (4-5 lemons)
2 sticks plus 5 tbsp butter, cut into pieces at room temp.

makes about 2 1/2 cups

have an instant read thermometer, a strainer, a blender (preffered, but a food processor will work fine). bring a few inches of water to a simmer in a saucepan.

put sugar and zest in a medium-large heatproof bowl that can be set on top of saucepan of water. off the heat, rub zest into the suagr until the sugar is fragrant with lemon. whisk in eggs followed by lemon juice.

set the bowl over the pan of water and whisk constantly. cook until the temperature reaches 180 F being sure to whisk constantly. at first the mixture will be light and foamy, but as it heats more large bubble will appear and as it reaches 180 F, the whisk will leave tracks and the mixture will thicken. do not stop whisking or checking the temperature, be patient it could take as long as 10 minutes depending on how much heat is being given.

as soon as it reaches 180 F, remove from heat and strain into the blender. discard zest. let it cool at room temperature, stirring occaisionally, for about 10 minutes, or 140 F.

once it has cooled down, turn the blender on high and begin adding butter, 5 tbsp at a time, scraping sides as needed. once all of the butter is incorporated keep the machine running for another 3 minutes. this will ensure a light and creamy lemon cream.

pour the cream into a container and press plastic wrap onto the top. chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. stir before serving to loosen up.

these two were destined to become a ginger and vanilla, pear and raspberry, almond and oat crisp and it happened…however all were gobbled up before i could take any photos. dang :)

sean has been working on his car with his dad the last 3 weekends, leaving luxe and i to our own devices…a girl can get a lot done without any distractions…like spring cleaning! awesome…

hope the weekend is lovely wherever you are.

so excited to be guest posting over here. makes me feel super special to be one of a bundle of great bloggers. please check it out and all of the other guest posts. and also take a peak here at all of deb’s lovely goods.

this isn’t really a baking post…but whatev, it’s my blog…just sayin’.

so, yesterday i had to drive to the university to pick up sean from class at 930pm…and it was snowing/raining (sleeting?) which caused me a lot of stress. one thing that i do while driving in stressful situations (besides white-knuckling the steering wheel) is sing super loud (read: off-key) and try to do so as calmly as possible…that means i try not to allow myself the hear the panic in my voice. usually if it is just an icy-wet mess, i can handle this just fine and it actually proves to be a nice stress reducer, especially when the tunes are from our endless numbered days…mmm, swoon… however, when db’s (douche bags…i know, nice language there…) in giant trucks pass me/cut me off, being sure to splash copious amounts of road slush onto my windshield causing me to screech-sing from the shock of momentary-semi-blindness, at speeds that would get them pulled over in dry conditions, my singing becomes a bit more erratic and my knuckles a bit more white…so, i guess my point is this: just because you (not necessarily you, but those that will probably never-ever-ever read this…) own a big giant truck or similar vehicle, does not mean that you should drive like a maniac on the trecherous roads. it’s not safe for you or for me and quite frankly i think that it is stupid. the end.

aaaanyway…i am doing a very special blog post sunday…and these are just a small part of that. i am still working on my macaron making skills-tweaking and combining different recipes/methods. so worth the effort, don’t you think? i’m also trying to work on the photography skillzzzz as well…it seems the class i took in college hasn’t really stuck with me. boo to that.