Black Forest Cupcakes

Cupcakes are great for various reasons. They are easy to transport, single-serving sized to help control consumption (or so I tell myself), and give you a mouthful of frosting with each bite. I have always been a huge cake fan, so I naturally love the miniature version of the 12-inch round.

I wanted to bring some sort of dessert to my co-workers one day and after going through various options through my head, came to the decision that the cupcake would be the best idea. Because I wanted to feed about 30 people, I knew it would be the easiest because it would be simple to carry and people could grab a treat and go.

I decided to make a black forest cupcake because I knew I wanted to make something that was chocolate. This recipe is one of my favorites because it contains a little surprise when you bite into the cupcake. Not only do you get the cream cheese frosting on the top, but each cupcake is layered with cream cheese frosting and a cherry in the center. Additionally, the cake is soaked with the juice from maraschino cherries to give each bite of chocolate a kick of cherry. I adapted the cupcake recipe from Kraft Foods. The frosting was taken from Simply Recipes.

Ingredients:

Cupcake & Filling

• 1 pkg. chocolate cake mix
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 can cherry filling
• 1 jar maraschino cherries

Frosting

• 2 - 8 oz. cream cheese
• 2 sticks butter
• 4-6 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 chocolate bar of choice, shaved

Preheat oven to 350 and prepare cake mix as directed on box. Pour half of maraschino cherry juice from jar into batter. In a separate bowl, mix cream cheese, egg, and sugar for filling.

Fill prepared cake batter into lined cupcake tray until each liner is 1/3 full. Spoon 1 tbsp filling mixture onto cake batter mixture. Use cherry pie filling on top of cream cheese mixture. Fill remainder of cupcake liner with cake batter.

Bake for 20-25 minute. Cool for 5 minutes.

Mix butter and cream cheese for frosting. After well mixed, slowly pour in vanilla extract and powdered sugar. Continue adding powdered sugar to reach desired sweetness and consistency.

Decorate cooled cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and chocolate shavings. Top with a maraschino cherry.

This is a fun, little dessert if you're looking for something different and simple. It's also a great way to make new friends at work - everyone loves the girl who brings treats to share. From my past experience, I have learned that people gravitate to free baked goods on someone's desk. And if they're going to take a dessert, they're bound to stop and chat for a while. So if you love baking but not eating your creations like me, why not give it to your friends at work? You get the enjoyment of making, they get the enjoyment of eating. It's a win-win situation for all.

Monkeyin' Around

The male howler monkey's cry can be heard for 10 miles, making it the loudest land animal in the world.

Monkeys yawn not only when they are tired, but also when they are mad.

Monkeys do not catch colds, but orangutangs, chimps, and gorillas all do.

Curious little critters, those monkeys. Strange to think that we are all part of the hominidae family. Because we, according to science, are so closely related to furry, banana-eating animals, this post is dedicated to all the monkeys in the world. But in all honesty, this post is about monkeys because I realized that I had pictures of two monkey desserts that I had made in the past and never posted about.

One of my roommates loves monkeys, so for her past 2 birthdays, I have made two simple monkey desserts. The first were banana nut cupcakes, decorated to look like monkeys. The recipe was taken from Betty Crocker: Baking for Today.

• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup mashed, ripe bananas
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup toasted walnuts, chopped
  
  

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners
3. Beat milk, oil, eggs, and mashed bananas.
4. Stir in flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt until well mixed. The mixture will be lumpy.
5. Fold in cranberries and walnuts.
6. Bake 20-25 minutes

To decorate, I used the following ingredients:

• 1 tub chocolate frosting
• chocolate chips
• Strawberry Twizzlers (Pull-n-Peel)
• Nilla wafers, halved
• Mini oreos
• Red frosting
• Sprinkles, optional

After the cupcakes have cooled, spread the chocolate frosting on the cupcakes. I used chocolate chips for the eyes and sprinkles for the nose, but you can use the chips for both if

you like. The ears are mini Oreos and the mouth is half of a Nilla wafer. For the lips, I used red frosting to stick a Twizzler onto the wafer.

I liked this recipe because 1) it was easy 2) it was fun and 3) it plays up the monkey idea with the bananas

So this year for my roommate's birthday, I wanted to make another monkey dessert, but knew that it should be something different. My other roommate and I decided that we would make a monkey cake.

