A couple weekends ago Nick and I went to visit our friends Dana (a loyal reader and commenter on here) and her husband Jake (who I hope will become a loyal reader after this post ;) ) Dana and Jake used to live in Milwaukee, only a short distance from our house. However, now they live in Gurnee, IL - not such a short distance. So, we decided a longer, weekend, visit was in order. What better way to spend part of a weekend than baking?Dana, who doesn't bake too much, was not only up for the challenge of donning her apron and getting dirty, but for writing the blog about it (yay!). So, I will now turn the floor over to her (love her cute apron!)...
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I recently had the pleasure of spending the weekend with a good friend and baking coach! What more could a girl asked for? Too bad Sheri had no idea what she had gotten herself into.
Although I like to bake; my baking skills are lacking. If my baking turns out, it is because I followed a good recipe to the T. So, my goal in having a baking coach around was: learn something new, and something that might help improve my baking from a box skills! (I know baking for a box is not really baking, but sometimes it is necessary.)
I suggested we swap some recipes before the weekend. Before blinking, Sheri flooded my inbox with loads of recipes she had been thinking about. After reviewing the e-mails, I identified what I thought was an ambitious recipe. I could feel the excitement penetrating through my fingers as I responded to the slough of e-mails and thought, “THIS IS THE ONE!” I chose Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes. I knew as soon as I saw it that it was the one I wanted to make; everyone loves caramel (even my husband who dislikes sweets) and yummy, chocolate, and they seemed just right for an indulgent weekend with friends. Let the baking begin…
The recipe can be found here, for those of you who like to follow along: http://ibakecupcakes-sarahlyn.blogspot.com/2010/07/chocolate-salted-caramel-cupcakes-save.html)
Step 1 – Put on your adorable apron. Sheri had asked me if there was anything she needed to bring for the weekend. The only suggestion I had was an “adorable apron”, for which she complied.
Step 2 – Get out ALL ingredients. I like to do this so I am not opening cabinets with sticky fingers, which would add one more thing to the cleanup list.
Step 3 – Start baking!
Sheri and I worked really well as a team – adding the dry ingredients to the KitchenAid® mixing bowl before whisking them up. (I learned that standing mixers are not preferred for those who like to “feel” the mixing (i.e., Sheri). For you “feelers” out there, use a hand mixer.)
Although I like to bake; my baking skills are lacking. If my baking turns out, it is because I followed a good recipe to the T. So, my goal in having a baking coach around was: learn something new, and something that might help improve my baking from a box skills! (I know baking for a box is not really baking, but sometimes it is necessary.)
I suggested we swap some recipes before the weekend. Before blinking, Sheri flooded my inbox with loads of recipes she had been thinking about. After reviewing the e-mails, I identified what I thought was an ambitious recipe. I could feel the excitement penetrating through my fingers as I responded to the slough of e-mails and thought, “THIS IS THE ONE!” I chose Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes. I knew as soon as I saw it that it was the one I wanted to make; everyone loves caramel (even my husband who dislikes sweets) and yummy, chocolate, and they seemed just right for an indulgent weekend with friends. Let the baking begin…
The recipe can be found here, for those of you who like to follow along: http://ibakecupcakes-sarahlyn.blogspot.com/2010/07/chocolate-salted-caramel-cupcakes-save.html)
Step 1 – Put on your adorable apron. Sheri had asked me if there was anything she needed to bring for the weekend. The only suggestion I had was an “adorable apron”, for which she complied.
Step 2 – Get out ALL ingredients. I like to do this so I am not opening cabinets with sticky fingers, which would add one more thing to the cleanup list.
Step 3 – Start baking!
Sheri and I worked really well as a team – adding the dry ingredients to the KitchenAid® mixing bowl before whisking them up. (I learned that standing mixers are not preferred for those who like to “feel” the mixing (i.e., Sheri). For you “feelers” out there, use a hand mixer.)
In my excitement, I immediately added the wet ingredients to the dry ones. Opps number one! The recipe calls for mixing the wet ingredients together in one bowl, the dry in another, then adding the wet to the dry. Well, since the ingredients all went into the same bowl at once, this recipe was an experiment – Do you have to premix the wet ingredients before adding to the dry?
About half way through the mixing of the ingredients, I walked away from the mixer. Opps number two! I quickly learned from Sheri that this is a very bad no-no. Walking away from a standing mixer, that is mixing, can cause over mixing. Over mixing can make the batter more dense and doughy. Who knew? (Apparently Sheri.) This is also why a hand mixer may be better. You will never accidently walk away from a hand mixer while it is running. (If this does happen to you, I suggest you turn off the hand mixer, put away the wine, sober up, and then return to baking.)
After completely mixing the ingredients, the batter seemed runny. I was worried, but Sheri was not. I thought it was a bit too thin, and had Sheri not been there, I would have added more flour. Turned out Sheri was right to leave them be, as the cupcakes baked nicely, though they didn’t rise much. That might have had something to do with oops number two, but we cannot be sure. There must be some reason the wet is mixed before adding to the dry; however, that reason was not discovered with these little cakes.
After the cupcakes cooled, I cut out the centers. Sheri suggested making cones by sticking a knife in at one point and rotating it in a circular motion (and if you have to hand frost the cupcake, cut off the bottom of the cone off, fill the cupcake and replace the top to plug the hole on the cupcake).
Next came the caramel filling and salt sprinkle. Spooning in the caramel filling was easy with it warmed up a bit (we did not make the caramel sauce ourselves, but used store bought). The recipe called for sea salt, but I only had Kosher, and it worked just fine.
Then, Sheri made the butter cream frosting. She did a great job! My ability to get distracted while cooking took hold here and Sheri had the whip up the frosting on her own (Sorry Sheri. This was a baking lesson and since we were not baking the frosting...). All I know is that there was a lot of powdered sugar, butter, milk and cocoa powder. All good things! If we are lucky, Sheri will share her butter cream frosting recipe with us! The consistency of the frosting was marvelous. Sheri used the hand mixer (of course) for this part.Since I failed to tell Sheri to bring her pastry bags and tips, she suggested using a zip lock bag and cutting off one corner. Again, her idea worked perfectly, making frosting a piece of cake!
TASTE TEST TIME! This is by far my favorite part of baking! Sheri and I both agreed that the little caramel filled chocolate cakes with chocolate butter cream frosting were divine. Sheri did not think the salt would do much, and thought it might be gross, but we were both wrong. Do not leave off the salt! It really adds to the flavor of the caramel and chocolate.
In summary, I learned the following lessons:1) Mix wet ingredients before mixing with dry, unless you have an expert baker with you.
2) Most importantly DO NOT OVER MIX after you add in the wet ingredients!
3) When making cupcakes filled with something, save the tops of the removed cone to re-plug the filling hole.
Thanks Sheri – I had a great time baking with you!
(KitchenAid is a registered trademark owned by KitchenAid.)
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