Double Chocolate Baked Donuts

Current Mood: excited
Current Song: Jennifer Lopez ft. Pitbull - Live it up

Happy Tuesday! I feel like I"m sort of brain dead today and I have a headache so I'm keeping it short and simple this morning! I'm thinking I'm a bit dehydrated...but I'm not completely sure...I think it all started Saturday when I didn't have a sip of water until 9:30pm and drank beer all day on the boat at Aquapalooza. Hmmm...that can't be good!!

Anyways...I had to think of a dessert to make for Father's Day for brunch at the parents. I REALLY wanted to make buns, but I knew that would take up a good amount of time since you have to let the dough rise and whatnot. I knew I was going to be in the sun all day Saturday and brunch was at 11am Sunday. Buns ain't happenin'!

I decided to make donuts! Ya know, I really wanna try fried donuts ("real" donuts) one day, but I just can't bring myself to do something like that. For now, I'll stick to my donut pan and pretend they aren't muffins...or cupcakes...or anything of that type (they really are, just in a different shape and form :))

I made double chocolate baked donuts for Sunday. The recipe was extremely simple as there was no butter involved. I didn't even have to use my Kitchen Aid! Folding in ingredients is actually better for the dough anyways because it reduces air bubbles and makes the finished product less dense. So once you have your wet ingredients prepared in one bowl, and your dry ingredients prepared in the other, simply take a spatula and fold the dry ingredients into the wet!

Once they were done baking for about 10 minutes, They plopped right out of the pan and were ALMOST ready for the chocolate ganache. Once completely cooled, I whipped up some ganache using semi-sweet chocolate chips and heavy whipping cream and poured it over each donut.

What everyone really liked about these donuts: They weren't EXTREMELY sweet since there was only a half cup of sugar in the batter. The semi-sweet cocoa powder in the donut and the semi-sweet ganache made this dessert a perfect one for dark chocolate lovers (like my entire family). It sort of cancelled out the small amount of sugar in the donut. If you love dark chocolate, this recipe is for you!!

I, on the other hand, love milk chocolate. But I still really enjoyed these donuts and I recommend eating one with vanilla ice cream.

Tip of the Day: Ganache seems terrifying to some people, but it's actually one of the easiest things to make if you're in a time pinch. I used to think making whipped cream was the quickest and easiest, but you have to dirty up a whole mixer and it takes more time to whip it than it does to boil heavy whipping cream.

For ganache, you literally just bring the cream to a boil, pour it directly over chocolate chips, stir, and let cool a bit before pouring over, under, or inside your dessert of choice.

Cheers!

Bridal Shower Minis

Current Mood: relaxed
Current TV Show: Supernatural-season 2 (need to catch up to 8!!!)

Happy Hump Day!!!

I'm a little late on this blog post considering I made the cupcakes last Thursday for a bridal shower that was taking place on Saturday. But hey, I'm a busy person! And soon, I am going to be even MORE busier working two jobs!

That's right!!

LIV GOT A BAKING JOB!!!

For everyone that follows my page on FB, they would have seen that last Monday I was offered a part time baking position at a new bakery opening on 6/22 called KoDee Cakes. It's in Hampden, so everyone come on by that day! They already own a catering company and have for seven years. I'm going Friday to meet the staff and get my final schedule worked out. It's kind of cool because EVERYONE is new. I usually hate starting new jobs when I'm the "New Girl" around the place. I'm SUPER excited!! Wish me luck on my first day next Wednesday :)

Anyways...back to my bridal shower cupcakes for Genese. Genese and I went to college together and she's getting married soon! Saturday was her bridal shower and her mom contacted me to order some minis. I really appreciate your business ladies!

I really felt honored when Clare contacted me earlier last week. She originally asked if I made cookie trays. She said she was already going to have the cake there and someone was making another dessert. When I told her cookies just weren't one of the desserts I sell, I mentioned that I have been concentrating on cupcakes and minis. Even though she was already having (I'm sure) plenty of desserts on the table, she still ordered 3 dozen minis. Thanks again!! I'm glad I could make Genese's shower just a tad more special.

Clare mentioned Genese's favorite was red velvet but she didn't like the cream cheese butter cream. I topped them with regular vanilla butter cream and VOILA! Genese was surprised at her shower!

Happy Wedding Days!!

Random tip of the day: If your cupcakes "overflow" from the liners a bit after baking and the tops seem to be "sticking" to the pan, don't leave them in the pans for too long. They are much easier to remove from the pans when still a bit hot.

Cheers!

Black Bottoms You Say?

Current Mood - Motivated
Current Song - Capital Cities-Safe and Sound

I made black bottoms for the first time on Saturday and I'm actually very proud of them! I wanted to take a treat on the boat when we went out for the first time yesterday but I didn't know what to make. Someone suggested black bottoms and it sounded like a good idea. As long as there was a cooler on the boat, we'd be good!

My mom made black bottoms a few times when us kids were younger. I thought I was never a huge fan but I wanted to give these "cupcakes" a try. I didn't even know people labeled these things as cupcakes. I always think of a cupcake as a muffin with icing (which is essentially what it is!) and black bottoms don't have icing so I never really knew WHAT they were classified as. Not sure they'd pass as cupcakes. What do you think?

At first I was going to do mini black bottoms but the recipe would have made about 36 and I wasn't sure I really needed that many. I also wasn't sure if you'd get the best of both flavors by eating a mini. It's important to capture the cream cheese portion AND the chocolate cupcake portion successfully. I thought this would be most possible in a regular sized cupcake.

So it was.

This is the recipe I used. It happens to be from one of my FAVORITE websites--Joy of Baking. She never disappoints me!

What I changed: I used honey instead of sugar in the cream cheese mixture. I simply used the same amount of honey as sugar. Some say that honey is sweeter than sugar. I don't really think so SO I used an equivalent amount. I decided to keep the sugar in the cupcake mixture though.

I used about 1/2 cup of Nestle cocoa powder (recipe called for 1/3 cup) to capture a more chocolatey flavor in the cupcake mixture. 1/3 cup just didn't seem like enough! Sometimes...I like to use baking chocolate squares in addition to cocoa powder when making chocolate cupcakes. Many times combining the two makes for a great, rich, chocolate flavor.

I used brewed coffee instead of water in the cupcake part of the black bottom. I've seen this done many times in chocolate cupcake recipes so I just had to try it out. I simply brewed a Keurig k-cup (which I thought would only be a 1/2 c. of coffee, but it turned out to be a full cup) and it was ready in half a minute!

Next time...I might add mini chocolate chips to the recipe. Cupcakes with chocolate chips in them are always extra tasty. I will also add more of the cream cheese mixture in each cupcake. A bit of sour cream added to the cupcake part would also be beneficial to add to the moistness--don't get me wrong though, the cupcakes were delish!

Random Fact: Recipes that call for oil and NO butter do not require an electric mixer at all! So if you don't have one, I recommend finding cupcake/cake recipes that use no butter so that there is nothing to cream. So, if you don't have an electric mixer, try this recipe out :)

Cheers!