We figured this would be more of a cake valued for its visual appeal rather than its taste, so we focused more on the decorating than anything else. With that said, we used a store-bought chocolate cake mix.

After baking the cake in two 9-in round cake pans according to the box's instructions, we popped the cake pans into the freezer. This is a trick I use when I am icing a cake in a rush because it prevents the cake from crumbling during the frosting process. Additionally, it makes the cake easier to carve into whatever shape needed; in thise case, a monkey's face. One thing to note is that you must be careful if you decide to put your cake into the freezer. Leaving it in there for too long will draw out the moisture and result in a dry cake. I usually leave it in there for no more than 10-15 minutes.

Here are the decorating ingredients to make this monkey cake:

• chocolate frosting (I prefer the whipped kind for easy spreading)
• white frosting
• Oreos
• Twizzlers Pull-N-Peel
• Chocolate chips

After we pulled the cake out of the freezer and popped them out of their cake pans, we frosted the first layer with a healthy layer of chocolate frosting and then topped it off with the second layer. We then used a long, serrated knife and carved the shape of a monkey's face. To do this, we left the bottom half untouched and carved a hill shape into the top half.

We frosted the top half of the cake, leaving space to frost with the white frosting for the monkey's mouth region. I recommend outlining the area that you want to frost with white and then using the chocolate to close in the gaps.

For the eyes, we outlined with white frosting to avoid the Oreos from blending in with the rest of the monkey's face. His ears are Oreos as well. Chocolate chips make the nostrils and a Twizzler was used for his lips. We used chocolate sprinkles to give him some hair and coated some Twizzlers with chocolate frosting to give him tufts of hair at the top of his head.

If you notice, many of the decorating ingredients are the same for both of these monkey desserts. It'd be extremely easy to make both and prevent buying an entire bag of chocolate chips or Twizzlers and not use all of them. If you decide to make both at the same time, I recommend using the same mix for both (ie: banana nut for cupcakes and cake or chocolate for cupcakes and cake)

As I was looking through my folder of food pictures, I realized that I like baking things that are visually shocking (remember the Tofurkey post?) I guess these two desserts fall into that category.

Now I have one year to think of a new monkey dessert for next year's birthday. Monkey bread? We'll see.

Is That Tofurkey?

I posted a couple of months ago with a link to ThisIsWhyYoureFat.com.  I submitted something that a friend and I made, hoping it will make it into their book or on the website.  Seeing that the other things are all so ridiculous, I figure mine isn't ridiculous enough.  So, in case our creation never makes it into the book or on their page, I'm going to post our creation in this blog.

I feel it is very necessary to provide some background on this.  I am part of a student organization called Business Council, which is basically the student voice of the business school.  It is composed of 101 students from the student body, and within that group, we are divided into "families".  Each family has parents, and I was a "mother" of a family.  

Each year around Thanksgiving, Business Council hosts a "family" potluck for its members, where each family is assigned a dish to which they are responsible for supplying the other families.  Being an avid baker, (my "husband" and I baked weekly for our "family"), we were appropriately assigned desserts.  We really wanted to shock everyone, so we decided that we would make a gigantic cake in the shape of a turkey.  I had seen some pictures online of glazed turkey cakes, but we decided this would be too complicating for us.  So we basically made up our own concoction.  

We bought 4 boxes of yellow cake mix and prepared them like normal in rectangular pans.  After layering them, we carved it into the shape of a turkey.  We were pretty impressed with how accurate we got the shape, so we decided to begin icing.  Little did we know, making brown icing has got to be one of the hardest things ever.  We started mixing every color together, hoping it would give us a nice, dark brown, but we ended up with a pale, nasty pinkish brown.  We kept trying for about 20 minutes until I found some cocoa powder in my cupboard and decided to just use that as a final dusting to give it a brown finish.  So we used the colored icing that we made and lightly dusted the cake.  We even cut little booties for the turkey legs and placed vegetables around it to give it the visual appeal of a Thanksgiving gobbler.  

