Author: petebakes

cake

chocolate cupcakes with banana cream cheese frosting

Post author By petebakes
Post date March 26, 2009
21 Comments on chocolate cupcakes with banana cream cheese frosting

i’m right in the lion’s den of cupcakes. i’m not sure why the nation’s capital has adopted cupcakes as its “thing,” but it’s not exactly as awesome as you might think. for one thing, the city has not become a magical candyland where queen frostine decrees from her gumdrop throne which flavor we should all be wearing each day. in fact, it’s more like waiting 45 minutes in the cold for a tiny cake with too-sweet icing. also, it’s become acceptable to charge between 3 and 4 dollars per cupcake. let that sink in.

i’m not going to keep hating on cupcakes, because, well, it’s been done more cogently elsewhere, but when i can make an entire batch in the time it takes to wait in line for one, i’m sticking with homemade. and now to get back to the point of the post, when i’m looking for quality homemade chocolate baked goods, i go straight to ina garten. you just know you’re getting something good when there’s butter, buttermilk and sour cream involved.

this recipe marked the first official use of my new kitchenaid mixer (courtesy of a pioneerwoman contest – ridiculous, i know), and i hate to admit it, but it actually made a difference. pretty much everything i’ve made so far was mixed with my favorite wooden spoon and sheer willpower, but the convenience of a standing mixer is, duh, a pretty sweet convenience. that said, i definitely don’t think mixers are a necessity, and anyone that tells you that you must use one for a particular recipe is straight up lying.

the frosting looks pretty…interesting, no? it turns out that when you mash up bananas and add them to cream cheese and butter, you get something that looks uncannily like oatmeal. i had to add copious amounts of food coloring to really get the yellow to come out, but i think it looks pretty cool, especially against the chocolaty cake. why banana? i love bananas, and bananas and chocolate are a perfect combo (the bluths got it right). seriously, these taste awesome.

savory

curried chicken salad

as much as i’d love for it to be true, i don’t get to just sit around eating cupcakes and pies all day. despite the name of the site, i also cook regular old meals – meals that aren’t slathered in frosting, and some even without *gasp* bacon. so to give you all a better idea of what i eat for dinner on a typical night, i’m excited to share some of my favorite non-dessert meals!

i actually started making this chicken salad after i tackled the mighty bastilla – and came out victorious. whole foods is a little above my means, but one of my favorite things to grab for lunch there is a container of the curried chicken salad. after i cooked the chicken for the bastilla, the flavors were so similar to the chicken salad from the store that i decided that i could make it for myself from now on to save a bit of money.

the flavors are, in a word, perfect. the combination of spicy and sweet will make you smile, and the peppers and grapes keep the chicken salad (which is too often dry) moist and refreshing. it’s such an easy and flavorful dish, there’s really no excuse to make up a big ‘ole batch for your friends, or better yet, to bring along for a picnic as the days (thank god) get warmer. and for anyone still craving something sweet, don’t worry, i’ve got some treats coming up this week. stay tuned! i’m not through with sugar and bacon (and combination thereof) yet!

bread

bialys

whew, if feels like it’s been forever! how are you? i’ve been better. actually, right now i’m feeling pretty healthy, but for the past week i was feeling particularly unhealthy – the kind of unhealthy that makes you not want to go anywhere near the kitchen. the kind of unhealthy that makes you wish you had bought stock in the kleenex corporation a week ago (not to mention nyquil inc). but i have returned, and i did miss you all. i bring you wishes of good health this spring, and this recipe for bialys, because why not have breakfast all day long?

i had never even heard of bialys before (which explains why when i asked the girl about them, i kept calling them “bilays”), but the way she described them – lots of onion and lots of poppy seeds – i had to have one. i love onion bagels, and i love poppy seed bagels, so combining them and getting rid of the hole – essentially adding more bagel – is genius.

i’ve read extensively about this, but i’m pretty sure there is no fool-proof way to keep from crying when cutting onions. i’ve tried cutting next to an open flame and cutting next to a running faucet, which both work for a brief amount of time, but sure enough, 3 minutes later, i’m bawling like i’m watching that aspca commercial with sarah mclaughlin. my method has pretty much become cut, stick head in freezer to stop from tearing up, cut for another few seconds, stick head back in freezer, repeat. oddly enough, it takes me a long time to cut an onion and i always end up with a wicked brain freeze.

since the recipe is from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, it’s a cinch to make. the drawback is that the finished bialys are missing that “something” that you get from a good new york bagel dough. this can be traced back, most likely, to the absence of malt syrup, but sometimes the benefits of an easy dough can simply be too great. plus, the sauteed onions and poppy seeds give the bialys a sweet richness that makes you wish the whole thing was coated in the filling (maybe next time…).

this will definitely not be my last experience with bialys. for some reason, when it stays lighter later at night, i’m inspired to have breakfast for dinner, and bialys are a food that just begs to be experimented on and tried with different fillings. what if i cracked an egg in the middle? added bacon? sausage? bacon and sausage? and cheese? this is going to be good.