Recipe Tuesday :: Raspberry Champagne Cupcakes

How do I follow up after those delicious Lemon Curd Cupcakes?  I didn't think it was possible to top them, but thanks to a student's birthday, I think I might have.  Her requested flavor was raspberry and I found the ultimate recipe on Pinterest again.  Listen to this...Raspberry Champagne Cupcakes.  Doesn't that sound divine!?  This recipe is thanks to Living Better Together.  It called for 3 tablespoons of champagne added to the frosting which meant Mom and I had to drink the rest of the champagne lest it go bad.  What a sacrifice.

I also used the recipe for homemade raspberry filling provided with the cupcakes and Mom loved that so much that the leftovers were squirreled away and used on pancakes for the next night's dinner.

The cake was easy to get together and made moist fluffy cupcakes.  I added a teaspoon of raspberry extract to the batter and it gave them just that light hint of raspberry flavor.  They were a little undone inside at 18 minutes for me, but were nice and golden on the outside, so I moved them to the top rack and let them cook for the last two minutes.  All turned out well.

Then I used a melon-baller to scoop out the insides and piled them up for a baker perk.  Mom and I gobbled them up with some of the raspberry filling on top.  I ended up spooning the filling in and then spreading it on top, like the curd of the lemon cupcakes, so that you could see the raspberry yumminess just peaking out under the frosting.

The frosting turned out amazing and just like she said, the champagne made the frosting smooth and fluffy.  The buttercream frosting was much more sturdy than the cream cheese frosting I usually go for and made them look uber-finished.  A raspberry on top was the final touch.  They were almost too pretty to eat....almost.

And here's some cute cat pictures to end on.  He didn't help make the cupcakes, but his picture was mixed in from that day.  Gus is adorable...when he's not trying to eat you.

Three Things Thursday :: Hand Carved Spoons, Mystery Knit Alongs, and Free At Home Try-on Glasses

Wow.  That title is loooooooong.  But I can't help that the three things I'm into right now are wordy.  So let's get started because there are a lot of words to describe them!

Hand Carved Spoons.  Three promising words.  The idealist side of me sees a crackling fire on a cool night out in the woods, carving a recently split piece of wood with knives and spoon carving tools.  I'm wearing a hat I knitted, of course, and the shaving are piling up at my feet.  S'mores are being made and a few beers are probably being drunk around the fire after a long day.  The sky is blue twilight with a few stars starting to wink in the navy darkness to the east.  The woods are dark around the fire and the windows of the cabin are warm and cheery from the Coleman lantern shining inside.  We are laughing and talking and when a conversation dies down you can hear the birds call to each other as they nestle down for the night.  Le sigh.

From hatchetandbear.com - hatchetandbear on Instagram

I recently saw an article in Country Living about a woman in Frome, England that hand carves wooden spoons and I got excited.  You can go see her website and business called Hatchet + Bear here.  Trust me, it's awesome.  I'm sure anything I carve will look nothing like her amazing stuff, but it sure sounds like a fun thing to do while out camping.  And you all know how much I love a new craft.  The challenge of getting it to look like what I see in my head.  The thrill of new tools and a new project.  The excitement at getting good at creating (eventually).  So I threw myself into research on the best tools and where I could get them and loaded up an Amazon cart with all the goodies I want need for this new endeavor.  Christmas present anyone?



The next three most amazing words you can put together?  Mystery Knit Along.  Or KALs for those in the know.  Usually you choose a pattern based on what you see of the final project, but the mystery part is you don't know what the project is going to look like.  So you just knit along, following the clues they release and get to be surprised by how it turns out.  I've seen a few of these on Ravelry and they're usually associated with a show or other fandom of geeky goodness.  Since I've been obsessed with Outlander as of late, it should be no surprise that I joined the Mystery KAL for the second half of the season of Outlander.  How could I not?!  They had a special color-way of yarn called Craigh na Dun for heavens sake!  My yarn was delayed a bit and I started watching the pictures show up from those that had already started their projects.  I ended up not liking the variegated color-way of Craigh na Dun with the pattern as it progressed.  There are lots of beautiful cables and they were lost in the mass of colors.  I saw one project where the person used a yarn that was mainly a single color with lighter and darker areas and I loved it!  So I bought some more yarn (you can never have enough yarn) and started my project.

I really love not knowing what's coming next with the clues!  It really makes me want work on the project more than usual because it's like reading a really good book.  What's going to happen next?  Ooooo another cable!!  I'm really loving what's coming off the needles.  The cable along the edge is so pretty!  I just can't say enough about this project and I have the perfect shawl pin to wear it with when it's done.