We arrived to the potluck with our turkey cake and set it on the end of the table where the other desserts were.  Many were impressed, but others were confused.  "Why is that turkey sitting by the desserts?" "Is that a TOFURKEY!?"  Pictures were shot, jaws were dropped, and we just smiled.  We definitely shocked everyone like we intended, and it was a heck of a lot of fun.

While this turkey cake wasn't as beautiful as we envisioned it, it was still pretty darn close to looking like a turkey.   And it may have only tasted like a normal yellow cake dusted with cocoa powder, but our "family" appreciated all the hard work that went into it.  I'd say we spent probably a total of 4 hours preparing it, which provided us good bonding time.  And besides, preparing a (real) turkey is no simple task.  

I'd be impressed to see our turkey cake in a book or on ThisIsWhyYoureFat.com.  Maybe I'll be as shocked as the other "families" at the potluck when they first laid eyes on our dessert/entree(?).  

Chicago Dog

Last month, I made another trip to Chicago. In a recent post, I talked about Lou Malnati's in the windy city and mentioned how I didn't have enough time to try a Chicago dog. I made it a must-do on my list this time around. Fortunately, I got a hot dog in the ultimate American setting - at a Chicago Cubs game.

I'm not exactly a hot dog fan. There's something about scrap meat jammed into a clear casing that doesn't lead me to salivation. But perhaps I was in the right mood, right setting, and right level of starvation that this Chicago dog left me lapping up my drool like a dachshund.

I opted for pretty much everything on the dog to get the full experience. The price tag to gobble one of these was pretty high, but I guess that's what you pay to eat the all-American fa(s)t food during an all-American pasttime. I wouldn't say it's worth the price, but it's definitely a lot better than the dog I've had off the cart in New York or the ones my family grills at home. My family isn't big on hot dog grilling, but your family may put Wrigley Field's hot dog business to shame.

The first bite had a beautiful snap that any good hot dog should have, and it had a bit of a spicy taste. I thought the heat married nicely with the cold tomatoes and my mouth appreciated the texture and heartiness of the chili. This dog was much longer than any other dog that I had ever seen anywhere else, so it was quite filling. I ordered a side of fries (I decided to indulge and make my body hate me) with the dog and left that stadium stuffed. If you're a small person with a regular appetite, I would recommend just getting the dog. It'll fill you pretty well.

I had some other food adventures during this trip in Chicago, but I will write about those in a later post. There are so many things that I've been taking pictures of but haven't had time to write about. Hopefully I'll find some time now that I'm relieved of school. Next time, look out for cannolis, monkey cakes, or filet mignon. I wouldn't recommend eating all of those in one sitting.

Food Porn

A friend sent me a link to Food Porn Daily, and I knew it was necessary to share with the world. I was a little hesitant to click on the link at first, but I promise it's something that you could flip through with your 80 year old grandmother without feeling awkward. That is, unless close-ups of food get you sexually aroused.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with food porn, here's a definition pulled from Wikipedia.

Food porn is a sarcastic term variously applied to a spectacular visual presentation of cooking or eating in advertisements, infomercials, cooking shows or other visual media, foods boasting a high fat and calorie content[1], exotic dishes that arouse a desire to eat[2] or the glorification of food as a substitute for sex

Deep Dish Pizza in Chi-Town

I went to Chicago 2 weeks ago with a student organization. Despite the unpleasant 15 degree weather, the city was beautiful and the architecture was breathtaking. I could imagine myself living there one day, especially if global warming took effect.

I knew I was going on this trip for about 6 months, so I had plenty of time to plan what kind of food I wanted to try while I was there. While watching Bobby Flay Throwdown last semester, Flay competed against Marc Malnati, owner of Lou Malnati's, a local deep dish pizza restaurant chain. I trust Food Network more than I probably should sometimes, and I figured if Malnati's pizza is good enough for a Throwdown, it's good to be thrown down into the pits of my blissful belly. So I told my friends that was one stop we had to make while we were there.

We had a group of 23 students, so we figured we should go ahead and make a reservation. Boy, were we lucky that we did. We walked into the restaurant, which was much smaller than I anticipated, and there was a pretty decent line of people waiting to be seated. I'd say we took up a good 1/3 of the occupancy with our party alone. The selection of deep dish pizzas didn't seem that large, but I guess it's a sign that they really specialize and perfect what they do have. We got a Malnati salad, one thin-crust cheese pizza, one large "Lou", and one large "Deluxe" pizza for one table of 11.