And lastly, FREE at home try-on glasses!  I went to the eye doctor for my yearly exam and I ended up getting a new pair of glasses (which I'm still waiting for) and I liked them....but.  I really wanted a trendy pair of glasses that didn't have nose pieces.  My eyes get pretty dry when my allergies flair up and I'd like to have a pair of glasses to wear to work that not only make me look smart but also ones that I can slide up and look through a microscope and then pull back down without the nose pieces catching in my hair.  So thanks to ads on the side of my Facebook newsfeed I saw a website that sells the kind of glasses I'm looking for called Warby Parker.  They'll send you 5 pairs of glasses for 5 days for free!  You can wear them around all day, take pictures and post them to get opinions and just really try them out for longer than you can at the eye doctor!  I got five that I thought would look good but found out that I really didn't look good in the larger frames.  So I sent those back and got another 5.  I think I've picked my favorite but I'm putting it up to the vote!  So what do you think?

1 - Mitchell

2 - Hardy

3 - Wilkie

Leave me a comment (here or on Facebook)!  I want some constructive criticism!  Or do they all look the same?

Recipe Tuesday :: Lemon Curd Cupcakes

Cupcakes are required for every birthday as far as I'm concerned.  Back on May 1st that birthday was the lovely Vida's and her requested flavor was lemon.  I perused Pinterest and I found an excellent Lemon Cream Cheese Cupcake recipe by Your Cup of Cake.  I thought I would jazz it up a bit by topping the cupcakes with some lemon curd before the finishing touch of as much lemon cream cheese frosting as possible.   I have to say they were so good they could probably solve world peace.

The cake was moist and fluffy.  The lemon curd was sweet and tangy.  The cream cheese frosting was perfect with just a hint of lemon.  Never over-the-top, just a lovely combination of flavors.

So you can make your own perfect lemon cupcakes you'll need a spot-on, foolproof lemon curd recipe.

Carrie's Perfect Lemon Curd
(Adapted from a Martha Stewart Recipe)

1 box of lemon Jell-O, 3oz
1 Tbsp cold water
4 eggs plus 6 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
zest of 2 lemons
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (5 to 6 lemons)
6 Tbsp butter, cut into 1 inch pieces

Sprinkle water over Jell-O and mix, it will be thick.  Let it sit about 5 minutes.  In a double boiler (bowl set over a pan with boiling water in the bottom), whisk together the eggs and egg yolks.  Whisk in the sugar, zest and lemon juice.  Cook, whisking constantly until thick, about 8 to 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and add in the Jell-O, stirring until the gelatin dissolves.  Add the butter a little bit at a time and stir until smooth, continuing until all the butter is incorporated.  Strain through a fine sieve into another bowl.  Put plastic wrap on top of the curd to prevent a skim from forming on the top.  Use right away while warm or refrigerate until needed.  When you pull it out of the fridge, microwave the amount you want at 10 second intervals until it's warm and spreadable.

I'm pretty sure these will be on the permanent rotation list...

Recipe Tuesday :: Upside-Down Rhubarb Cake

The person who writes Martha Stewart's recipes needs to learn to do a better job of describing how to bake something.  That being said this cake was really delicious.

I've been searching for new ways to use rhubarb and this cake just looked like something to eat at tea.  Which is what we did of course!

While the recipe I used was from Martha Stewart, I saw lots of similar versions on Pinterest by other people, so I feel no guilt posting my own version of the recipe.  Especially since Martha's was poorly written.  At one point it was like, "Bake until a toothpick comes out clean and the middle is set."  And I was like, "Okaaaay, but how long?" and then it said "about one hour."  Hello!  Let's start with the declaration of baking one hour and then give me the specifics!  It's like a manual on how to defuse a bomb saying, "Cut the black wire, but first..."  Really?!?

Upside-Down Rhubarb Cake

For the crumble topping:
4 Tbsp butter, melted
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar

For the rhubarb layer:
1 pound of rhubarb
3/4 cup sugar

For the cake:
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 heaping tsp lemon zest
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Make the topping by combining the butter, flour and sugar until moist and crumbly.  Set aside.

Trim and cut the rhubarb on a very sharp diagonal so that each piece is about a 1/2 inch thick.  Place the rhubarb in a bowl and toss with the sugar.  Let stand for a few minutes.  Toss again and arrange in a round cake pan.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt for the cake and set aside.  In a mixer, cream the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the lemon zest and juice.  Beat in eggs, one at a time and scrap the sides of the bowl.  Mix until well incorporated.  Add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with the sour cream, and mix until smooth.  Spread the batter evenly over the rhubarb in the cake pan.  Crumble the topping over the batter.

Bake for 55 to 70 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the center doesn't jiggle.  The top should spring back when touched.  Let the cake cool for 10 minutes and then run a knife around the edge and invert onto a plate.  The cake needs to cool because the rhubarb is quite hot but should be removed from the pan after 10 minutes because if left much longer it may stick.

This cake was so moist and dense and had a wonderful lemon flavor to it.  If you aren't into topping it with rhubarb you could probably try other fruits or even just add strawberries to the rhubarb.  We chopped some up and added them fresh on the side for tea!  A truly decadent cake!!