The salad was so delicious. The dressing was very sweet, yet tart, adding the perfect taste to the greens. Also, it was topped with crumbled gorgonzola cheese and fried salami bits. If you think you like bacon bits, wait until you try fried salami pieces. If they sold that in grocery stores, salami would steal all the bacon lovers.

It took a while for the deep-dish pizzas to come out, and I'm thinking it's because they take longer to cook than a regular thin-crust. Whatever the reason, the wait wasn't bad considering how amazing these pizzas tasted. I had the "Lou", which was the vegetarian stuffed pizza.  I had deep-dish pizza once before, but Lou's was so much better.  Just visually speaking, Lou's beats the other deep-dish I had in Orlando a couple years back.   Your eyes eat before your mouth does, and let's just say that Lou's made my mouth water, and the other made my eyes water.

Although it had no meat, this was a VERY filling slice of pie.  Stuffed with mounds of cheese, spinach, and mushrooms, and topped with tomatoes and (surprise) 3 more cheeses, I could feel a heart attack coming.  But it wasn't the cheese that took me overboard to near-cardiac arrest; it was the flaky buttercrust.  For only $1 more per pizza, you had the option to have buttercrust instead of their regular crust, and goodness gracious was I glad we decided to have that instead. The crust literally crumbled the minute it entered your mouth.  I would have eaten a plate of just crust if they offered that on the menu.  It's a shame that wasn't an option. But upon reflection, it's probably illegal to serve clogged arteries on a plate in Chicago. Different story in the south.

I had a bite of my friend's "Deluxe" pizza, which had cheese, mushrooms, sausage, onions, and green peppers, but I think the "Lou" was much better in taste.  The thin-crust was good, but I honestly think that Austin has some pretty good if not better thin-crust.  I would say that Malnati's specializes in their deep-dish and that would be my recommendation if you decide to make it out there.  But if Chi-town is too dreadfully cold for a visit, they ship their pizzas all across America.  It is a bit pricey, but if you're really looking to splurge, this might be a good option.  

While talking with locals there, I heard a lot of comments about Chicago hot dogs. The next time I go back in April, I will have to make a stop at a dog stand. That report will come later. Until then, happy eating :)

A Visual Heartattack

BEWARE: Viewing the below website/blog may clog your arteries.

This is why you're fat

A Table at the Gratitude Cafe

One stop that we made while in San Francisco was at Cafe Gratitude, a healthy, environmentally-aware cafe. Eccentric to say the least, this restaurant was nested in an area near no other restaurants. The interior was painted green with accents of blues. On each table sat a board game with cards that encouraged diners to introspect and dig deep within themselves for self discovery and understanding. Napkins were recycled dishcloths and self-bottled water in etched glass pitchers were readily available to guests.

Upon glancing at the menu, I was surprised to see what Cafe Gratitude offered. Not only was 90% of their menu raw, gluten-free, and organic, it was also extremely pricey. They sold smoothies for $10! No one at our table ordered one of those, but it was definitely a surprise. By raw, I mean that the restaurant does not cook their menu items. Only the soups were cooked; all other foods were prepared as they were picked. For example, my friend ordered a "pizza" but the base that would normally be the crust was made of uncooked cracker-like dough. They called it a pizza, but it was nothing like what you would order from California Pizza Kitchen or Pizza Hut.

I was in the breakfast mood so I ordered a bowl of apple & granola, almond milk, and a slice of almond toast. The granola was extremely crunchy beyond belief, but had a nice cinnamon bite to it. I was really excited about the almond milk, but my expectations were unmet. When I ordered it, I was thinking something more along the lines of Almond Milk Tea, but I was deceived. It tasted more like cardboard than anything else. The almond toast was a shocker as well. I felt like a hamster biting into a round hockey puck of seeds because it was so hard, but the taste was decent.

However unimpressed I may have been with my entree, I was won over with the dessert at Cafe Gratitude. Between four people, we decided to split a chocolate cake and a banana split. I had never had a gluten-free cake before, but it was probably the most delicious cake I had sunk my teeth into. It was moist and dense all at once and so rich in chocolate flavor. It took a long time for our dessert order to come out so I was wondering whether or not they were making the cake to order but it came out chilled, so we never figured out what took so long. Whatever it was they were doing in the kitchen at that time, it was well worth the wait.

The banana split that we ordered was equally if not more delightful. I'm thinking that they made the ice cream from scratch, and it was oh-so-scrumptious. Maybe that's why our dessert order took about 30 minutes to arrive. With a fresh banana, chopped nuts, and a drizzle of chocolate sauce, this was your favorite dessert as a child that got dressed up and went to fancy cocktail party. Definitely the most sophisticated tasting banana split sundae that I have had. Sonic's and DQ's banana split can well...split because the Sundae for Two at Cafe Gratitude puts theirs to shame.

Cafe Gratitude is a restaurant that is very local and unique in its offerings and environment. If my local Californian friend had not suggested it, I would have never set foot in the establishment. I'm really glad that I did because the experience was very special and I know that I will not find a place like that in the south. For a picky eater, a completely raw restaurant probably isn't the best idea, but for a food adventurer like me, it was an appreciated journey.

If you're in the Bay Area and your stomach is prepared to digest food in its most fresh and raw form, I would highly recommend Cafe Gratitude. The waitstaff is eccentric, the food is like no other, and the ambiance is hippie-chic. Heck, even Jason Mraz talks about this place in his song "Make it Mine". If nothing else, go because their plates are adorned with cute phrases and they have menu items like "I Am Grateful" and "I Am Renewed". You will walk out a different person.

Gluttonous Goodies at Google

My roommate and I made a semi-spontaneous trip to Nor-Cal during our winter break.  While half of our time in the beautiful coastal state was spent sight-seeing and doing tourist activities, I'd say the other half was dedicated to expanding our blissful bellies.  

One of our unique experiences was our visit to the Googleplex in Mountain View by San Jose.  My friend from Harvard had a friend who recently started working there andshe was nice enough to show us around the beautiful complex.  Not only was the Googleplex in a jaw-dropping, scenic environment, the people and amenities that the company offered were unheard of.

I'd heard of companies like SAS who treat their employees like royalty, but I think Google puts all those other companies to shame.  Aside from their reflection pool, free massages, 

community bicycles for travel across campus, on-site garden (which employees are allowed to pick from and from which the Google chefs gather ingredients to prepare their "cafeteria" food), and freedom to bring your dog inside the office, the food is surprisingly abundant, fresh, free, and oh-so-delicious.   

When you think cafeteria food, you probably think "What is this brown mush they scooped and dumped on my tray?"  Not at Google.  Google probably has the nicest cafeterias that I have seen in my life.  They have variety and quality that any person could appreciate.  From succulent shrimp in garlic butter sauce, banh mi sliders, roasted quail, and gourmet pecan pie ice cream, their cafeterias offer something for every taste.  Even their drink selection is impeccable - blood orange juice, Naked juices, Rice Dream rice drink, and agave lemonade are just several of the options that their fountains & fridges offer.  

Aside from the many cafeterias that cater to different needs and tastes, each floor has a "microfridge", which is basically an area stocked with foods to keep Googlers productive.  Sure does beat the water cooler next to the printer and stale coffee that most other companies have.  Microfridges had food ranging from fruit leather and gummy bears to organic vegetable or wasabi chips and every drink you could ever want to wet your tongue.  Talk about exotic snacking.  The person who showed us around the buildings told us that many Googlers gain weight upon starting.  I could see why.

But it wasn't the range of foods or the quality of the offerings that impressed me the most.  Every one of the aforementioned items are free to all Googlers and visitors.  In my short 1.5-2 hour stay at the complex, I probably downed $30 worth of food.  Now multiply that by 1,000s of Googlers working in Mountain View who are snacking away on these tasty treats.  I honestly don't know how the company is able to absorb a cost like this during an economic crisis, but I'm sure none of them are complaining.  I certainly wouldn't be. 

My brief visit to Google was extremely memorable and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to walk in the presence of such intelligent, light-hearted, and just plain fun individuals.  Once a fan of just their search engine and applications, I have now fallen head over heels over everything this young company has blossomed into.  For a foodie and semi-techie like me, I found my haven.  I left Amphitheatre Parkway with more than just a blissful belly.